angishields, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

BRX Pro Tip: 4 LinkedIn Sales Navigator Tips

May 27, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: 4 LinkedIn Sales Navigator Tips

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BRX Pro Tip: 4 LinkedIn Sales Navigator Tips

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, you and I both have LinkedIn Sales Navigator. What are some tips to get the most out of that service?

Lee Kantor: I think it’s important if you’re going to pay for it, then use it. One of the things that I like to do on Sales Navigator is identify ideal prospects. Having Sales Navigator opens up more search filters and you can really get kind of granular. I mean, not super granular, but granularly enough that you can identify the right folks on LinkedIn to engage with. So, identify your ideal prospects. LinkedIn has billion plus people on the network, so you’re going to find the people you’re looking for there.

Lee Kantor: Secondly, you want to engage with those prospects on a personal level. You don’t want to automate this stuff there. Linkedin is going out of their way to prevent you from automating. They’re limiting the amount of contacts you can make. They’re doing all kinds of work to encourage you to only engage with people in a personal manner, rather than in an automated kind of blunt instrument manner. So, use the wealth of information that’s available to you to interact by finding kind of common threads and interests so you can have this kind of personal relationship with people as much as possible.

Lee Kantor: Number three, when you focus in on building relationships first before trying to sell anybody anything, you’re going to get a better result. So, try to create a human to human relationship if possible. Again, this isn’t scalable. Again, this is important especially in professional services where you don’t need thousands of clients, you just need a handful of clients. So, do the work. Focus on building human to human relationships first before trying to sell anybody something.

Lee Kantor: And lastly, use Navigator to set up alerts for specific types of activities, such as job changes or new openings, so that you can be ready when an opportunity strikes. A lot of times people, if they were using your service before and they switched jobs, they might be open to using your service again. So, it’s a great opportunity to congratulate them on the new job and then let them know or remind them about the service that they had used with you in the past.

Lee Kantor: So, those are some LinkedIn Sales Navigator tips that should help you get more for your money.

BRX Pro Tip: 4 Tips to Ensure Effective B2B Partnerships

May 24, 2024 by angishields

How the American Advertising Federation is Shaping the Future of Advertising

May 23, 2024 by angishields

ALR-American-Advertising-Federation-feature

Association Leadership Radio

How the American Advertising Federation is Shaping the Future of Advertising

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In this episode of Association Leadership Radio, Lee Kantor is joined by Steve Pacheco from the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Steve discusses the AAF’s longstanding history, its network of ad clubs, and its mission to protect and promote the advertising profession. He speaks about the evolution of advertising, its significance as an economic driver, and the AAF’s commitment to storytelling and performance marketing. The AAF supports local chapters, fosters community, and encourages diversity. Steve highlights student engagement through competitions and educational programs, emphasizing the growth and dynamic career opportunities in advertising.

Steve Pacheco is the President/CEO of the American Advertising Federation. Pacheco is tasked with designing a future-forward organization consistent with the changes impacting the advertising landscape.

His role will span evolution of the AAF’s programs, services and membership; volunteer engagement; and serving as the voice of the advertising industry through advocacy and lobbying on key issues from free commercial speech to the advancement of diversity and inclusion.

Pacheco joins the AAF from Ducks Unlimited, where he was Chief Marketing Officer. He has 30 years of industry experience, more than 20 of which were spent at FedEx as Director of Advertising & Sponsorship Marketing.

There, he produced award-winning work, including 12 Super Bowl commercials, FedExCup, NFL and NASCAR ad campaigns. He worked for International Paper as Director of Advertising & Marketing Communications, where he directed their 1996 Summer Olympics sponsorship. He was also a partner in a Memphis-based advertising and design agency, Humphreys Ink.

Pacheco is the first AAF President & CEO to have held leadership roles at every level of the organization, beginning at the collegiate level, President of Memphis Advertising Federation and Chairman of the AAF National Board of Directors in 2011.

In 2013, he received the AAF Barton A. Cummings Gold Medal Award and was named The ADVERTISING Club of New York’s “Advertising Person of the Year.

Follow AAF on LinkedIn, Facebook 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 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 Steve Pacheco with American Advertising Federation. Welcome.

Steve Pacheco: Hey Lee, thanks for having us. Really happy to be spending some time with you today.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn about your association and tell us about AAF. How are you serving folks?

Steve Pacheco: Yeah, it’s it’s the American Advertising Federation. We shorthand that often to AAF and it’s the it’s the world’s longest standing advertising trade organization in existence. We’ve been around since 1915, and it’s a grassroots network of about 150 AD clubs, spread evenly across the United States coast to coast. About 35,000 members, probably 5 or 6000 student members in college at either the junior or senior level. And then we’ve got about 60 corporate members that help us run the show as well. So a full perspective of the American advertising industry is represented through our, uh, connections. And and we’re out to protect and promote the profession of advertising.

Lee Kantor: So how have you seen advertising evolve over the years? It seems like nowadays I have a degree in advertising. Just full disclosure. So I’ve been involved with advertising for my entire career and it seems like the industry, the activities are similar, but there’s just a blurring of the lines of where media begins and where advertising and marketing ends and and how they all play together. So how have you, as an association that serves that? How have you kind of evolved along with it?

Steve Pacheco: Well, that’s great insight, Lee, and congratulations on your degree in advertising. It’s it’s a great career decision for a lot of people. It’s not for everybody, but for those people that want to pursue it, a dynamic career is in store for you. We’re out, honestly to tell the good news stories about advertising. It bothers me greatly that some people’s only reference point for professional advertising is Mad Men or something of that ilk. It’s also not an appreciated profession in a lot of cases. So we’re out to change those perceptions as well. And to answer your question specifically, you know, advertising has become an incredibly sophisticated, disciplined business. Uh, always has been. And I’ve always been drawn to intellectually curious people. But nowadays you’ve got to be incredibly smart to have a great career in advertising, because you have to know about everything, not only technology and innovation, but you have to know about the persuasive arts, about psychology, about how to convince people. Uh, I think the biggest thing is that there’s so many tech tools available to us and so much opportunity, uh, to make that work for you.

Lee Kantor: Now, over my time in the industry, it’s been this kind of a balance of art and science. So there’s an element of advertising that believes it’s not creative unless it sells. And then there’s another side that wants it to be very creative and wants things to go viral. Um, where a lot of things go viral and you don’t even know what the brand is associated with what the ad was, how do you, um. Kind of evangelized for threading that kind of a needle.

Steve Pacheco: Yeah. Great question, Lee. And I think, you know, each case is an individualized case, and different people are trying to accomplish different things through their advertising, media and marketing programs. And no two campaigns have the same ultimate end result. So that’s where the strategy of advertising comes in. And that’s where a smart practitioner can really help you get down to exactly what you need to accomplish and what your goals and objectives are. Um, you watch something like the Super Bowl, which is the Super Bowl of advertising as well, and you scratch your head after some of those commercials because, you know, they’re either not intended for you, you’re not the target audience, or they went above your head or sailed beneath your your range of being able to understand it and convert them. So something different for everyone. I agree that it is art and science combined, but more and more increasingly there’s performance marketing and things that are trying to drive commerce. And so don’t ever look past the fact that advertising can be one of the greatest economic drivers of businesses of all sizes. By putting things out there and helping persuade people to try and buy the product or service.

Lee Kantor: Now, as an organization, how do you help you call them clubs and in all in all these different markets or as some people call it, chapters like why? How do you, um, as an organization kind of, um, help the people in the local market kind of foster that community within the, uh, their area that they live in?

Steve Pacheco: Sure. Uh, and we’re a national grassroots network. We’re headquartered in Washington, DC because of a lot of the lobbying and advocacy work that we do for the entire advertising industry across the nation. But but the infrastructure that we provide for the club and chapter network is is vital because it helps them understand programing, bringing in the best speakers, bringing in, uh, awards programs, recognition programs, diversity, equity and inclusion programs. So we give we give the framework of which there is a great deal of flexibility for each market area to personalize and make those programs specific to that market area. So we drive the infrastructure for all the club network. We helped them with counsel and content and curation, and then we leave it up to the local leaders to personalize and customize that any way that they need to.

Lee Kantor: And how do you play with the universities, or does it start at the university level, or does some of the work trickle down even into the high school or even earlier?

Steve Pacheco: Yeah. Um, you know, my first connection with the AAF was way back when I was in college, uh, at the University of Memphis. And, and I got introduced to the AAF because they have a thing called the National Student AD Competition. We shorthand that to nSac. It’s in progress right now. Uh, the client this year is tied from Procter and Gamble. And so we’ve had about 105 colleges and universities competing for the national championship. I’m doing a campaign for tide, and the Procter and Gamble marketing team will judge that work here in about two weeks. So very exciting opportunity. I got to compete in that when I was in college, and it helped me understand that the advertising business was something that I wanted to pursue. We do dip down into high school level, and for high school juniors and seniors, we offer a program called At Camp, and it’s an immersive experience that takes place in the summer that helps young people understand more about the business of advertising and the different disciplines within that business that they may want to pursue as a career goal.

Lee Kantor: Now, how is it trending as a career goal? Is it something that’s growing because it seems like there’s so many opportunities for folks to, um, you know, kind of go their own path and leverage advertising and marketing skills to do that.

Steve Pacheco: Yeah, I think, Lee, I like to say that there’s never been a more exciting time to join the advertising business. It’s it’s a really, really important inflection point for the business because as you mentioned earlier, it’s art and science combined. Right. And so whether you’ve got a highly creative skill set that allows you to be on the creative side or you’re a brainiac and really like to understand, uh, how things are built and why they’re why they’re constructed the way they are on on the left brain side of things. Um, there is a place for you in advertising. There’s a position now that’s in high demand for programmatic and a lot of other advertising, uh, practices, which is called a data scientist, that that title didn’t even exist three years ago, and now it’s one of the hottest titles for a young person looking to get into advertising. And it obviously requires science and math and that type of educational track. So it’s a and then social media, everybody you meet and see as a social media expert that can convert over to, uh, advertising skill set that will help you be highly marketable and, uh, and help you have a great career ahead.

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

Steve Pacheco: Yeah. Appreciate that Lee. You know we’re a 500 and 1C6. So most of the money that we raise goes back into a specific program. We’re a pretty lean organization. We don’t have a lot of full time employees. We rely on our volunteer leadership across the network. So those are local club presidents, uh, district chairs. And then also in the regions, uh, we have chairs and volunteer leaders that help us, uh, enact all the programs that we do. There’s three ways that your listeners can help. One is to join a local RAAF club. Uh, and those are all listed at RAAF. Org on the website, so you can find out if your local market has a club. And if not, you can start one. We’ll help you with that. So become an active and engaged member of a club in your area is the first step. And you’ll meet other like minded people. You’ll get exposed to some really great opportunities for career development and personal development as well. Uh, the second area is on programing and content. If you have, uh, information that’s important and vital to the advertising industry, we can help amplify that and get that out through our networks. And we’re always looking for thought leadership pieces, mostly from our corporate members, but also from our professional and student members. Uh, any type of new industry, uh, information or knowledge that might be important for people who are still learning their craft is very helpful for us. And then the third area is, you know, fundraising and bringing in money to help us support these programs. There’s a ton of ways you can do that at the local level, also at the regional and the national level. So again, all the websites, uh, info is there at RAAF org and a ton of useful information in there. Um, of particular importance is getting young people on the track to have a great career in advertising. And that’s a lot of our high school and college outreach work.

Lee Kantor: Now, from a membership standpoint, if you’re a college student and you’re thinking about getting like I did have a degree in advertising and getting a degree in advertising or in whatever major you want, but want to learn more about advertising? How like what what’s the student experience at the AAF in a local chapter?

Steve Pacheco: Yeah. You know, uh, I mentioned we have about 105 schools competing right now in national competition. There’s about 115 or 20 schools that are in our roster right now. So they don’t all compete. Most of them do. Um, and different colleges and chapters have different activations. They all bring in speakers not only at their career day, but also throughout the class year. They also, uh, give you an opportunity and exposure to the local ad club so that you can go and see the American Advertising Awards at those local clubs. You can go and hear the professional speakers at those local clubs. Most all of our local clubs hold seats available for students at either, uh, no fee or reduced fee to encourage their activation and involvement in the mainstream advertising business that the clubs are behind in each market. So different, different schools will, uh, organize themselves in different ways. The student leaders help develop those clubs and bring in new, uh, young people as well. You know, at age 18, I became the local president of AAF Memphis University of Memphis chapter. That was a really great leadership opportunity for me, uh, and a great opportunity to learn and meet people who were making it happen in the advertising business. And I think that was more valuable than the classroom credit that I got for the classes that I took, because it just really helped me understand the business dynamics of the business. And also just relationship building.

Lee Kantor: Now, are the are the corporate members of a local club? Are they all like ad agencies or marketing agencies, or are they anybody that uses advertising like, like who’s a good fit for being a corporate member.

Steve Pacheco: Yeah, it’s it’s really interestingly I know you’re calling from Atlanta. So the Atlanta AD Club has a ton of, uh, professional members. And they’re the entire gamut of people that make up the advertising profession. So unlike some organizations that are just ad agencies or just clients and brands, the American Advertising Federation, you can be a member if you’re just involved in the profession of advertising at any stage or level. So we’ve got a lot of vendors and suppliers to the industry. Uh, that could be printers, that could be people that develop advertising specialties, things like that. Content creators, search engine marketers, social media experts, you name it. We do have our fair share of ad agencies and of clients and brands. And for some reason, a lot of the local clubs really do a great job of bringing in people that are very involved in decision makers in the local market area, either for the Convention and Visitors Bureau or the trade tourism groups, because they’re constantly wanting to learn how to market their own cities better and their own events better. So experiential marketing to your opening point, a lot of the lines are blurring between advertising, sports marketing, experiential marketing. All the different disciplines of advertising, uh, can be represented through your AAF membership.

Lee Kantor: And including public relations.

Steve Pacheco: Yes, absolutely. We have a lot of there’s also a prssa organization that is a collaborator of ours, and they do a great job with public relations chapters and a lot of their cities. But increasingly those lines are blurring. And we’ve got PR pros that are members of the AAF. Um, and Richard Edelman, who started Edelman PR, as is in our Advertising Hall of Fame. So we open up the doors there and consider PR and allied, uh, discipline to what we do in the advertising field. Uh, and so we, we often cross paths with them and try to do some collaborative work.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned being involved with the AAF at such a young age. 18 where has your career always been in associations or uh, did you get into the corporate world and then jump back into associations?

Steve Pacheco: Yeah. You know, I started, uh, I knew I wanted to be in advertising since I was a very small kid, and I can’t explain how I was drawn to it, but it just intrigued me from the standpoint of the meaning behind the actual work itself. And so I always knew I was going to wind up that way. I got a degree in journalism because they didn’t offer a degree in advertising when I was coming up, and so journalism was the closest thing, uh, and I thought I was a decent writer, but it turned out I was a really good relationship builder and communicator. And so I started working at the local daily newspaper was my first job. And from that I went on to work for a local ad agency in Memphis. And then corporate America came calling. And I spent 30 years of my career in corporate America for two fortune 500 companies and learned an awful lot about the corporate needs for advertising, media and marketing, uh, how to build a brand, how to maintain a brand, and how to, uh, work in all the other different, different disciplines. So had a great run in corporate America. And then five years ago this month, uh, I joined the American Advertising Federation as my second act because, uh, corporate America and I were done with each other. I wanted to find a. Way to give back to the industry that’s been so good to me, and also help young people who are looking for a way to get into the business, just like I was way back when. Uh, have an easier time and more connectivity to the business.

Lee Kantor: And then one more time if somebody wants to connect and learn more. Uh, the website.

Steve Pacheco: Yeah. Uh, search at RF. Org, which is our main website, and it has a list of the clubs there. And then also see if your own market typically it’s RF and then the market name. So check and see if there’s a local ad club in your area. If there’s not reach out and contact us and we’ll uh, we’ll help you get one started and set up. It’s a lot easier to do than you might think. And we’re always looking for new clubs and new markets where we’re not already entrenched. Uh, RF org is the best place to go for all that information and reach out, and somebody will get right back with you.

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

Steve Pacheco: Thank you, Lee, and I appreciate your audience. Uh, have a great day.

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

Sheri Winesett with Business Accelerators, LLC

May 23, 2024 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Sheri Winesett with Business Accelerators, LLC

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Renowned for her engaging and thought-provoking speaking and coaching style, Sheri Winesett has left a lasting impact on leaders worldwide. From startups to multinational corporations, non-profits to government departments, companies seek Sheri’s expertise to uncover organizational challenges and chart a transformative course for business and leadership success.

Prior to founding Business Accelerators, LLC and serving as world top executive coach John Mattone’s Global COO, Sheri served as a franchise executive, international lobbyist, and trusted advisor to Fortune 100 companies. For nearly 20 years, Sheri has coached over 1000 entrepreneur’s CEO’s executives and their teams to become the best version of themselves and become leaders that others want to follow while building cultures that attract and retain team members.

Her friends and colleagues describe her as driven, fun, intelligent and loyal. Leading executives and their teams to their highest potential is her personal and professional mission. She empowers her clients to achieve personal growth, ongoing professional development, business and organizational success.

Sheri is passionate about scaling business through people. She has helped companies increase their revenue by 46% in profit by 61% by helping leaders level up and coaching high performers to find their moral compass, lead with a big heart, and develop a solid conviction to do the right thing.

Approachable, educational, and accessible, Sheri connects with entrepreneurs and seasoned leaders alike. In her upcoming book, “Transparent Leadership,” Sheri delves into the essential elements for fostering a truly transparent culture. Drawing from personal experiences, she shares real-life examples of businesses and leaders she has guided to transformation.

Connect with Sheri on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

This transcript is machine transcribed by

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 morning. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with the Business Accelerators LLC, Miss Sheri Winesett. How are you?

Sheri Winesett: I’m doing great, Stone. Thank you so much for having me on the show this morning.

Stone Payton: Well, it is an absolute delight to have you on the show. I know we’ve got some exciting news. I’ve got a ton of questions. We we probably won’t get to them all, but I’d like to start, if we could, by having you share with me and our listeners kind of an overview, mission, purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?

Sheri Winesett: Yeah, thanks for the question. Um, you know, Stone, I am a business coach and leadership coach. I’ve been doing it for about 20 years, and what I found over the years is that there is a lack of transparency and leadership, and that’s really what makes companies fall apart or prevents them from gaining traction. And so I, you know, people really want transparency in leadership. And I wrote my book. I really want to help people, really, women break the chains of traditional role of women in leadership, really to give seasoned female leaders a new perspective on leadership and the confidence, right, and their ability to lead, the courage to be vulnerable and the fire to really unleash their leadership potential. So I’m really out to help the person I used to be.

Stone Payton: Well, it sounds like very rewarding work. Noble work, if you can get it. Now that you’ve been at this a while. What? What are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you?

Sheri Winesett: Yeah, the most fun is just, you know, seeing those aha moments or, you know, seeing someone who is wearing so many hats getting discouraged, starting to question themselves and then say, wait a second, I really want to step back into my power and be the influential leader the world needs me to be, right, because the next generation and the future of work are really depending on us, right? How they are led is how they will lead into the future. And when people really take back that power and realize how important their work is and their leadership is in the world, that’s like a total win. So rewarding.

Stone Payton: How did you get in this line of work in the first place? What’s what’s the back story?

Sheri Winesett: Uh, well, um, I always like to say joke that, uh, I’m a recovering lobbyist. So I started as a lobbyist in DC and, and, you know, joined a law firm, started doing some international lobbying work for about ten years. And then I just came to a crossroads, um, in my career. And I said, you know, I really want to help people grow their businesses. I want to help them grow their leadership skills. So I transitioned into entrepreneurship to business ownership, and I started a coaching business, uh, built a coaching firm, um, that continued to evolve. And then I went to work for some franchises as a franchise executive to help them build some coaching businesses. And now, you know, I’m back and I’m doing leadership coaching and really focusing. I help anyone, right? Ceos, entrepreneurs, seasoned executives. But I really have a strong pull to focus on women right now. And so hence my book that just came out, which is why I wrote Transparent Leadership for Women Who Mean Business.

Stone Payton: I am really intrigued with this, this phrase, this term transparent leadership. Can we dive into that a little bit and maybe have you talk more about transparency and why it’s so important and the impact in the workplace, that kind of thing?

Sheri Winesett: Yeah, absolutely. So transparent leadership is really about openness authenticity. Right. Authenticity and communication, decision making. You know, transparent leaders don’t hide information or operate with hidden agendas, but instead they’re really focused on setting their team up for success. That’s the number one role as a leader is set your team up for success and foster trust, you know, accountability and collaboration by providing that visibility into your thought processes and actions.

Stone Payton: So when you were writing this book, did it come together pretty easily or did some parts of it come together easy and others were more difficult? What was the process of writing a book like for you?

Sheri Winesett: You know, it’s funny. Um, I actually had this outline for this book about nine years ago. Oh, my. Yeah. Nine, nine years. And it took me nine years to bring it to market. And so I had the outline. I had the seven keys that I thought were really important. And a lot of people ask, well, why didn’t you publish it then? And it’s just because I wasn’t ready, right? I had to experience more. And, um, I really had to determine who my target market was. You know, I, I could have put out this book and, and been like, this is for everyone, but what really my pivoting moment was when I realized and this was through coaching with a mentor of mine, um, that I wanted to share my story and really help the person I used to be. And so once I figured all that out, I actually, uh, got with a publishing coach, and she really helped guide me through the process, you know, on how to get this to market.

Stone Payton: So if you would say a little bit more about your your choice. While this certainly would benefit any leader, it sounds like y your choice specifically was to try to serve women with this, with this body of work.

Sheri Winesett: Well, um, you know, women wear a lot of hats, and it’s, um, it’s all too common for women to feel imposter syndrome and guilt, right? Causing them to give up on their dreams. No handbook is given to anyone to unlock your leadership potential when climbing the ladder or going after your dreams, seeking significance, wanting to create impact. And so, you know, as a woman, right? I wore a lot of hats, you know, and I was very fortunate to have a lot of mentors and a great career. Um, but at times I felt super overwhelmed. Right? And at times I questioned myself, you know, like, should I focus more on being a caretaker, a mother, a sister? Um, whatever it is in, in your life? And, um, you know, I just determined, right, that that we women have unique abilities and women can go after their dreams and they can leverage all these unique strengths by, you know, having all these different roles in their life to become a great leader.

Stone Payton: Well, and it speaks to, like you were talking about earlier, transparency, uh, authority, credibility. I mean, as my dad would say, you am one, right? You are.

Sheri Winesett: Love it. You know, it’s interesting to stone research shows that there’s certain traits that women possess, right, that contribute to the effectiveness of them leading in teams. And there are things like, you know, empathy, collaborative leadership style, resilience, adaptability. Um, but they’re so important because, again, you know, future generations are depending on leaders to lead them. Right. And how we lead them, like I said in the beginning, is how they’re going to lead others. And so it’s just really important that, um, we take on that responsibility. You know, we have a responsibility to lead.

Stone Payton: You mentioned seven keys. Say more about the structure of the book, and maybe even some tips on getting the most out of the out of the book.

Sheri Winesett: Yeah. So in the book, I actually, you know, at the end I give a lot of action steps. I give a lot of tools and different strategies. Um. But, you know, I actually have an action plan at the end of the book. And if you just did one thing in each of the areas of the action plan, you could change, like the whole trajectory of your career, your team, you know, whatever it is you’re trying to go after. And so the seven keys are actually, um. They start with a, you know, accountability right. And self-awareness, you know, ah, first you gotta look inward, right. And really understand the leader that you are. Um, but also determine the leader you want to be. Um, and then, you know, we move into things like, um, leading with integrity, embracing transparency, visionary leadership, visionary leadership. Stone is one of my favorite chapters because I’ve worked with a lot of clients who have made the statement, they’re just not buying into my vision like I have it out there. Um, well, the number one thing that you need to do for people to buy into your vision is get them to buy into you. Hmm. So, you know, how are you getting people to buy into you? Are you someone that they respect? You know, do you lead with wisdom and the heart and then, you know, some of the other keys are congruency, alignment, and measurement.

Stone Payton: So this strikes me as a marvelous resource for the individual leader. But I and I maybe this is coming from me having kind of a training and consulting background, but I could see this as a, as a, as a book that you might utilize with a team of leaders that report to you if, if, if you are responsible for a team of leaders to kind of I mean, do you think it would lend itself to that as well, like to have a group read it and then come back and talk about the different pieces of it?

Sheri Winesett: Oh, absolutely. I mean, that’s what this book is all about. You know, you don’t have to do everything. Um, it’s really about you empowering others to lead. And so it gives you some really awesome tools to teach others on your team how to do that.

Stone Payton: And as the author, I wonder if this has had an impact on you in a similar way I’ve spoken, as you might imagine, to to quite a few authors of business related titles, and I’ve been told that just the simple act of creating the book, committing all those ideas to paper, has often helped them solidify their own thinking, like crystallize their own thinking around their domain of expertise and make them make them that much more effective in their training, consulting, coaching, speaking work. Have you found that to be the case?

Sheri Winesett: Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. Um, you know, there’s a quote that I love and it’s, uh, one that a lot of people are probably familiar with, but, um, it really stays within, you know, my core focus and it’s by Jim Rohn, and it’s work harder on yourself than you do on your job, or then you do on your business. And so, you know, there there are so many ways that we can actually grow as a leader, but it takes a lot of self-awareness. And so, um, in this book, you know, I’m hoping that I can I can teach people that, you know, I can give them some tools, uh, for alignment and things like that, but really help them adapt to the leader that they need to be for others.

Stone Payton: So I got to ask about the. And I often ask people about what sales and marketing looks like for their practice. And I’m always interested to hear that. But, uh, what is the whole sales and marketing thing look like when you’re trying to get a book off the ground? Will you? You’ll start, I guess, making it available at at speaking engagements. Maybe you you go on tour. Yeah. How do you sell a book once you get once you write one.

Sheri Winesett: Yeah. You know, it’s, um, speaking engagements will be a real core focus for me. Um, you know, I may create I have in the works to create some modules, some training modules that follow the seven keys in this book. Um, really finding strategic partners who are aligned with your mission to, you know, change the leadership, um, and create transparency in leadership, you know, really aligning with those strategic partners and finding the win win to help each other get the word out and have more impact on the world. Um, obviously there’s, you know, tons of social media and things like that that you can do. But my goal, Stone, is to really get in front of big audiences so I can create more impact. Right? When I’m coaching, it’s like one person at a time or one team at a time. Um, and so I think the way you really get your message out in the world is through speaking.

Stone Payton: Well, I can tell you my personal experience as an attendee to watching great speakers. I get so much more value. I, you know, I enjoy the moment, of course, and I get inspired and pick up an idea or two during the talk. But to go home with their book and dive back into it immediately and then periodically over time. To me, it makes the it makes that speaking engagement so much richer and more valuable to me in my day to day attempts to live into what the speaker talked about.

Sheri Winesett: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, my that was my intention was with including an action plan in the book because, you know, after a speaking engagement. Right. We can all get like super motivated and hyped up. But what’s really important is the results that come out of that and continuing with those best practices, or just those few keys that you took away. And in the book, you know, there’ll be that action plan to kind of walk you through how to execute well.

Stone Payton: And I love the idea that it’s, uh, I think you said that this is foundation for some modules for other curricula, right? In your training consulting practice. Did I hear that right?

Sheri Winesett: Absolutely. This is in, uh, one and done.

Stone Payton: That is. Well, I don’t know where or when you would find the time, but outside the scope of this work, other hobbies, passions, interests that you pursue, anything you nerd out about that doesn’t have anything to do with this?

Sheri Winesett: Yeah. Um, I love hiking. I used to live in DC for 17 years. In about 12 years ago, I moved out of the area just to get in the mountains and around all the water and the rivers. So, um, I’m a I’m a big hiker. I love to be on the water. I’ll take the river, I’ll take the beach. I’ll take the lake, whatever you can give me.

Stone Payton: Well, you know what I’d love to do before we wrap, I’d love to leave our listeners with 1 or 2, you know, just actionable. I’ll call them pro tips. And look, gang, the best way to get your hands on some on some really strong, actionable tips is to is to reach out, have a conversation with Sherry or somebody on her team. Get your hands on this book. But let’s leave them with something they can be thinking about doing, not doing. You know, right now as they listen into this conversation.

Sheri Winesett: Yeah. Um, I think what is key for any leader is to start with really developing a relationship with your team and creating some self-awareness on how you do that. How can I be more authentic? Am I leading with integrity and then really putting a great communication plan in place? And what I mean by communication plan is scheduling those meetings right with your team. You’ve got to get them together quarterly for a day and let them build relationships. You you have to do, whether it’s weekly or bi weekly meetings. Now, now here’s the key on that though stone. They have to be effective meetings. Don’t get people together to meet just to meet. Right. It’s, uh, I remember the old term death by PowerPoint, right? There can be death by meetings. Make them a meeting that people want to show up to. And so, you know, stop doing things the way you’ve always done them and take time to reflect on how you build relationships and how you be a super effective communicator within your organization.

Stone Payton: It sounds like communication and a structured communication plan is so foundational to actually putting all of this in into practice. And I I’m kind of reflecting on my own behavior. You know, I have standing calls with some of the folks that I have the privilege of leading, and I suspect I don’t know, that I probably fall into some of the traps that you that you talk about in the, in the book or in your or in your work. Sometimes it’s, uh, it’s a little bit like, oh, the Wednesday afternoon standing call with so and so just going through the motions and I guess a regular communication rhythm that’s properly executed, that also, I guess it would help you not avoid, but make it through those times when maybe you weren’t that great last week at leading, or maybe the other person wasn’t that great living into what they said they would do that communication. That’s the bedrock, isn’t it?

Sheri Winesett: Yeah. And I think it’s important to structure it and let everybody be a part of it. And there’s so many different ways that you can weave others into the conversation. So they feel like they’re making an impact as well.

Stone Payton: Okay. What’s the best way to connect with you? Tap into your work and get their hands on this book.

Sheri Winesett: So you can get the book by going to Transparency in Leadership Comm. Really excited. It just launched today. And then you can connect with me on social media channels just uh, at Sherry Mindset. So it’s s h e r I w I n e s e t t.

Stone Payton: Sherry, this has been a marvelous way to invest a Tuesday morning. Thank you so much for sharing your insight, your perspective. Congratulations on the book launch. Keep up the good work, what you’re doing. It’s so important. And we we sure appreciate you.

Sheri Winesett: Oh, thank Stone, and if I could just leave one thing that you could do every day when you wake up. Can I do that?

Stone Payton: Absolutely. Please.

Sheri Winesett: Just ask yourself one question and this is going to change. You know how your team views you. How will I empower someone else on my team today?

Stone Payton: Oh, what a powerful way to wrap this conversation. Again, thank you so much Sherry. This has been marvelous.

Sheri Winesett: Thank you Stone, thanks for having me.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Sherry Winsett with Business Accelerators, LLC, author of the book Seven Keys to Unlock Your Leadership Potential, saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

Franchise Marketing Radio Welcomes back Frank Samson CEO of Senior Care Authority

May 22, 2024 by angishields

Denver Business Radio

Franchise Marketing Radio Welcomes back Frank Samson CEO of Senior Care Authority

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Frank M. Samson, CSA, is the founder of Senior Care Authority, author and creator of The Boomers Today syndicated Radio/Podcast Show. Prior to founding Senior Care Authority, he worked in franchise consulting and the travel industry for over three decades. He had built an organization with over 200 franchises which he later sold and the company operates successfully today.

His expertise in senior care has given Frank the opportunity to write a regular blog and host a nationally syndicated radio show and podcast called Boomers Today. Frank also authored a best selling book in various categories called The Aging Boomers: Answers to Critical Questions for You, Your Parents and Loved Ones and is available on Amazon.com.

Frank is a Certified Senior Advisor, a member of the Society of Certified Senior Advisors, on the Board of the National Placement and Referral Alliance and an Honorary Faculty Member at Michigan State University.

Connect with Frank on LinkedIn.

WBE Feature – Women’s Health Awareness: Jessie Haute Beauty

May 21, 2024 by angishields

Women in Motion

WBE Feature - Women's Health Awareness: Jessie Haute Beauty

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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor interviews Jessie Nga Nguyen, founder and CEO of Jessie Haute Beauty. Jessie discusses her entrepreneurial journey, starting her skincare line in 2017 and launching it on Walmart’s e-commerce platform in April 2023. Specializing in anti-aging products, Jessie Haute Beauty focuses on quality and affordability. Jessie shares insights on e-commerce strategies, the importance of perseverance, and her solo management of the business. She emphasizes the value of community support and her plans to expand into retail stores.

As a highly experienced esthetician, distributor, entrepreneur, and owner of Jessie Haute Beauty for over a decade, Jessie Nga Nguyen has consistently demonstrated her ability to establish and foster professional and loyal relationships with coworkers, staff, and clients.

Her experience managing administrative and sales employees independently as an owner/manager and collaboratively as a team member is unparalleled.

With sharp business acumen, decisive judgment, and an unwavering commitment to exceeding organizational goals, Jessie has achieved immense success in operations management, business strategy, and financial management.

Jessie’s outstanding abilities has allowed her to capitalize on new trends and cutting-edge technologies to drive business development initiatives and consistently exceed sales targets.

Follow Jessie Haute Beauty on Facebook.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

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

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:00:48] Hi, everyone. Good morning. I’m delighted to introduce myself. My name is Jessie Nga Nguyen. I am founder and business owner of Jessie Haute Beauty. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Women Business Enterprise Council-West and RadioX channel for the organization of this event, Women In Motion. Today, I have been invited to share my journey on the path to the founding our company.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:20] So, can you tell us a little bit about your company? What services do you provide?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:01:26] We do skincare products and we provide skincare anti-aging line to everyone.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:35] And then, how did you get started in the business?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:01:39] Okay. So, I have established my skincare product lines in 2017. My family and I relocated from Houston, Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada, where I conduct extensive research on the skincare market. And I decided to launch my skincare product lines in April 2023. That’s why Jessie Haute Beauty is really a premium skincare company specialized in anti-aging products.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:14] Now, do you primarily create and sell products or is it a place where a woman could go and get, you know, treatments done?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:02:23] I launched a skincare product in the Walmart e-commerce store.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:29] So, that’s the primary focus of the business is skincare products?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:02:33] Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:35] So, how do you come up with the ideas for the products?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:02:39] Okay. So, as you know, in the present day world, the woman faces some significant disadvantage compared to the man. And the gender gap in the professional and social arena is vast, and women, they work three times to stay equally. And when I was a child, I have seen a lot of women rely on the husband. And when they be a senior, they rely on the children and their husband as well. That’s why my mother just told me during my childhood, I got the discipline and have said that you must have your own finances and you don’t need to depend on anybody else in your life. You have just only one life to live, and no one can tear you down, and you will be shy at the end of the day with your finances. So, that all kind of thing is infused in my mind. And until now, I drive and I have the powerful woman to come up with my business now today.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:08] But how do you kind of come up with an idea of what product to sell? Like how do you research it or how do you develop it and produce it?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:04:19] Okay. So, that’s my passionate about the skincare. I’m always passionate to develop and become the owning of the skincare. That’s my dream. And I want to stretch my dream into reality. And I have over a decade of experience to do about the skincare, so that’s why I opened my own business.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:59] And then, when you first had the idea to open the business and then you did all the research and then you opened the business, was there a moment where you were like, “I think this is going to work out. I think that we have something here that the public wants and needs.”

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:05:18] Okay. So, I understand that our product line is comprised in the brands of the formula from the essential luxurious or affordable for the daily use. And the private skincare company, I have gone great gland of the research and sources where naturally ingredient that’s safe and effective to our customer. Our products undergo various clinical testing to meet the highest quality standard of the luxury and affordable.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:06] And then, is it primarily e-commerce or is there a retail store?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:06:12] This is the e-commerce first. And nowadays, e-commerce have been expand more than before. So, we went to launch e-commerce first and then in the store later.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:29] And then, do you think you’ll have your own retail store or are you going to sell the products into other retailers?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:06:35] Our in retail store and order all over in the United States.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:44] And do you target a certain type of woman or is it for any woman of any ethnicity?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:06:51] For every woman in the United States, not just specialized or the type of any woman. All women can use.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:05] And how did you learn how to do e-commerce? That seems very challenging.

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:07:12] We got the Walmart. They had the right team to guide me and I learned from them. And I have the meeting for every week from the back office team and they showed me how to launch successfully.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:35] And how’s it been going?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:07:38] We just launched like just last week, so hopefully it’s going to be raised in near future.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:49] Now, do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs out there thinking about doing an e-commerce company?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:07:58] Yes. I have a little tips to share with the young entrepreneurs who want to launch the e-commerce. Because nowadays e-commerce is really new platform to everybody. Just researching and continue to talking with the people who’s, you know, like experienced and specialized in the e-commerce. They’re going to guide you because if you go just only one wrong thing, it cannot accept it in the e-commerce. So, yeah, just research and they have economy in e-commerce so you can learn from them as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:58] And then, the platform you’re using is Shopify?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:09:02] Yes. The Shopify and the Walmart. They merged together.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:07] Oh, okay. So, what was the reason you didn’t choose to work with Amazon?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:09:15] Because I love Walmart. I feel that Walmart have more essential than Amazon.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:32] So, that was a better fit for you and you think your clients?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:09:38] Yes. Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:41] Now, do you have any advice when it comes to overcoming obstacles that you’d like to share with an aspiring entrepreneur?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:09:49] Actually, when I launched my own business, I got stressful. I got a lot of obstacles. But just only myself for this business, I have learned and have researching, and I have to talk, and I put an effort a lot in this business, and I don’t give up in the between. I continue whatever I want to be. I want to launch my business and with my passion so I can achieve the incredible thing. That’s what I believe.

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:10:41] And I have a message to the younger entrepreneur, please, if you want to persuade in your dream, you keep going and never give up. If you feel like drop or if you feel like hard, I believe that you can follow your passion. You can achieve your incredible thing. In fact, I have no doubt that you can accomplish even more than I have.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:19] Now, who developed your logo? It’s beautiful.

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:11:23] Oh, that’s my idea. I do everything from A to Z. That’s my passion.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:28] So, you drew it and you created it?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:11:32] Yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:33] Beautiful work.

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:11:34] Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:36] Now, how important is it to have kind of a team around you?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:11:42] I don’t have my team right now. I have just only myself.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:46] So, you’re doing everything?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:11:48] Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:49] Wow. That must be very hard to balance.

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:11:54] Yes, sir. I slept just only, like, five hours a day. And when I wake up, I jump into my desk to work from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m..

Lee Kantor: [00:12:09] So, are you spending time online in social media, like Facebook or Instagram, to get the word out?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:12:17] Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:19] So, what are some of the things that you’re doing to get the word out?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:12:24] Right now, I have the page for the Jessie Haute Beauty, and TikTok and Instagram I create already, and everybody can follow my Facebook and Instagram and TikTok.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:45] Now, why was it important for you to join WBEC-West?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:12:51] I need to have the advice. I need to have the team that I can join and powerful out there. I know that the woman needs help as well and I can help them as I can put effort in my business.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:21] So, what’s next for you? What are your kind of plans to keep continuing growing the business as you launch in the next few months?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:13:31] Right now, we have launched all the items that I have in my hand now with the Walmart, and I’m trying my best to expand in the store with Walmart. And later on, maybe every store that want me as their partner so I can partnership with them.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:05] And then, if somebody wants to connect and learn more about Jessie Haute Beauty, what is the website or the social media coordinates so they can find you?

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:14:18] Yes. You can research in the Google jessiehautebeauty1168.myshopify.com. jessiehautebeauty1168.myshopify.com, that’s my website. And the Facebook page with Jessie Haute Beauty, and TikTok with Jessie Haute Beauty, and Instagram with Jessie Haute Beauty 1168 as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:56] And that’s Jessie, J-E-S-S-I-E, Haute, H-A-U-T-E, Beauty, B-E-A-U-T-Y, if you Google that or put it in Facebook or TikTok or any of the socials, I’m sure you’ll find it.

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:15:11] Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:11] Well, Jessie, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:15:19] Thank you so much I have opportunity today to share my journey.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:28] Well, we appreciate you taking the time to share with us and best of luck going down the road.

Jessie Nga Nguyen: [00:15:35] Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:36] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

BRX Pro Tip: Leveraging LinkedIn

May 21, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Leveraging LinkedIn

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BRX Pro Tip: Leveraging LinkedIn

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I know you’ve learned a lot and continue to learn about how to leverage LinkedIn to grow your business. What’s today’s LinkedIn Pro Tip, man?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. This is a good one. And you know I’m a big fan of surprise and delight and I think this falls under that category. And on LinkedIn, this is something that every professional service practitioner can be doing. Anybody that’s in business really can be doing this.

Lee Kantor: But on LinkedIn, if you write an honest, authentic recommendation for each of your clients, you will find out that that is extremely appreciated and it is extremely a worthwhile activity to do. Your client will appreciate you doing this. It will help them get more business. And the bottom line is, no matter what service you’re providing or you did provide for this person, remember, it’s your job to help your client get more business. That’s the bottom line. That’s usually why they hire you.

Lee Kantor: So, this is a great way for you to do that. They will see that you’ve done that. They will appreciate that you’ve done that. And it will help them get more clients down the road. So, a great way to leverage LinkedIn is write an authentic recommendation for each of your clients.

Oldcastle APG: Making Outdoor Dreams a Reality

May 20, 2024 by angishields

Sandy Springs Business Radio

Oldcastle APG: Making Outdoor Dreams a Reality

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On today’s Sandy Springs Business Radio, hosts Lee Kantor and Rachel Simon talk with Jason Dean and Dave Jackson from Oldcastle APG. Jason discusses his journey from the US Coast Guard to the brick and block industry, while Dave, who handles branding, shares insights into the company’s marketing strategies. Oldcastle manufactures a variety of outdoor products and the conversation covers the company’s focus on customer relationships and the integration of sales and marketing. The guests also discuss the impact of the pandemic on outdoor living trends and Oldcastle APG’s participation in HGTV’s dream home program.

Dave Jackson is Senior Brand Manager, Oldcastle APG, leading all aspects of brand strategy and managing marketing and advertising efforts for brands including Sakrete, Amerimix, Echelon Masonry and Belgard Commercial.

Utilizing more than a decade of experience, Dave’s innovative mindset and customer-centric approach have propelled APG’s dry mix, masonry and hardscapes business to new heights and exceptional growth.

Jason Dean is Senior Vice President of Pro Sales of Oldcastle APG, leading all aspects of national sales efforts for the professional division across the organization’s hardscapes, masonry and dry-mix business. With nearly 30 years of company experience and industry insights, his keen leadership skills enable him to develop effective sales strategies, drive revenue growth and cultivate stronger relationships with existing and prospective customers.

Since joining APG through the acquisition of Georgia Masonry Supply (GMS) in 1994, Jason has held several leadership positions of increasing responsibility and experienced significant success in building and strengthening the pro sales department. A testament to his dedication and expertise, his 30-year career has produced an outstanding track record that has positively impacted our business and continues to serve and address our customers’ needs across North America.

Since being appointed SVP of Pro Sales, he has championed several successful strategies which focus on increasing customer connections, developing strong sales pipelines, collaborating across all brands and honing key markets and prospects. To grow the customer base for a commodity in a static market, he reenergized the network of customers and enhanced relationships with dealers to increase loyalty to the brands.

In addition to customer-centric strategies, Jason championed several creative projects to promote brand awareness, such as Concrete Combat and Sakrete Time, both of which appealed to previously unengaged markets. Jason’s innovative approach to boosting brand awareness and increasing market reach has led to increased revenue in an extremely competitive business.

Follow Oldcastle APG on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here with Rachel Simon. Another episode of Sandy Springs. Sandy Springs Business Radio and this episode is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to Connect the Dots dot digital. Rachel, welcome.

Rachel Simon: Hi Lee, how are you?

Lee Kantor: I am doing great! I am so excited about this show. Got a great group here today.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, we’ve got two guests. It’s our first time with two guests. So super excited for that. It’s going to be fun but.

Lee Kantor: That was good. You managed it by being of the same firm.

Rachel Simon: There you go baby steps. Yes. So we are really happy to welcome Jason Dean and Dave Jackson from Oldcastle APG. Welcome. Thanks for being here.

Jason Dean: Yeah, we’re really excited to be here. Thank you so much.

Rachel Simon: Uh, so let’s dive right in. Tell us a little bit about yourself and Oldcastle APG.

Jason Dean: Okay. Um, once again my name is Jason Dean. I’m the SVP of pro sales for Oldcastle APG, and I’ve kind of had an untraditional path to get here today. Um, you know, uh. Early in my career. Um, you know, I was coming out of high school. I went to high school in Maysville, Kentucky, which is rural Kentucky. I wanted to go into law enforcement, so I did a stint in the US Coast Guard. Um, and then went to college, um, using the GI Bill, which is always a great thing. And um, studied criminology corrections in there. And then when I got out, I was trying to really decide what I wanted to do with my life in law enforcement. My uncle had a brick and block company here in Atlanta, Georgia, and he said, hey, while you’re thinking about your next step, why don’t you come down and sell for me for a short period of time? And then, um, you can see where your career takes you? Well, that was 30 years ago. Um, started my career in 94, and it’s been a it’s been a really good ride. Once you get sucked into this industry, you just can’t get out of it. Um, it’s been a great career. It’s not over yet. Um, and the thing probably the most exciting about working with Oldcastle APG is, you know, we’ve got the same core values, integrity, creative community. Um, our our three big ones. But, um, the respect for our employees is probably number one, um, regardless of their background and beliefs. So, um, great working environment, great company. And happy to be here.

Rachel Simon: Awesome. Well, tell us a little bit about yourself, Dave. Yeah.

Dave Jackson: Dave Jackson um, I come from the agency world, so, uh, most of my career has been in marketing, and actually before that I tell Jason. And actually, that’s my story. I’ve had two jobs. I’ve either worked in hardware or I’ve done advertising. So working at Old Castle now for a little over five years is kind of a beautiful synthesis of the stuff that I’ve, uh, done throughout my career. So, uh, I run branding for a couple of our brands in Oldcastle, APG, working really closely with Jason and the sales team, um, most notably being Sakrete, which is the bagged concrete brand, the original bagged concrete brand. It’s important to note, um, and I think we’re going to spend some time talking about that today. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: So, um, first of all, I love nontraditional paths because it’s always great to tell that story of like, how did you end up doing this? Um, those are always fun. So yeah. Tell us a little bit about specifically what Oldcastle APG does, who your customers are, because it may be a brand that our listeners are not familiar with. Sure.

Jason Dean: So. So we’re part of CRH and Oldcastle. We’re a leading product manufacturer in North America and probably one of the biggest companies you’ve never heard of. Um, we we’re a family of brands. And kind of our mantra right now is live well outside. Right. So we play in a lot of spaces, um, including pool finishes and landscape products, masonry fencing and railing, composite decking, soils and mulches. And then once again, of course, our Sakrete brand, which we’re really proud of from, um, originated in 1936, um, as Dave mentioned.

Rachel Simon: So chances are somebody who has an outdoor space has probably has products from your company.

Jason Dean: Absolutely. We drive I get texts and emails all the time. There’s always people going, hey, I saw your product here. I saw your product there. Um, actually, my daughter was in New York City a couple of weeks ago and sent me a picture of a pallet of sakrete in downtown New York City. So it’s always fun to see our products, um, kind of out there in the real world. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: And it’s a global company, correct?

Jason Dean: We are. We’re a global company. Yes, ma’am.

Rachel Simon: Um, very, very interesting. I mean, especially I’ve been begging for a deck at my house, so maybe someday I’ll have some Oldcastle APG materials at my home. Well, you know.

Jason Dean: Who to call.

Rachel Simon: You do? There you go. Um, yeah. So tell us what. What’s sort of your differentiator in the market?

Dave Jackson: Well, you know, I think we work in a very interesting space where, you know, at the end of the day, building materials are a bit of a commodity product, especially bad concrete. It’s probably one of the worst offenders. That bad concrete, at the end of the day is sort of bad concrete. So what it really comes down to for us is how can we get closer to our end users and solve problems for them, because it’s really not all about the material. At the end of the day, concrete is concrete is concrete to a certain extent. What we spend a lot of time thinking about and driving, I think both from a sales and marketing standpoint, is how can we make APG a customer or a business that our customers want to do business with? How can we make their lives easier? How can we help them make more money, get the job done faster, easier, more efficiently? So I think that’s really the thing that from a conceptual standpoint, sets us apart is that starting from the customer’s point of view rather than our own.

Speaker6: Yeah.

Jason Dean: And we focus on building relationships, right? Because we’re in a relationship business people buy from people, and we want our customers to feel confident in doing business with Oldcastle, because providing the highest level of service and quality products is. Kind of our day to day goal.

Lee Kantor: Now, from a B2B standpoint, obviously you’re working with people who are dealing with the end user. At the end of the day, how does sales and marketing kind of work together? Like our sales kind of the front line. You’re learning what your customer needs are and you’re trying to stay ahead of that and you’re listening to their concerns, and then you’re sharing that with marketing or like who who’s kind of driving and who’s kind of reacting to the information that’s gleaned.

Dave Jackson: Well, I’d say if you’re doing it right, the information is flowing in both directions. You know, the sales team is definitely the front line. They’ve got the best read on who the customers are, what they need, what the competition is doing. That obviously has to be fed into marketing for us to spin, for lack of a better term. And then we on the marketing side, I think, have to be well versed enough in the sales process to give the sales team information, assets, campaigns that solve that problem for them, because sales guys are great at selling, and if we can help them tell a really good, compelling story, they’re the the best voice that we have out in the market.

Lee Kantor: So do you have a mechanism that allows the sales folks to bubble up those stories? How does that come about?

Jason Dean: Yeah, so so being a big company, we do a really good job of collaborating across the sales team and the marketing team. The good news is Dave and I have worked really close together for, you know, for a few years here at corporate. And we do we take stories from the field and it’s all about the customer. We listen to the customer and understand what their needs are. And it’s not just the customer that’s buying the material. We talk. We made a pivot the last few years and we really focus on the end user, okay. Because that’s really important information of what the end user actually needs to be successful in the field. And then we take that back to Dave. And Dave puts wonderful spins on and gives us good ideas of kind of how we can take what our customers need, the end user needs, and spin that into a story that that really resonates in the marketplace.

Rachel Simon: Is the end user like a contractor? Like who? Who would be other examples of who that end user might be? We’ll have.

Jason Dean: Diyers. Yeah. You know, the Weekend Warrior, they’re doing their own projects. And then a lot of pro customers, you know, the pro customers, you really don’t. You know, we always joke about where does Sakrete end up. We sell so much sakrete, you know, one year we sold enough sakrete to go around the world like three times. If you take the bags end to end and a lot of it ends up in the fencing world, a lot of it ends up in repair products. So it’s kind of it’s kind of fun seeing and we’ve seen some outlandish ways that our products are used and we’re like, I probably wouldn’t do that. But it’s it’s always been fun to kind of see kind of what’s going on in the marketplace and how they’re using our products.

Lee Kantor: Now, you’ve been in the business for so many years. How have you seen it evolve in terms of kind of learning from your customer? Have you seen some things like, oh, we didn’t think of that, but the customer did, and now that’s a whole, you know, big part of our business now.

Jason Dean: Yeah, we have, you know, when when the brand started in 1936 obviously I wasn’t around in 1936. But you know, over, over the past few years, we’ve kind of dug in and we’ve understood that, um, you know, even though it’s just concrete and it’s repair products, um, they’re used in so many different ways. And we always try to find that niche use that we haven’t thought of.

Lee Kantor: Um, can do you remember any that stands out to you in the years that you’ve been doing this? That something was like, oh, wow. That’s that’s pretty clever there.

Dave Jackson: Well, you know, I think to your point about trying to really nail down who our customer is, what they care about, who they are. As as people has become more and more and more important because especially when we’re selling commodities, it’s how do we set ourselves apart? It’s by being smarter, more relevant, more connected. And I think the one that jumps to mind immediately for me is the fact that we have just in the past year or two years, started doing a very, uh, focused Hispanic marketing effort, uh, which frankly, and this is, you know, egg on my own face, something that we should have been doing for a long time. Um, statistically, just based on census data. Hispanic customers and Hispanic pros are 30% of the construction market, and that’s a low number, I would imagine. So the fact that we had been. What, man? Not not intentionally, but unconsciously, leaving them out of our our communications. And the story that we’re trying to tell was a huge gap that we needed to fill. And I think in the past year and a half, two years, the efforts that we’ve made to really make sure that we are speaking directly to that customer and making sure that they see, you know, feel heard and represented and respected is a very big deal for us. And just I’d say that’s a good sort of encapsulation of our ethos around making sure that we’re delivering solutions for the actual customer. Yeah.

Jason Dean: And based on some of that feedback we’ve gotten from our customers, we have created products maybe that are more fast setting, maybe that the extended working times, there are certain things that the Concrete Pro is looking for to be able to do their job efficiently and effectively. And I think we’ve we’ve made some tweaks along the line of finding what that what our customers are really needing. And we’re still listening to them. You know, we listen to them every day. Um, you know, we’re very connected to that end user. And if we find that, um, if we find that we’re missing a, we’ve got a gap in our portfolio, then we quickly figure out a way to fill that gap.

Speaker6: Yeah.

Rachel Simon: So when you’re, you know, trying to using your example of kind of getting tapping deeper into the Hispanic market, are you connecting with them at conferences like in print? Like how where are you tapping into that audience?

Dave Jackson: So there’s I’d say there’s really two big ways. And what’s really interesting, not just about that, that customer and that market. I’d say this is a general rule, but the idea of getting involved in their in the community, having a voice, having a presence, being, um, seen essentially, you know, but being in an organic, authentic way is what’s really important. And I’ll say in particular for Hispanic pro social media has been a really strong entry point for us. Um, obviously it works very well, general market, but there’s what we’ve found is that that is really such a big point of community for the Hispanic pro. They have a ton of pride in the work that they do, sharing that on social building, kind of that community, even though it’s not in person, is something that we’ve been able to tap into. And I think make sure that we’re, you know, authentically engaging with them through that direction.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. Which channels are sort of the most successful for you?

Dave Jackson: The, the big ones? Um, TikTok and Instagram are definitely the big two. Um, we’re working with, um, a couple of influencers over on that side. And, and I would say those are definitely the big two. So it’s short form, mobile driven, uh, relatively young audience. And just from a digital penetration standpoint, you know, the Hispanic pro is very, uh, overindexes on sort of their interest in social media.

Rachel Simon: Linkedin is is beta testing short form video again. So just.

Speaker6: Interesting.

Rachel Simon: Put that on your radar.

Speaker6: Put that in put.

Dave Jackson: That in the queue. There we go.

Lee Kantor: Now is there any advice for other firms that you’ve mentioned several times here how important it is to have that collaboration between sales and marketing? Is there any kind of advice or tips you can give an organization to create that level of communication and clarity of messaging when it comes to having a good working relationship between sales and marketing?

Jason Dean: You know, I would say that, um, it goes hand in hand, right? If companies keep those departments so separated that they’re not collaborating on a day to day basis, they’re going to miss out. And that’s one thing that we’ve done really well is we’ve brought the teams together on the marketing and sales.

Lee Kantor: So that’s from a cultural standpoint. You think the culture of the organization is such that it kind of lends itself to this level of collaboration and and teamwork, whereas some of them, as you mentioned, are siloed. Some organizations may be culturally dysfunctional or siloed. And then it’s they’re they’re kind of adversarial rather than collaborative.

Speaker6: Absolutely.

Jason Dean: And I think our culture, um, is one thing. And then our focus on the customer, right? We we focus on our customer and we focus on the end user. And I’ll keep saying that because that’s such a foundation of what we do and how we’ve been successful. Um, you know, brands don’t stay around for almost 90 years. Um, if they don’t have that.

Dave Jackson: And I think you’re right, it is that that culture. And that’s something that I try and reinforce to my team. Is that really marketing done right is a sales support function. But I think that that your point about customer first is really the ethos that brings us all together and points us in the same direction.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, I’ve seen just in my, uh, observation from different companies that a lot of times one of the reasons why there’s misalignment is lack of clarity on who owns what, right, who’s. For this function. And, you know, sales thinks its sales marketing thinks its marketing or vice versa. And then it’s like, let’s all play together. We all have the same goals. We. So kudos to you all for really sounding like you’re doing an amazing job of collaborating.

Jason Dean: And one other thing I would say is, um, you got to be willing to change course, right? You know, I mean, there’s we’ve said and we’ve said in rooms for hours, Dave and I have and we’ve, we’ve thought we had it all figured out. We do something, we make a change. We we we pull out an ad, and then all of a sudden we’re like, no, we need to we need to tweak this and we need to hit the market again with a different message. So you have to be willing to to change course if needed. Um, but once again, it does. It comes back to that collaboration piece is so important from a sales and marketing group.

Dave Jackson: And having a bit of humility, I think that we don’t necessarily have all the answers. And it’s, you know, reaching across the aisle and making sure that we’ve got sort of everything considered.

Lee Kantor: Now, how has the kind of outdoor, uh, architectural or landscaping, um, industry as a whole changed? Is it is this now more of a must have for people in their homes, or is it is that trend going or is it, um, you know, kind of a nice to have.

Jason Dean: Well, well, I think during, during Covid, um, it changed a lot. I think a lot of folks at home, you know, they would spend time in the out in, in their backyard. Right. Um, when Covid happened, they had to spend time. It wasn’t it wasn’t a maybe we will we have to because we can’t go anywhere. And we saw a really boom. And that’s kind of why we we changed our mantra on on our outdoor living segment to live well outside. People feel better when they’re outside, right? Um, you’re healthier. You feel good. So we we’ve kind of gone all in. And what we’re trying to do is we want to be a family of brands that play in the, in the backyard and be able to, you know, from the pool, finish all the way to the fence when you’re done. We want to be able to play in that space.

Lee Kantor: So are there some things that are are that we can look forward to, maybe trends that are upcoming that people, homeowners can, uh, you know, either aspire to get or start thinking about putting into their household budget when it comes to outdoor elements.

Speaker6: Yeah.

Jason Dean: So we offer a lot of elements in the outdoor. We’ll do we do everything from kitchens, um, you know, we can do the art forms, kitchen packages, which are really popular right now. But but I really don’t think the products have changed much overall. You know, when you look at your outside, you think about a nice deck, a fire pit, a swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen. We’ve played in those spaces for several years, but we’re being a little bit more intentional today on kind of how we talk about those products and make sure that customers know that, hey, these are available in your market. And, um, it’s just a matter of picking and choosing what your backyard wants to look like. And we help with design as well, and through our belgard business. So, um, you know, we we’re all in. And if people go to the website Oldcastle apg com, they can see and they can pull up the belgard, um, side of our business and really see what we offer from from that backyard solution.

Rachel Simon: Are you doing commercial spaces as well?

Jason Dean: We do. We’re heavily involved in. I’ll let Dave talk about the HGTV. We’re the dream home. We’re we’re heavily involved in that program every year, which is phenomenal. Um, so you can if you watch HGTV, you’ll definitely see our commercials there. Um, on that side of the business as well.

Lee Kantor: Has has that changed kind of people’s expectations, like those type of, uh, shows where they see like, oh, this is out, this is possible. Now why can’t I have one?

Speaker6: Yeah.

Jason Dean: And all you got to do is you got to figure out what you want and make sure it works in your budget. And the good news is, is, is we’ve got, um, we’ve got you can get a nice backyard upgrade what you have now for $5,000. Right. Or you can go out and spend $200,000.

Lee Kantor: You can spend as much as you want.

Speaker6: I’m sure you can.

Jason Dean: Spend as much as you want. So. So that’s the thing. We appeal to all, all sides of that. Um, and we’ve got products that, that we make that will work in, in each, you know, each segment of, of whatever your budget might be.

Speaker6: Yeah.

Rachel Simon: That’s a very cool brand partnership with HGTV, I’m sure.

Jason Dean: Oh it is, it’s been long standing and it’s great. And our customers love it. And and it does. It’s it shows the possibilities of what you can do outside, um, understanding, you know, that there’s budget constraints for everybody. But we can we can hit each bucket and get them something really nice that that works. So you get.

Rachel Simon: To go to the dream home every year when they do their HGTV dream home.

Jason Dean: We do. Yeah, we’re heavily involved in the dream home, um, stuff and, and our, our, our president, Tim Ortman and Jenny Nail, our, um, chief revenue officer, they’re heavily involved in in those as well. So it’s a team effort, um, on kind of our marketing side and, and what we talk about on a daily basis to live well outside.

Lee Kantor: So what is an element you’ve seen somewhere that you were like, oh, I didn’t even I couldn’t imagine something like this. Like what’s kind of the most, I don’t want to say outlandish but maybe most extravagant outdoor.

Dave Jackson: You know, I actually don’t think that it’s extravagance so much as the transformation element of seeing someone’s backyard, you know, as it was torn down to the studs and then rebuilt into something that is completely different. Um, that is what gets me really excited personally. Is that potential for change and how much you can do with the space that you have? Because we all know that, you know, housing market’s real tough right now. So people are not buying their way into these upgrades. You kind of have to build with what you’ve got. But I think the fact that you can take a boring, basic builder grade backyard and really turn it into an oasis using a combination of all of our products is really powerful and exciting to see out in the world, because.

Lee Kantor: You see sometimes, like in a hotel or you travel, you see a resort kind of experience outdoors, and all of a sudden now you’re seeing some backyards that are having kind of some of the elements that were only in like high end.

Dave Jackson: Absolutely.

Speaker6: I think it’s yeah.

Jason Dean: It’s absolutely amazing. Some of the stuff that we see because we, you know, we do our obviously we do our belgard catalogs every year and things like that. And we get submissions in and, and some of these backyards. Outlandish is a good word to use. They’re crazy. I mean, we see everything from, you know, full kitchens, um, you know, pool slides. I mean, really, the sky’s the limit. And, um, and a lot of folks, you know, they’re I mean, that’s a living space anymore, right? You know, we’re years ago, it wasn’t a living space. Um, you know, over the last few years, you know, we’ve changed that. We’re like, hey, I’ve got this backyard. So that’s an extra room. So that’s the way we.

Lee Kantor: Look, right? So they’ve kind of in their mind, they’ve reframed what their backyard could be, where it was like grass and a swing set maybe. And now it’s like you said, it’s another room. This is more square footage for my house to make it more valuable and more. Yeah. Um, you know, better for me currently and for the future owner if I sell this.

Speaker6: Sure.

Jason Dean: Absolutely. And it’s more livable. And people, obviously, you know, with what’s going on with interest rates and how and home prices, people are saying, hey, I could do this and move and spend this much money, or I could invest in my property and, and make it nicer for, for me and for my kids. And, and we see that. And that’s the most exciting part about being part of a progressive company is we have all these products and we do we we, you know, we want to own the backyard, and we want our contractors and customers really to be able to come to us. And then we can provide a solution so they don’t have to go to ten different vendors to, to accomplish what they want to accomplish in their backyard.

Rachel Simon: This is what I aspire to in my backyard.

Speaker6: We can help.

Jason Dean: I told you, we can help you.

Lee Kantor: It’s also you’re helping them think bigger. You know, they might not even know what’s possible, but you’re giving them an idea of what could be. And then, like you said, you can take baby steps to get there.

Jason Dean: Yeah, Belgacom there’s a lot of stuff on that. So if people want to start at least looking at what, you know, kind of.

Speaker6: The possibilities.

Dave Jackson: Getting it out of getting out of Pinterest mode, out of inspiration and actually trying to put some bones around that, like, hey, this is what I could theoretically achieve. So as she writes down Bellosguardo.

Speaker6: There you go.

Rachel Simon: Um, yeah. So tell us a little bit again. You’re based here in Sandy Springs. What are some examples in the area, some success stories we could potentially see in our community here?

Speaker6: Oh, it’s.

Jason Dean: Kind of funny you say that. So, um, you know, Georgia Masonry Supply is our local business here, and we’ve got block, paver and dry mix plants over, um, just a couple jobs that that you would probably see us at is the the Sandy Springs, Sandy Springs city center. We were heavily involved in that, the Abernathy Greenway. We’ve got hardscape products there. And then right now we’re doing the Sandy Sandy Springs Police headquarters, um, that’s actually under construction. And then not to mention the hundreds or thousands of backyards that that are around our community right now that have product going in. Um, you know, it’s funny, I was talking to somebody this morning and I was talking to Anne Carlson, and she’s in our office this morning and she’s like, yeah, she lives in Sandy Springs. And she’s she was out for a walk, and she sees belgard pavers and sakrete on her walk every week. She sees a house that’s doing a certain project. So you’ll see our a lot of folks, they use our products every single day and they just don’t realize it. Um, so.

Speaker6: Yeah.

Dave Jackson: And I’m still at the point where I get excited when I’m like, oh, look, that’s our block. My, uh, my wife’s about tired of hearing about it, but it’s still exciting to to see our stuff out in the wild, I think.

Jason Dean: I love to see it, you know, um, we I was in Salt Lake City, um, several weeks ago, and I was at a stoplight and there was a whole, um, truckload of sakrete next to me that somebody had just picked up. And I just got the. Yeah, I took a picture. I was sitting in a stoplight, so. Safely took a picture, but it’s exciting when you see your products out there making a difference and customers are are raving about our quality and our service. And that’s really that’s why that’s why we do it for that’s why I’ve been here for 30 years. And if they if they keep me around, I’ll be here for another, I guess until they tell me to tell me to leave.

Lee Kantor: And it’s one of those things where everybody is happy around your product. Like when they’re done, they’re they got something they’re proud of. So it must be rewarding work for you.

Speaker6: Oh, absolutely.

Jason Dean: It is rewarding. I mean, you know, that’s the ultimate goal during the construction phase. There’s a lot of hard work obviously. Are we? We always joke our products aren’t real sexy on the secret side of the business, but but our secret products are useful in everything that that we build in the backyard, from the fence to the repair, you know, the.

Dave Jackson: Port walkways.

Jason Dean: And walkways. So but when you get to the final end of that, um, end of that journey on your project, you can look at it and you can be really proud of kind of what we helped create.

Speaker6: Um.

Rachel Simon: Great. Well.

Lee Kantor: And so once again, what are the best websites coordinates for someone to plug in?

Dave Jackson: I start with Oldcastle APG. Com and you’ll be able to access all the other brand sites from there, from belgard to moisture shield decking to Sakrete to pebble tech pool finishes and everything in between. But yeah, old.

Jason Dean: Fencing and Brett fencing business. Um, everything you can you can get from that website.

Rachel Simon: Absolutely. One stop shop. You got.

Dave Jackson: It. That’s the idea.

Speaker6: Stop shop. There you go.

Lee Kantor: And, Rachel, before we wrap and a LinkedIn tip.

Rachel Simon: Uh, yeah, well, not as much of a tip as, uh, some a new kid on the block. Um, so LinkedIn, uh, May 1st rolled out games. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it. There’s three games they rolled out. So now, if you’re on your home screen, kind of underneath where the news is on the right hand column, you’ll see the games there. Um. I think it’s kind of interesting. I’m not sure why they feel like LinkedIn users want to play games on there. Um, sometimes.

Lee Kantor: I think it’s time on site. They want they.

Rachel Simon: Want time on site. They do.

Lee Kantor: More time on.

Rachel Simon: Site. I will be honest. The games are. Not the most fun to play.

Lee Kantor: Uh, there’s not a Wordle in there.

Rachel Simon: There’s not a Wordle. There is like a minesweeper. Oh, my God, I wish right.

Speaker6: Um, bring back minesweeper.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, they should have. Totally. I used to be addicted to that game. Um, so, you know, test them out, see what you think? I. I’m not sure they’re getting the play that they were hoping, because you can kind of see how many of your connections are playing them. And mine is generally around like 10 to 15. And I have a lot more than that. So I just don’t I don’t know, sometimes it’s just an example of they roll out features that. May not be what the users want, but.

Speaker6: Check.

Rachel Simon: It out and see what you think. Let me know.

Speaker6: Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you both for being part of the show today. You’re both doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Speaker6: Absolutely.

Jason Dean: Thanks for having us. We we really appreciate you being here.

Lee Kantor: All right. Lee Kantor for Rachel Simon. We’ll see you all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.

About Your Host

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

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

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

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.

Rebecca Strobl with New Day Education and Motivation

May 20, 2024 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Rebecca Strobl with New Day Education and Motivation

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As the Founder and President of New Day Education and Motivation, Chief Rebecca Strobl has dedicated her life to serving her community since 2007 through Fire and Emergency Medical services as a volunteer.

Rebecca’s qualifications include being a licensed State of Georgia EMT-Intermediate and a certified Health and Safety Institute (HSI) instructor. She has also contributed as an Advisor for Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services Explorer Post 469 since 2012. In addition, she made history as the first female fire chief in the Lake Arrowhead Volunteer Fire Department’s and Cherokee County’s history. Rebecca’s dedication to serving her community and fellow volunteers remained steadfast until she retired from the volunteer fire department in 2020.

Rebecca’s professional background extends beyond emergency services with over two decades of experience in new business development, client retention, employee engagement, training, team building, and motivational speaking. She has captivated audiences worldwide with her ability to weave knowledge, enthusiasm, and humor together in an engaging manner. Her various skills in Corporate America and grassroots volunteerism have honed these skills. Her passion lies in inspiring others to embrace learning and personal growth.

She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree and has completed FEMA – Incident Command and Management Systems Courses 100, 200, 300, 400, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 775 and 800. Over the years, she has been recognized with multiple awards and honors for her contributions to training, new business development contributions, and exemplary service as a volunteer firefighter.

Furthermore, Rebecca holds the prestigious Certified Protection Professional (CPP) certification from the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS). This global “gold standard’ certification demonstrates her expertise across the seven key domains of security. Rebecca has the privilege of serving as the Chair of the Greater Atlanta ASIS International Chapter, where she continues contributing to the security management profession.

Connect with Rebecca on Facebook.

Austyn Guest is a young entrepreneur from the The Kid Biz Expo program.

Layla Dierdorff is a young entrepreneur from the The Kid Biz Expo program.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Kid Biz Radio. Kid Biz Radio creates conversations about the power of entrepreneurship and the positive impact that journey can have on kids. For more information, go to Kid Bispo. Com. Now here’s your host.

Layla Dierdorff: Hello. Welcome to Kid Biz Radio. I’m Layla.

Austyn Guest: And I’m Austyn.

Layla Dierdorff: And today we have an awesome guest with us in the studio, Rebecca, with New Day Education and Motivation.

Austyn Guest: Hi, Rebecca. Thank you so much for being with us here today.

Rebecca Strobl: Thank you very much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Layla Dierdorff: Of course. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your business?

Rebecca Strobl: Yeah, absolutely. So again, Rebecca, I am an actually retired volunteer fire chief. I’ve made history in this county by becoming the first female fire chief. So my volunteer department up in Lake Arrowhead in this county, little did I know, I was making history. I. Yeah, I just raised my hand to help my community. And the next thing I know, I’m getting letters of accommodation from congressmen and all these other people telling me. So that was cool. And then I also have been in the physical security world for the last 20 years. I’m a licensed security professional. So when you think of security guards, you think of cameras. Yeah, I’ve been selling those services, running sales teams that sold those services. So I’m just all I’m also an advisor for the Cherokee County Fire and Explorer Explorer program. Okay. So all kinds of different hats.

Layla Dierdorff: All kinds of things.

So how did you get started in this business?

Rebecca Strobl: So with my current company, New Day Education Motivation, I actually started that because on a sales call cool story I love this. So I was on a sales call, I was working for a staffing company, and I was trying to convince him to use our staffing company to get him forklift operators and those types of people very quickly. In a conversation, I realized that that really wasn’t going to go anywhere and we weren’t the right fit for him. So he started talking about his workers. And I had mentioned at the time I was running the fire department, I was a fire chief, and I was doing CPR and AED and first aid classes for my community. So he’s like, oh, you do those classes? I said, yeah. And he goes, well, the people we have suck.

Rebecca Strobl: He’s like, well, you know, again, these this is like, you know, construction HVAC industry. They don’t beat the bush. So he said that they had had some incidents and he didn’t feel people were prepared. So he’s like I would love for you to teach us. And I was like, well, number one, we technically shouldn’t be having this conversation.

Rebecca Strobl: Because I’m supposed to be trying to get you to sign a staffing contract.

Austyn Guest: Yeah.

Rebecca Strobl: And I’m like, I would love to, but it would have to be on a Saturday because the full time commitments. And so he basically told me, well, I want you to do it. And are you available on this Saturday? I’m like, sure, you okay? So I’m going to have you do it. I’m going to have you teach my guys. And by this date, I need you to be a business. I need you to have your tax ID number. I need you to be registered with the state of Georgia.

Layla Dierdorff: Very, like, direct?

Austyn Guest: Yes, very.

Rebecca Strobl: So I did it. So that’s how I started my business. And I’ve still maintained as a client. And then I picked up a couple of more and maintained those for the last six years.

Austyn Guest: And that’s really impressive. Yeah.

Rebecca Strobl: And then last August I decided that instead of just doing this as a Saturday business, I realized after the last 20 plus year journey started my working career at 16, working at McDonald’s. Yeah, yeah. So I’ve been working for a long time.

Austyn Guest: Yes.

Rebecca Strobl: What I realized last fall is that I’m good at sales, but I’m passionate about educating people to be prepared in emergencies. Yeah, and to make a difference in their life and others. Yeah.

Layla Dierdorff: So on this journey, what have you done that has helped you become a successful entrepreneur that you are today?

Rebecca Strobl: Having conversations with other entrepreneurs?

Austyn Guest: It always helps. Yeah.

Rebecca Strobl: And being in the security industry the last 20 years, there’s a bit of a progression in that world where you get into it because you just got out of the military, or you just got out of law enforcement, and then you do that for a while. You work for somebody else, you work in a security company, and then you get to the point where, you know what, I have enough experience.

Austyn Guest: Certifications, do it myself. Let me do it myself. And so there’s like.

Rebecca Strobl: A plethora of people to talk to that have started their own companies. And it was actually one of my good friends that when I was running a sales team, I managed people that reported to his business unit. Okay, he’s the one that encouraged me to start, you know, to really focus 100% of my efforts. And after that conversation, he’s like, you need to go for it.

Austyn Guest: Just do it. You know, you’re.

Rebecca Strobl: Getting to the point where, like, you’re getting to that age where if you don’t, you’re not going to do it. So just jump off the cliff.

Layla Dierdorff: And yeah, I like that.

Rebecca Strobl: And he connected me with his marketing person that set up my website and then other people. So really it was those relationships that I’ve been developing over the last 20 years, okay, that I was able to reach out to and bounce things off of.

Austyn Guest: That’s very cool.

Layla Dierdorff: Love it, love it. Okay.

Austyn Guest: We have had several different kinds of answers to this question, but what do you define success as?

Rebecca Strobl: I define success as doing what you absolutely love and making a difference in other people’s lives. And I firmly believe that when you do that, the money and the finances will follow. But ultimately, I can tell you, running emergency calls and having to face death and see things that in those final moments of people’s lives, they are not asking us as EMTs and firefighters and telling us what’s in their bank account. No, they’re calling out for loved ones. They’re running through their mind what they did or what they didn’t do. Mhm. And that’s how I want to live my life. That in my last moments there’s not going to be regrets because I might not have a penny to my name, but by God I.

Austyn Guest: Know that I gave it my best.

Rebecca Strobl: And I helped as many people as I could.

Austyn Guest: That’s a good way to go or.

Rebecca Strobl: Decide what happens on the end. That’s a good.

Austyn Guest: I mean, if you do what you love, you don’t work a day in your life, or so they say. But yeah. So speaking of some regrets you hope not to have in the future. Do you have any regrets, um, in your journey to becoming an entrepreneur or maybe like setbacks that you had?

Rebecca Strobl: One of the regrets I would have is that when I decided to jump in and focus on this full time, I wish I would have prepared a little bit better before I just jumped off, because I had been working for a security company and I resigned from that position in April. Then I went to work for another one for a little bit, and then all last summer I was like, oh, I’ll just get back on the hamster wheel, I’ll work for somebody else. And then last fall I decided to do it. So I really wish, looking back, that I had taken those months and.

Austyn Guest: Built a little bit more of a pipeline for myself. Yeah. That’s fine.

Layla Dierdorff: That’s smart. Um, do you have any advice for any aspiring entrepreneurs to help prevent some of those regrets, or just any advice in general?

Rebecca Strobl: Talk. Find people that are doing what you want to do and that love what you want to do.

Layla Dierdorff: Yeah.

Austyn Guest: So story does help. Yes. So yeah.

Rebecca Strobl: Don’t find an entrepreneur that’s like hating life.

Austyn Guest: Yeah.

Rebecca Strobl: And it’s like, you know, Oscar the Grouch is like a positive person compared to this person you’re talking to. Okay. Find someone that really loves it and is story time about that is when I was elected to be the volunteer fire chief of Lake Arrowhead. Again, my background is sales, security, sales. Before that, I was had a nursing background. I worked as a CNA and I was on that. My my dream as a little tiny thing was to be a medical missionary to go overseas somewhere. Africa, India somewhere. Yeah. And just plant and help a bunch of people. Yeah. You know, so I’m doing that in a different way.

Austyn Guest: I’m just not in a village in.

Rebecca Strobl: India right now. Yeah. You know.

Austyn Guest: Yeah. It’s more local.

Rebecca Strobl: Yeah, exactly. So when I was elected as a fire chief, I thought to myself, I don’t know anything about being a fire chief. I mean, I know how to be a firefighter. I know how to be an EMT. I know how to train people. I know how to train my firefighters. So I actually started reaching out to my former instructors that put me through fire school and EMT school, and then just started looking on the internet for other female fire chiefs. So I started making phone calls and emailing and getting anybody to talk to me. And so the few ladies that did call me back, I’m like, hey, hello, honey.

Austyn Guest: Yeah, this is this.

Rebecca Strobl: Is what I’m doing, what advice you can give me. And so I literally I filled, uh, notepads full of notes from these ladies as far as what books to read, what to do. And they were a tremendous help.

Layla Dierdorff: I like that a lot. Yeah. So we’ve talked about the past and the present. Let’s talk about some future things. Um, do you have any future goals for your business? Short term, long term, long term anything?

Austyn Guest: Yeah, I.

Rebecca Strobl: Would say a long term goal that I have. And depending on how hard I work and what happens, it may not be long term. But the one goal I have is to get to a point where I’m so busy with CPR, first aid, bloodborne pathogens, fire safety classes that I have to hire other instructors to keep up with the demand, and then I can move over to the more motivation part of my.

Austyn Guest: Company.

Rebecca Strobl: And do more speeches and be in more media opportunities like this to inspire others. Because I can tell you that when I was in your shoes and your age, um, there was very few people, if I can think of maybe one individual, but I had nobody in my life that was encouraging me and inspiring me to be my best being an entrepreneur. Oh lord. No, that was yeah, that was not. That wasn’t an across the ocean.

Austyn Guest: Yeah, my mom always said that. Like, as her generation growing up, it was always the one thing you had to do was go to college. That’s how you’ll be successful in life. That’s what you were supposed to do. And now here she is running kid biz with Renee. So.

Layla Dierdorff: Yeah, my mom’s always talked about how she just regretted regretted not being an entrepreneur sooner because of just the pressures that was put on her. So she’s like, made sure to never put those on anyone like me or Harper.

Austyn Guest: So that’s incredible. Okay, so these are kind of more in depth questions. So take your time with answering. Um, if you had the attention of the whole world for five minutes, everyone was paying attention and listening to what you were saying, what would you say?

Rebecca Strobl: I would say every single person that’s on the planet. You were designed for a purpose. You have unique talents, you have unique skills, and you have the power to make a massive difference and bless other people’s lives. So use those, figure out what those are, whatever just excites you and you’re passionate about and use them. Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s it’s wrong or anybody tell you that, well, you’re not good enough. Yes, you are good enough because you have a talent I don’t have. You have a talent I don’t have. And that’s what I would do because I see that time and time again. Especially being an advisor with the explorer posts is everyone has so much potential, and we spend too much times in our lives telling ourselves and letting other people tell us about how all this isn’t right. And you can’t do this and you can’t do that. Yes, we can, but we can do what we were designed to do.

Austyn Guest: Yeah.

Layla Dierdorff: Um, another question. If you woke up tomorrow without your business, what would be your first steps to recovery if you even wanted to recover?

Rebecca Strobl: I would figure out why I don’t have a business anymore.

Austyn Guest: It just disappeared out of thin air. You have no idea where it went. It as if it never existed.

Rebecca Strobl: Well, I would be doing a lot of praying.

Austyn Guest: And I would.

Rebecca Strobl: Reevaluate, think. Okay, well, I thought that that was a good business plan, but maybe not. And sort of like what I did when I became fire chief. Start making a whole lot of phone calls and talking to people. Yeah.

Layla Dierdorff: Communication, networking, all the things.

Austyn Guest: That always helps. Mhm. Okay. So after said deep more in thought questions. We have a quick this or that answer as quick as you can. It’s going to be just simple this or that. All right. Cats or dogs.

Layla Dierdorff: Cats Spider-Man or Batman.

Austyn Guest: Batman books or movies. Books.

Layla Dierdorff: Waffle or curly fries.

Austyn Guest: Curly fries. Mountains or the beach.

Rebecca Strobl: Oh, man. That’s a mountains.

Layla Dierdorff: Sweet or salty?

Austyn Guest: Salty chocolate or fruity candy?

Layla Dierdorff: Chocolate cake or pie? Pie.

Austyn Guest: Okay. This question every time. Lower high rise jeans.

Rebecca Strobl: I don’t even know the difference, so I’ll just take one. Low rise jeans.

Layla Dierdorff: Comedy or.

Austyn Guest: Horror? Comedy? I personally would have said horror, but that. Okay. Well, thank you very much, Rebecca, for hanging out with us today. We really appreciate it. Can you tell everyone how they can get in touch with you and check out what you’re doing in the future?

Rebecca Strobl: Absolutely. You can go to my website. It’s newday education and motivation.com. And if I want to tell everybody that’s listening, if you’re having a rough day and you’re feeling discouraged with life or you need to pick me up, go to my website newday. Education and motivation. Com go to the Be Inspired page and you’ll see some of my poems and motivational quotes.

Layla Dierdorff: Very nice. Well, fantastic! We really enjoyed our time with you today, and we know our audience will get so much out of hearing your story. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you on the next one.

Austyn Guest: Awesome!