angishields, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

Defying the Odds and Following Your Passion: Devon’s Story

October 4, 2023 by angishields

Northwest Arkansas

Defying the Odds and Following Your Passion: Devon's Story

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Get ready to be inspired! In this uplifting interview on Northwest Arkansas Business Radio, host Adam Robison sits down with Devon Newman, an empowered entrepreneurship trainer at Canopy NWA. Canopy is a nonprofit that helps refugees build businesses and thrive in the Northwest Arkansas community.

Devon shares her incredible story of strength, hope and perseverance. While backpacking through South America with her boyfriend Brandon at age 22, Devon was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. After hiking up a mountain in Argentina, she fell into a thorn bush and her hand swelled to twice its size. At the hospital, doctors discovered a mango-sized tumor in her neck that had spread from her lungs.

With minimal English spoken, Devon had to have Brandon translate this earth-shattering news to her. They immediately flew back to the U.S. where Devon started chemotherapy treatment just days later.

Rather than let the cancer stop her ambitious dreams, Devon studied for the GMAT during her chemo sessions and scored well enough to earn a full scholarship for her MBA at the University of Arkansas. She even continued working part-time at Barnes and Noble throughout her treatment.

Devon and Brandon also traveled the world during and after her recovery, exploring places like Iceland, Columbia, and more. They recently bought 25 acres of land in Westwood, Arkansas where Devon wants to create beautiful, whimsical gardens and eventually grow organic starts for the community.

Devon started her own side business The Raised Bed Co. where she builds and plants custom raised garden beds for clients, allowing anyone to grow their own fruits, vegetables and herbs. She is extremely passionate about gardening and the joy it brings.

Hitting her 5-year cancer free mark this April, Devon will be celebrating in style with a cancer-themed party full of joy and laughter. She is living life to the fullest, not letting her health challenges stop her from pursuing her dreams.

Tune in to hear more of Devon’s incredible life journey and the wisdom she shares. This uplifting interview will brighten your day and give you an empowering perspective. You’ll also get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the whimsical land Devon is cultivating, her world travels, passions, business ventures, and so much more.

Devon Newman is an entrepreneurship trainer at Canopy NWA, a nonprofit that helps refugees start businesses in Northwest Arkansas. She has an MBA from the University of Arkansas and is passionate about empowering immigrant entrepreneurs. Devon is also a cancer survivor, traveler, and gardening enthusiast.

Socials

Instagram: https://instagram.com/devonrnewman/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1348112624

TikTok: @newmantravel

Web

Canopy of Northwest Arkansas

http://www.canopynwa.org/

The Raised Beds Co.

http://theraisedbedco.com

Marianne Butler and Leonard Akers with Homeless Coalition of Cherokee County

October 3, 2023 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Marianne Butler and Leonard Akers with Homeless Coalition of Cherokee County

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Sponsored by Woodstock Neighbors Magazine

Get ready for a night of fun and excitement at The Homeless Coalition of Cherokee County’s Costume Ball & Fundraiser event! Put on your most creative and unique costume and join us on Saturday, October 14, 2023 at Timbers on Etowah (225 Reformation Parkway #Suite 202, Canton, GA 30114). The event kicks off at 7:00 PM.

Marianne Butler was selected to serve as the Homeless Coalition’s first Director. She brings to this role over 20 years of diverse experience serving people in need from a professional and spiritual perspective. She has hands on experience working with vulnerable populations ranging from special needs children to aging veterans in the VA Hospital system.

Her background, which includes a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The University of Southern Mississippi, lends to the Coalition her knowledge and ability to fully understand the needs of individuals with a broad range of physical, behavioral, and emotional issues from severe psychiatric conditions to those facing urgent financial and quality of life circumstances.

While her background is vast, her heart is even bigger. It is her compassion for connecting individuals and families with both professional and spiritual guidance that makes her uniquely gifted and qualified to serve in this capacity.

Marianne resides in Woodstock, Georgia along with her husband, two daughters, and various pets. We are honored and grateful to have her passion and experience to help facilitate a more wholistic and integrated approach to bringing relief, recovery, and ultimately restoration to individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Cherokee County.

Follow Homeless Coalition of Cherokee County on Facebook.

Leonard Akers, Associate Pastor at Local Church Canton

Follow Local Church Canton on Facebook and Instagram.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio Stone Payton here with you this morning. And today’s episode is brought to you in part by Woodstock Neighbors magazine, bringing neighbors and business together. For more information, go to Facebook and Instagram at Woodstock Neighbors Wbvm. And if you have a small business and you have a heart for community and would like to utilize this platform to serve others and help you grow your business, consider joining us our Community Partner program, Main Street Warriors. Go check us out at Main Street warriors.org. All right, it’s time for our headliner. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Homeless Coalition Cherokee. Welcome back to the Business RadioX microphone. Ms. Marianne Butler. How are you?

Marianne Butler: I’m doing great this morning. Thanks for having me.

Stone Payton: Oh, I’m delighted to have you back in the studio. I told you last time we talked, I was quite sincere. We wanted to have you back and check in on some things. I know you’ve got some interesting stuff coming up, but let’s before we go there, would you take a moment and maybe articulate for me and our listening audience? Mission, purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for the community?

Marianne Butler: So, sure, the homeless coalition of Cherokee County is committed to coming alongside those experiencing homelessness so that they realize housing, stability and wholeness in Christ. So that sounds like a lot of great big words.

Stone Payton: It also sounds like you’ve answered that question before. That was incredibly articulate. I know I said articulate and you were articulate.

Marianne Butler: Nailed it. So, yeah, so it sounds like a lot of big words and stuff, but we actually use those words and we’re we’re creating programs and a process to to make housing stability a reality for a lot of those experiencing homelessness in our community. So it’s a very exciting time. We’re a new little group and so we’re excited to be here and share what we’re doing.

Stone Payton: So I said this last time, and I’ll say it again, I guess surprised is an accurate anymore since I had the benefit of a real conversation with you. Not that that long ago, but it still intriguing to me. I don’t know what the right word is, you know, because it seems like a pretty affluent community. You know, I’ve got a nice little patio home right on the edge of downtown Woodstock. Holly and I hopped in the golf cart and went down to reformation. We had a beer. We enjoyed the weather. Holly’s involved with the art scene here. I get to meet, you know, small business people every day and have a conversation. It it just it doesn’t I guess it’s still unnerving. I don’t know what the right verb is that we actually have a homeless population here in Cherokee County.

Marianne Butler: We do. And that I get get that question or I get that conversation a lot from people. I’ve never seen somebody experiencing homelessness. I don’t see those big camps. Like like when you go down into downtown Atlanta or even some of our larger cities, you see big camps and things like that. And that’s really not as descriptive of those experiencing homelessness in Cherokee County. On any given night, we’ll have about 200 at least people who are unsheltered a night. And that’s not including what we call precariously housed. Those are people who may have enough money to live in a hotel for a few nights, but then the next night they don’t they don’t know where they’re going to be. So they’ll they’re back in their car. They may be in their car for a while and move from parking lot to parking lot. So precariously housed is uncertain, unsteady, unstable housing. They may be on a friend’s, an uncle, cousin, whoever. They may live on the couch for a few nights. But then again, they don’t know where they’re going to go next. And it’s you know, one of the glaring problems is we don’t have an emergency shelter. So so people are really kind of scrambling if they’re living paycheck to paycheck and things like that.

Stone Payton: So, yeah, speaking of emergencies, what about we don’t we’re fortunate. We don’t have that many weather events, but it can get really cold or have a storm coming through that. So that’s a challenge, too.

Marianne Butler: Yes, it is a challenge. It is a challenge. And we’ve. Is a challenge I don’t have. I wish I had an immediate solution for that. Right. Right. It certainly. But I don’t have one. We’ve worked with other groups in order to assist. When it got really, really cold last Christmas, it was below freezing, I think for three days in a row. We did assist the way church in downtown Woodstock and I believe Action Church also opened their doors for those who were out in that freezing. I mean, it was it was freezing for three days in a row. So. Yeah, but that’s not a permanent solution.

Stone Payton: Right, Right. So you mentioned being a young organization. Kind of walk us through the history and what compelled you personally to get involved with this effort.

Marianne Butler: So yeah, the history this was about 2018 ish. Some pastors came together and started kind of questioning and wondering. Pastors and lay leaders from about six local churches came together and started kind of questioning, wondering what’s going on with with people who are unhoused unsheltered in the community. Where are the needs, where are the gaps in services? And we didn’t know you know, they didn’t know. And pastors, you know, they’re great. They’ve got these vision casting things going on and they’re like, wow, what’s going on? So they I was in on those earlier conversations as a lay leader in one of the churches. And then we they ended up hiring me in 2020 to start 2020 when everything shut down. Right. Perfect timing. It was actually good timing, but they hired me to kind of figure out what was going on in the community where the gaps in services in particular are and fill those needs. So we don’t want to reinvent the wheel. We’re not going to be something that’s already existed and done well by another organization. But we wanted to fill in those gaps. And luckily we have today Leonard Akers with us. He is a board member and a pastor at local church. And I think he was in on those early conversations as well.

Leonard Akers: So yeah, thanks for having us. Stone We got together and there was a couple people that just had a heart for homelessness and it really was sort of a discovery like, like what is I think a lot of us might have been in the same place that you were. Stone of just is this really an issue up here? You know, we know about downtown Atlanta and see pictures of big cities all over the world. But as we discovered, we then got led to prayerfully think about forming something that I think the important word for us is that we want to be relationally engaged with people who are experiencing homelessness. And I like to think that most of the people who are experiencing homelessness in our community are sort of hidden. In other words, they’re people that we know. They’re people who take their kids to school. They’re people that might look on the surface as if everything is fine. But the reality is, is that in the evenings they’re like Marianne said, they’re crashing at someone’s couch or they’re in a Walmart parking lot in their car, leaving the car on all night long to keep the kids warm. Right. And I think that we discovered that there was a unique opportunity for us to relationally engage with folks and provide relief. Hopefully that then leads to some sort of recovery and eventually to full restoration, which is really what our community is all about, is relationally caring for people in the hopes that we can help some of them, maybe a lot of them find their way to stability and housing and then also restoration in their own faith beliefs.

Stone Payton: So let’s dive into this relationally and engaging with someone. I actually know, a person that I am 80% confident is how did you put it? Precariously, precariously housed and I’ll give you that background later, confidentially off the off the air. But I’m not I don’t even feel like I would know what to say like to get them going down the the is that tough sometimes in the early going just approaching them about this path.

Marianne Butler: So for for our perspective what we do what we’ve initially done is received referrals from other agencies. So that’s helpful to us because there are larger, better known agencies that people initially go to and then they refer them to us. Okay. And and it’s really somebody coming to us to ask for help versus us seeking out. Does that make sense?

Stone Payton: It does make sense, you know.

Marianne Butler: People want to need to be in a state of readiness to make those kinds of changes. And they’re hard sometimes, so. Right. So, yeah, that’s okay.

Stone Payton: All right. And then but if someone in a state of readiness that has been referred, what does the conversation and the process look like, particularly in the early stages?

Marianne Butler: So what we have, we have basically three programs, if you will. The first one is called Operation Roof. It’s a week long hotel stay and we call that actually more than a hotel stay. We meet our guests at the hotel. We talk with them. We listen to them listening to people’s stories. And I say this every single time, being heard when you feel that you’re forgotten and unheard is probably the most valuable thing we can do right now. Just listening to their story. So we we have trained volunteers who meet our guests at the hotel. They listen to their story. They provide compassion, support, just in prayer if requested. And then they try to. Once listening to that story, point them to additional resources in the county that may be useful to them. So kind of matching up those resources with their specific needs. Again, we’re not going to reinvent the wheel, but we try to match that with them. So that’s how we meet our guests. We receive the referral. We meet them at the hotel. We we spend time with them, get to know them a little bit, and then we continue to try and follow up over the course of the week that they’re in the hotel and even after they’ve left that week long. Stay with us to see how they’re doing and again, provide encouragement and a little, little hope there.

Stone Payton: But the listening that’s that’s so important. And I’m sure a week in the same place is a nice respite just to get it right.

Leonard Akers: And I think. Stone Marianne just gave you a little bit of the answer to your question, and that is, is that if you can find a way to engage the conversation in a self in a safe and and helpful way for that family that you’re thinking about, then just inviting them to share the story. I mean, that’s kind of what you do with this program as well, is invite people to share the story. And once they begin to share the stories, then who knows what that leads to? Maybe a follow up conversation, maybe connecting to more resources that can be helpful. If there’s one thing that’s amazing about Cherokee County and I’m sure you experienced this with your engagement with small businesses, is that there’s a real desire here to work together, that we want to collaborate, that even though we might have small businesses that are in the same arena, we really want to figure out how to help everyone succeed and do well, right? And I don’t know that that is always present in all communities, but it’s here and we should lean into that whenever we can. Right. And what Marianne also pointed out was that we don’t believe that we have all the answers. There are large organizations, nonprofit, faith based, secular, who do amazing work and who have amazing amounts of resources. And sometimes our role is just to get people into a little bit of housing stability and then connect them with all the amazing resources that are available in this community in the hopes that they might be able to begin to walk towards housing stability.

Stone Payton: So the ideal scenario then is they participate in this this hotel week and there’s this conversation and listening. And then the next step in an ideal scenario is more permanent housing somehow, some way.

Marianne Butler: Yeah. And it varies from person to person. They may be, you know, waiting for an apartment to come available or saving some money. This is a really big key is for all those deposits and things that they need to make on.

Stone Payton: What a headache that’s that’s a headache for me that that would be a headache for me. You got to do like the first month in the last month and the deposit and the check and.

Marianne Butler: And if you if you’re living paycheck to paycheck. Yeah that’s almost.

Stone Payton: That’s a knockout.

Marianne Butler: Very difficult. And then we also and I think I mentioned this well before we got on the air is we’re about need based identifying needs. And so one of the things we introduced in November of last year is our motel meal kits. And we were noticing people were coming in with food from, you know, we have fantastic food pantries in this community, but it’s not usable in a hotel setting.

Stone Payton: Never even thought about that.

Marianne Butler: And so we created we have a lot of great community partners and our and our partner churches that created motel meal kits. So they have everything that our guests would need for ten breakfasts, ten lunches or dinners, sides, snacks, paper products, everything that they would need for that week. Again, some food for them and to save a little bit of money. We know food is expensive. I mean, that’s going to.

Stone Payton: Be the biggest expense. Right. And it’s helping me realize, like the person I was telling you about, I got a freezer full of deer meat. That’s not going to help this guy right now. That’s not what that’s not what this person needs.

Marianne Butler: Right, Right, right.

Stone Payton: So, yeah. Interesting.

Leonard Akers: And then the hope is, is that there are some folks who we get connected through Operation Roof that seven nights stay that we can then encourage to consider joining us in our next area, which is about really recovery and that is path to home. And path to home is a 90 day safe, stable housing. Instead of it being in a motel setting, it is more in a extended stay. So there’s some sort of a kitchen that gives the ability to expand the food offering. And then that person is connected with someone who is beyond just a guest accountability partner, which is a resource manager. And then the hope is, is that you sit down, you come up with a plan, and that plan is really driven by the person or the family experiencing homelessness. Right? Like, it’s not our job to tell them how they need to live their lives or any of that. It’s our job to encourage them in the ways that will hopefully lead to housing stability. Right. And that’s a 90 day stay that gives them a real good chance to get stable and maybe catch up on things that maybe have gotten out of control and all sorts of areas. And then the hope is that you begin to start to work the plan and that you really are our role is to encourage and do that both physically, emotionally, spiritually and all the ways that we can so that we are relationally helping people find their way to housing stability.

Stone Payton: So houses funded, what do you get your because it’s got to cost some money, right? It can’t come all out of your pockets.

Marianne Butler: That is a really good question. So we have been I mean, we’re blessed. We we have the foundational churches who continue to provide financial support.

Stone Payton: So some of these congregations are ponying up.

Marianne Butler: Absolutely. And then we have, you know, even more churches. But it’s not limited to just churches. We have some civic organizations. We’ve received some small grants and things like that. So yeah, we’ve been really blessed to receive funding from all sorts of sources and and throughout the community.

Stone Payton: So so that’s the big part of your work, right? You got to go out and build relationships with these folks and steward that money and help them understand the impact that they’re having. You got like three full time jobs.

Marianne Butler: I do. That is that’s a really good point. I hope the rest of my board is listening to this.

Stone Payton: But in your congregation, Leonard, I mean, this isn’t the only thing they’re trying to impact, right? Plus, you’re trying to serve their faith needs, of course. Tell us a little bit about the a day in the life of a pastor of a church like this. What is that life like?

Leonard Akers: Well, that could also take up the entirety of this program. But but I think that this is where there’s a lot of alignment with how the homeless coalition is going about, which is, I think a job of a pastor by is really about relationally connecting with people and figuring out how to do that in a way that makes a difference for people’s faith journey. And that’s where I think that this organization really helps us make that connection, because in some cases it helps people to sort of scratch that itch of how am I serving my fellow man and what am I doing to make a difference, and how can I do that in a way that feels relationally connected to them, even if they’re not the person who’s on the front line with the person, they are still making a difference. And the reality is, is that we have lots of great nonprofits in this community that we can look to, to kind of see the roadmap of success, you know, very large things. But in terms of what we do on a day in and day out basis, yeah, the reality is, is that Sunday is not the only day of the week that we work. Yeah.

Marianne Butler: I did not know that. Yeah.

Leonard Akers: And the truth is is that I think that we believe and I believe that it’s my job in the same way that Maryann does to connect to the community, right? Like we’re called. Not simply to pastor to the people that are have chosen to call local church Canton their home like we’re called to pastor and care for the community to whatever extent they will allow that to happen. So the more that we become connected and enmeshed and and great, the more opportunities we have to make. This is going to sound very preachy, but to make secular moments sacred. And that’s what we’re called to do. And this is where I can throw it out even in a bigger way, that everyone I think who says they want to follow Jesus is called to find moments to make sacred for the sake of the kingdom. And the great news is, is that some of us get to be paid a little bit to do that.

Stone Payton: So, yeah, very well said. You may have a career in branding and copywriting as well. No, that is very well framed. I’m going to ask this of both of you and I’m going to start with you, Leonard. Clearly you find the work fulfilling, Rewarding what at this point in your career, in your work, what do you find the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it all for you?

Leonard Akers: Well, I think that this is where it really ties in to to everyone. And this is what I mean by that. Like, everyone likes to be a part of helping people discover how amazing they are, right? Whether that comes through as a coach on a sports field or whether that comes through as a business leader or owner helping to kind of mold the next generation to discover what their gifts and talents are. And I think that as a culture, we love people who discover within themselves something that they’re. Good at that. They get excited about doing and that they find great fulfillment and reward in. And I think for us pastors, our role is to do that in a way that helps people discover what it means to be a faith person, what it means to believe that there is something spiritual at work within each of us and thus the world. And how do we sort of tap into that and help people get more and more confident and comfortable that there are things in the world that faith makes a huge difference towards, and helping people to discover that for the sake of not simply their faith lives, but their home lives and their work lives and all of that, you know, and there’s great joy in that. Now, the flip side of that is that we don’t always get to see the touchdown scored, right? Yeah, Sometimes all we’re doing is planting and watering and that sort of thing. But that work in and of itself is meaningful, right? Because we’re trying to help people discover that their lives, no matter where they are in the world matter and that they have meaning and that they can live out their lives with purpose and meaning. And that’s where I think once again, back to the homeless coalition that we’re trying to do this relationally. Right? Like we’re not trying to solve this for hundreds of people. Right. I think we’re trying to be helpful to a few in the hopes that that help then turns into lasting, sustained housing, stability and healing personally and physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s such a great point, too, because like a person like me, I’m incredibly blessed. And I do find joy in trying to support different things. That’s what our community partner program is all about, that I opened up the the show with and sometimes I have thoughts of, man, I can’t attack homelessness, you know, like it’s just this big, huge, hairy thing. But I might be able to help this one person get on the right path in another person or help fund somebody that’s already got a little bit of machinery in place. It’s not like you have to go out and do this, you know, grand, big philanthropic, just these little if a lot of us do a little something, it can really have a big impact, can it? Well.

Leonard Akers: Stone What if one of the main takeaways from our time with you this morning is, is that this leads you to have a conversation with that person or family that you’re thinking about that might be in that precarious place. If nothing else happens, wouldn’t all of this time be worth it?

Stone Payton: Absolutely right, 100%.

Leonard Akers: And I think that’s where we can take huge problems, not just homelessness, but all sorts of problems If we take them and make them personal and make them relational, then every single one of us can find a way to make a difference.

Stone Payton: Yes. Marianne, what what do you find the most rewarding?

Marianne Butler: I am trying to figure out how to put this in words. I. I have a passion for being a voice for those who are unheard. And I’ll start to kind of get a little teary about this. It’s a passion for those who are unheard, unseen, and perhaps feeling somewhat hopeless or defeated. I have a passion for trying to bring hope to maybe a feeling of hopelessness and being a voice for those who who perhaps feel unheard, unseen or forgotten. It’s a it’s a passion. I it’s hard, but it’s it’s truly my my passion or my calling, if you will, to to be that voice. You know, I’ll speak up wherever I can. You know, if the grocery store, the vet’s office, anywhere I can, I’ll.

Stone Payton: We first met.

Marianne Butler: Up at a.

Stone Payton: Pop up tent, and you had t shirts, and we’re explaining that. So you will go and do you? Absolutely will.

Marianne Butler: Yeah. But I think that’s important. You know, when you feel forgotten, I mean, imagine, you know, you just like I said, that listening, even when I have to say no to people and that we’re full with our hotel stay program with our Operation Roof for the month, 99% of the time people will say, well, just thank you for calling me back and listening, for calling me back and listening.

Stone Payton: Wow. That does seem to be very impactful. The theme of this conversation is is listening. Yeah. So going forward, I understand we got a really cool event coming up. We might raise some money. We’ll be able to celebrate some wins and kind of look to the future. Tell us about what’s coming up.

Marianne Butler: So this is really, really exciting. So we have our first ever you know, like I said, we are very young, so we’re having our first ever fundraiser gala that is October 14th up at the Timbers at the mill on Ottawa. And the fun part of it, it’s downtown Millie. So it’s a take off the Downton Abbey Show. So it’s a costume ball. And so we want people to dress up and have a great time. There’s going to be food and a great DJ, and then we’re even going to have like a crowning of the Lord and lady or king and Queen of the Ball. I mean, it’s just going to be a great time. And the other thing is, is we’re we’re able to share some information for people who are unaware or want to be involved, things like that with the Homeless coalition and those experiencing homelessness. And we’ll be introducing, you know, we talked about our our seven night, our Operation Roof, our three month, our path to home program. And we’ll be introducing our our long term goal and which is a restoration village, which is a longer term kind of community that we’re we’re planning for the future for up to two years for people to stay in. So it’s restoration village and that we’ve just started laying the groundwork for that. But it’s really, really exciting. So yeah, October 14th tickets can be found on our Facebook page or our website, $90, which, you know, that’s pretty darn good. I’m just saying. So so we would love for everybody to come out and join us. That would be a great help and support. Yeah.

Leonard Akers: And I’d like to speak into the fun side of that. Right. We are going to present some information and we are going to educate folks. But the reality is, is that it will be a fun night with lots of dancing. We will not be dancing to the music from Downton Abbey. We will be dancing to fun dance songs from, I’m sure, the 70s and 80s and all of that. But also know that as we present, we’re going to do the best that we can to make it a part of the evening and engaging and fun. And out of the three hours that we have time with people, we’ll probably keep our comments to in the 15 to 20 minute range so that there’s lots of time for engagement and fun. And it’s just the time of the year to get dressed up for a good cause and come out and support. So we would love to see folks come join us on Saturday, October 14th at the Timbers, which is at the mill on Etowah.

Stone Payton: Sounds like a great time. Now, are there is there a silent auction or any other kind of fundraising activity tied to this?

Marianne Butler: So, yeah, there will be a silent auction. And at at the event itself. And then prior to the event I mentioned the Lords and Ladies, we have four amazing people in our community who we can you can donate money toward either a lord or lady. Am I explaining this? Well, sort of. Not really. Why don’t you do that?

Leonard Akers: Yeah. So we have four distinct lords and ladies, and they are fundraising their way to become either Crown King or Queen of the ball. And so the person who raises the most money will be crowned king and or queen of the ball. And so those people are going to be busy fundraising for the next 14 days. All those proceeds go in. To help support the housing coalition of Cherokee County. And it’s just fun. Once again, it’s a fun thing. And this is where community and collaboration comes together, right? Like we didn’t create this idea. This idea was given to us from another nonprofit that we love greatly, which is the Children’s Haven, who is now in their third year of running the adult prom, also at the Timbers of Etowah. And they crowned prom king and queen, Right. And they do that through fundraising, right? And so that’s an organization that is at a very different place in terms of their maturity and their level of engagement and impact. And so because we are a collaborative community, we can borrow one another’s ideas and turn them into something wonderful. So it’s going to be a great night.

Stone Payton: Yeah, it sure sounds like it. Okay, so what can we, the lay people just out in the community and particularly the small business community, that’s kind of my my world. What can we do beyond, you know, looking into this gala and trying to support like, what do you need the most going forward? Just looking for ways for us to contribute.

Leonard Akers: I think the biggest thing is a little bit about where you already shared from your heart stone and that is, you know, just become aware, you know, become aware that it’s not that Cherokee County doesn’t have any camps of homelessness. There are 1 or 2. But the reality is, is that that is a really small percentage of the people experiencing homelessness. And I think it is to become aware and then maybe just be open and available to the possibility that there is someone in your circle of influence that might be either homeless or in that precarious place, and then figuring out a way to engage in a helpful dialog. Maybe it’s mostly listening and finding out because at the end of the day, we want to be making a difference. All of us. I think for people that we know and care about. And the reality is, is that we can always make new friends to know and care about and make a difference for them. And so maybe awareness that it is a reality. And that doesn’t mean that we get scared by it. It means that we find a way to relationally engage to the hopes that we help people, you know, continue to grow in all the ways that they can.

Stone Payton: Fantastic. All right. Let’s make sure that our listeners have coordinates for ongoing following what’s going on. But also to get to this gala or maybe participate in a silent auction, you can participate in the silent auction even leading up to it.

Marianne Butler: No, it’ll be the night of it’ll be the night of.

Stone Payton: Okay. It’s going to be at the thing. Do you still need items for the silent?

Marianne Butler: Absolutely. We could always use more items. Sure.

Stone Payton: So items for the. All right, so let’s get coordinates, contact info, whatever you guys are comfortable with. I want to make it easy for folks to to tap in.

Marianne Butler: Sure. So our our Facebook page, Homeless Coalition. Cherokee County is one way our website is homeless coalition Cherokee county.org and people can contact me via email is a good way. It’s Marianne m a r i a n n e at homeless coalition cherokee.org is another great way even.

Leonard Akers: Though the website is long. In all honesty, if you go to Google and you search homeless coalition Cherokee, it will pull it will pop up right up to the top. Yeah. And that has all the information on the main page about tickets to the gala other ways to sponsor and support and also all of the information about the different ministries and programs and resources that we’re trying to bring to bear to our community, which as you’ve already mentioned, stone Like we are so blessed to live in this amazing community, right? And I think that the more that we can help others find their way to feel like they’re blessed to be a part of this community, then that’s a win win win for all of us.

Stone Payton: Well, speaking of win win wins, it has been an absolute delight having you two in the studio. Keep up the good work. Do keep us posted. And yeah, don’t be a stranger. You got to come back and let us know. Maybe on the back side of the gala. It would be nice to do sort of a recap. Oh, that’d be fun. Yeah, that’d be fantastic. We can work that. But you guys, you’re doing such important work, and we. We sure appreciate you.

Leonard Akers: Thank you, Stone. We appreciate you.

Stone Payton: Yeah, my pleasure. All right. Until next time, This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Marianne Butler and Leonard Acres on behalf of Homeless Coalition Cherokee. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.

BRX Pro Tip: Aim Higher Than You Think

October 3, 2023 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Aim Higher Than You Think

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BRX Pro Tip: Aim Higher Than You Think

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, today’s topic, aim higher.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think a lot of entrepreneurs are not dreaming big enough. They’re selling themselves short. And a lot of it is when it comes to pricing, number one. You know a lot of entrepreneurs aren’t charging enough, in my opinion. And in order to really think you’re worth the value, you’ve got to really believe that you are and can deliver the value to your clients.

Lee Kantor: So, I think it’s so important to periodically assess where you’re at and to understand that there’s much more to life than maybe you’re seeing right now. And maybe you’re taking a lot of what you’re doing for granted. And sometimes you have to think instead of making little teeny 10% incremental improvements, think about what a ten x improvement would look like, what a ten x dream would look like. What do you have to change in order to make that ten x life? What behaviors do you have to change? What things should you be pursuing? What connections or network do you have to expand to in order to live that ten x life rather than this 10% incremental growth life?

Lee Kantor: Don’t have that scarcity mindset, zero sum game where someone else’s win is your loss. Have that abundance life mindset and instead of focusing just on survival, think about abundance and all the opportunities that are around you right now.

Emily Doxford with Loan Mantra

October 2, 2023 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Emily Doxford with Loan Mantra

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Emily Doxford is VP of Marketing and an expert in business funding with Loanmantra.com.

Even though the United States is the global leader in growth for women-owned businesses, with 12.3 million female-owned businesses generating $1.8 trillion per year, they only receive 2.2% of venture capital funding.

She’s here to talk to us today about trends for female business ownership, trends and how underserved populations, like women, can get better access to funding.

Connect with Emily on LinkedIn and follow Loan Mantra on Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Loan Mantra, Ms. Emily Doxford. How are you?

Emily Doxford: Hi Stone. Thank you so much for having me. I’m doing well.

Stone Payton: Well, it is absolutely my pleasure. I’ve really been looking forward to this conversation. I’ve got a ton of questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I’m thinking a good place to start would be if you could articulate for me and our listening audience. Mission. Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?

Emily Doxford: Absolutely. So Loan Mantra is a minority owned business. We are a financial technology platform. We are a financial advisory service and we again are minority owned. And we serve diverse SMEs, small and medium business owners all over the United States who are doing any number of incredible things. So we really understand the many, many challenges that underserved businesses face. And that’s that’s at the heart of what we do and what we want to do. Our goal is really to democratize the the lending process. I personally come from a line of of of business owners, of women who are championing small business, championing Main Street, maybe through policy making. So it’s also something that’s dear to me personally as well.

Stone Payton: What a great way to frame it, democratizing the whole the process. So I got to know the full back story, though. How does one find themselves in this kind of role, trying to serve constituents in this type of arena? My my instincts are probably wasn’t just a straight path.

Emily Doxford: I’m laughing a little bit stoned because it was the most circuitous path ever. When it comes when it comes to me, I am actually I have a graduate degree in American literature, of course. So. Right. So one would immediately think finance or financial technology. That being said, I while I was in graduate school, started working with with the business school, particularly with their financial professors, and met a wonderful network of of entrepreneurs doing incredible things. And I think feel again really galvanized by the small business community and entrepreneurs, particularly female entrepreneurs who are out there doing incredible things for their community. So that’s that was an important pivot for me. Yeah. And and and get to work with an incredible, an incredible company who takes their mission very seriously.

Stone Payton: I mean, I can hear it in your voice. I can see it in your eyes. It has to be incredibly rewarding work. Now that you’ve been at it a while, what do you what do you like the most? What’s the most fun about it for you?

Emily Doxford: Well, I think it’s interacting with with business owners. Right. It’s it is knowing that these are these are individuals who are really good at what they do. They may be incredible artisans. They may be incredible bakers. They may run the finest transportation company in Atlanta, whatever the case may be. They are building their communities and doing it really, really well. And for whatever reason, we’ve just found that their greatest challenges are accessing capital and understanding financial jargon. So if we can break down those silos, it’s a it’s an important work that we’re doing as well.

Speaker4: Well, I.

Stone Payton: Do want to dive into this whole idea of access. You use the term underserved a couple of times early in the conversation. I guess I surprise is not accurate. I’m disappointed. I would say that we still have a group that is served in a group or multiple groups that are underserved and apparently female is one of those labels. Can you say more about that? I mean, that’s still a problem even in this day and age, huh?

Emily Doxford: A 100%. And to your point, yes, it is. It’s disappointing. We should I should say that that the US is the global leader for growth in women owned businesses. So we’re doing that really, really well. And in fact, at some point, although I believe the pandemic is probably changed this statistic a little bit, 1800 new women owned businesses are starting every day. So there’s there’s the really exciting kernel of information. On the flip side and to your question, stone about underserved communities, um, women, do we we see evidence of, of a funding gap, right. Um, in a recent year, venture capitalists invested something like 130 billion in US startups and women got a tiny fraction of that pie. It was 2.2%. A majority of women, 63%, 62%. Actually, I believe it is report some sort of gender bias when it comes to taking out a loan. So it’s it can be it can be a frustrating process for a woman owned business. And then here’s here’s the real rub. If they do receive a loan, they are generally more likely to pay higher rates than male borrowers and generally receive one third less in a loan package than their male counterparts. So there’s there’s work to be done.

Stone Payton: Yeah, well, I too have gender bias, but mine swings the other way. I would rather candidly work with women. My mom was a very strong woman in so many ways. My wife is an incredibly accomplished female in her arena. I find women more comfortable in their own skin. I find them better with money. I find them more coachable, I find them more approachable. I find them that better at cultivating and strengthening relationships. So if everybody died and put me in charge, I’d be alone. I’d be loaning money to them faster.

Emily Doxford: I love it. Stone Let’s let’s put you in charge. There we go.

Stone Payton: So let’s talk about the work a little bit. Um, so and I want to talk about how you find them and how they find you, but we’ll circle back to that. So you begin helping, helping these, these people. Like what? Especially in the early stages of the work. What are you sitting down with them and learning about their business? You’re educating them. Walk us through some of the kind of the nitty gritty of the work with them.

Emily Doxford: Or so. At the heart of it, we’re a financial technology platform, so we have more than 80 lenders on our platform, and we care a lot about helping the borrower, a borrower find the right financial partner. Right. There’s there’s something about that fit about that community that you care a lot about who your accountant is. You care a lot about who your graphic designer is. It’s no different with your financial partner. So that’s at the end of the day, that’s an important part of what we do is providing people a safe, secure, transparent platform in which they can they can gain this access. And we’re also we do a lot of financial advisory work. And that’s that’s where this this really interesting. And again, the community building becomes a little more personal. We learn more about the borrower and and and get to potentially help them in building a business plan or learning more about about their their dreams and how we can help fund their dreams.

Stone Payton: I’m sure there are so many there would be for me if I were entering this process as a as a client. So many unknowns, but I suspect there probably are some preconceived notions, some myths, some things that that maybe your newer clients walk in believing or thinking that just that’s just not the way it is. Do you see some of the same things like that over and over that you have to sort of unpack and help them really understand the way it really works?

Emily Doxford: Yeah, that’s a that’s an interesting question. I think we all have this idea of what it’s like to to get a loan or what it’s like to start a business. And probably some of that is really true. It can be challenging and complicated, and some of that is completely not true. You know, I, I also think that as well, I’m, I’m starting to get older but younger generations than I and and a Gen Z, a Gen Z borrower. So this this new generation of entrepreneurs, they don’t necessarily have the same relationship with a banker right that that my parents did. And there are a lot more comfortable getting financing online. So it’s it’s a whole new way to think about access to capital and what what that looks like and how do you get a loan. It’s not necessarily sitting down with with your parent’s banker in a buttoned up environment, filling out a paper form after paper form. That being said, hopefully some of the personal still remains. And you can call someone up when you have a question or need advice when the process feels overly complicated. And for for me for for us for loan mantra, it’s it’s bridging that gap.

Stone Payton: It sounds like you’ve cracked the code or struck the balance between ease of access technology that can really work for you. But this is the antithesis of a transactional business. It sounds like your work is very grounded in relationship, isn’t it?

Emily Doxford: I. It is. It is. And I think that that is something that can shouldn’t surprise me. But, you know, money is a personal thing and our businesses are a personal thing. And so should your financial. Your financial advisor where you go to get funding should be something that you care a lot about and should be a very it should be a vetted process.

Stone Payton: Well, and I got to believe and maybe not everybody’s like me, but I bet there’s a critical mass of people who are like me. I just find the whole idea of the whole process of just trying to begin to think about borrowing money or going through one of those processes where you qualify to get larger contracts. It just it looks like this big hairy bear, you know, very intimidating. And and it sounds like maybe you help us break down those walls a little bit and, you know, get the confidence to just take the steps and follow the process.

Emily Doxford: Well, I. I hope so, Stone. I hope so. That that’s the goal.

Stone Payton: I think I’m right about that. Right there. There is like this is one way to help is is to help them borrow money. But there’s there’s a path probably for anybody but certainly for some underserved constituencies to document their ability to fulfill the requirements. And then they can get access to some pretty large pieces of business. Right.

Emily Doxford: Yeah. So I think if I’m understanding that question, it’s are there is there funding or programs available for underserved communities or underserved borrowers?

Stone Payton: And the reason I’m asking is we have a client, but it’s not my personal client. And I think they have this whole certification process to to be a woman owned business. And I think that opens up a it’s not a you know, it’s not a fill out the application and get a bunch of money or get a bunch of business. But it does it does, you know, let people at least get throw their hat in the ring on some other. Yeah.

Emily Doxford: Oh no. Perfectly said. You said it. Yes, you can you can certify through the SBA, the Small Business Administration, to be either a Wasp, a woman owned business or a or a minority owned business and mob. And both of those allow you to bid on government contracted an additional market. So last year that was an additional 5% of of the job the women owned business marketplace which is it’s it’s substantial right. Yeah. It’s a it’s a great step and a great way forward.

Stone Payton: So in your work, I’m always curious. I came from the training consulting world and I sort of gravitated to the sales and marketing side of things. So I’m always trying to look at things from a sales and marketing vantage point. How does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a firm like yours? Do you have to get out and shake the trees, or are people coming to you or a little bit of both? How does that work for a firm like yours?

Emily Doxford: It’s a great question. It is a little bit of both. We have we have an incredible founder who has enjoyed a loyal client base for many years and deservedly so. Right. There’s there’s equity built up there. There’s trust and there’s an NPS score, a net promoter score. Right. That comes from just building valuable relationships and on on his part, on our founders part and on loan mantras part just doing what we say we’re going to do. That being said, as you scale, I think there’s always a little bit of this. You you have to go shake the trees, I think was.

Emily Doxford: A phrase that was used and getting additional exposure. It’s a it’s a noisy marketplace. And unfortunately, ours can be filled with predatory lenders and. And capital that I would not want any small business borrower to to enter certain terms. So there’s a little bit of that. And and it’s it’s I think I said at the beginning, you know, one of the major challenges facing any borrower is learning some of the jargon in any industry. There’s a there’s a lot of jargon and a bit of a bit of my job is is helping to educate on both sides what everyone’s saying and, and making making making terms feel a little more a little more clear for either a borrower or a financial institution or a vendor who who may be working to to help with a with a borrower as well.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s starting to come into focus for me right now. You have this whole other group that you’re serving you because you’re not the lender in this equation, right? You’re bringing the parties together, so you’re educating. Wow, there must be so much education relationship building because you’re you’re in the middle helping both groups.

Emily Doxford: Right?

Stone Payton: Sounds fun, but it sounds challenging.

Emily Doxford: It is both. It is both, my friend.

Stone Payton: So it sounds like there’s a lot of ground to be covered yet. Plenty. Plenty to do. Do you feel like we are trending in the right direction or are we? We’re making progress, but but things are looking a little better as we go in most pockets of this. Yes.

Emily Doxford: Yeah. As as it relates to an underserved borrower. Yes.

Stone Payton: Yes.

Emily Doxford: Yeah, I. I hope so. I remain optimistic. I think that, you know, my my personal ethos when I work with a when I work with a borrower, particularly an underserved borrower, is to tell them to work with partners that they’ve vetted, that they feel strongly about their missions. If they’re working with a partner who gives underrepresented constituents, they’re giving women a minorities of voice at the table. I think that there’s a better a better chance that there will be empathy for the borrower, for maybe the woman owned or the women business owner themselves. So that’s to that end, I, I am hopeful. I am optimistic that we are trending in in the right direction and that we that there’s an availability of of resources for for female entrepreneurs.

Stone Payton: And more and more lenders apparently are recognizing I mean, this is not altruism. This is I mean this is good business to to to loan to to lend money to these people, particularly if those relationships are brokered or facilitated by by by someone like you guys who can kind of grease the skids and and maybe remove some of the friction and shrink the timeline for them. Right. So so so that’s on the on the increase a little bit. Well, at least that’s encouraging. So over time, maybe we can get more private equity, we can get more lenders to the point where, you know, it’s a little more routine and maybe even they see some specific advantages in it. On the other side of the table, are there some things I was going to say? We I’ll say it for the effect of the question. We as female business owners.

Emily Doxford: Yes, Yes.

Stone Payton: Can do ourselves for ourselves to help bridge the gap. Like like what can the female business owner do to, you know, to also help bridge the gap, do you think?

Emily Doxford: This is a great question, and I think it’s as simple and as complex as this. I think that the female business owner we stone we have to be so well researched with business plans, with our partnerships, with our strategy there. You know, you’ve you’ve mentioned some we’ve talked about some there is an availability of programs. There are there are partnerships available to female entrepreneurs. It’s knowing where they are. And it’s it’s knowing. It’s knowing how to access them. I think a great place to to start is the Small Business Administration, the SBA. They they currently are prioritizing more female business owners getting financing. And that’s that’s everything, right? That’s the ballgame. I also like to tell female business owners to go to their local cdphe, which is a community development financial institution or a women’s business center. And there is human resources, there are financial resources, there’s any number of resources available to to female business owners to help them, to help them learn next steps. Right. Whether it’s a it’s a loan, whether it is a network, whether it’s writing a business plan, there there are there are places available to to help women scale up.

Stone Payton: Well, that’s a helpful little nugget right there. I certainly was not aware of I had not heard of and I’ll bet you a lot of our listeners have not heard of Cdphe community. What again, is it?

Emily Doxford: Yeah, Community Development, financial institution and most most states have a few. Most cities have one. I know Atlanta has one. Okay. But they they are they are there to serve the small business community.

Stone Payton: Boy, am I going to sound smart at the next little business meeting I’m at.

Emily Doxford: You got this Stone.

Stone Payton: I’ll try to remember to to give you a little bit of credit. Okay. So before we wrap, kind of going back to your platform and it can be like the 30,000 foot view, but maybe you can fill in some of the the blanks here. This is something that a female business owner can can get onto and navigate and find some resources. Just speak to that, the platform itself a little bit, if you could.

Emily Doxford: Sure. So any any business owner is can can come visit us at at loan mantra. They can find us online at loan mantra.com and can use our financial technology, our financial platform to to access capital. So it’s a it’s an easy, transparent solution to to gain financing. In addition to that, we have wonderful experts who are available to talk through any questions that a borrower may have, an entrepreneur or entrepreneur, that that word felt extremely hard right there for some some reason. And they have about about accessing capital.

Stone Payton: Well, I think that’s fantastic. All right. I’m going to switch gears on you for a moment. Before we before we wrap, before we came on the air, we were talking about you being now in Arizona. So the answer to this may have changed a little bit, but I am genuinely curious about and I don’t know when you’d find the time, but passions, if any, outside the scope of your work. Most of my listeners know that I like to hunt fish and travel. Right? Right, right. But something you have a tendency maybe to nerd out about that really is not directly connected to your work at loan mantra anything?

Emily Doxford: Oh, that’s a great question. So I had mentioned to to Stone earlier that I’m a recent transplant to Arizona from New York City, which spoiled me abundantly in terms of finding great new restaurants to to try. So I really enjoy I really enjoy that. I really enjoy when I don’t have to cook. Let’s let’s put it that way. I, I am an avid reader. I love art museums. I, I like to travel and I enjoy actually writing in my spare time. So.

Stone Payton: All right. But with the move, you may have to slide a little closer to my end of the continuum on hunt and fish, right?

Emily Doxford: Yes.

Emily Doxford: It was not a leading question at all, right?

Stone Payton: So that’s funny.

Emily Doxford: Let’s let’s talk soon. And we’ll we’ll see. We’ll see where we where we end up, my friend.

Stone Payton: You got it. All right, Let’s make sure that our listeners do know how to access the platform, maybe reach out and have a conversation with you or somebody on your team. Whatever is the easiest and most appropriate. Let’s give them those coordinates.

Emily Doxford: Absolutely. So a listener can reach out and please do at W-w-w dot loan mantra.com. They can also find us on LinkedIn, on social media, Facebook, Instagram, others at loan mantra. Feel free to reach out with me directly on on LinkedIn. Um. Emily Larson Oxford.

Stone Payton: Well Emily, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon. It’s a it’s been inspiring. It’s been informative. Thank you for sharing your perspective and your insight and keep up the good work that what you’re doing, what you and your team are out there doing for folks is so, so important And we sincerely appreciate you.

Emily Doxford: Thanks, Stone. Thanks for having me.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right. Until next time, This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Emily Doxford with lone Mantra. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

Dereck Jensen with Jensen’s Precision Power Washing

October 2, 2023 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Dereck Jensen with Jensen's Precision Power Washing

00:00 /

Dereck Jensen is the owner operator at Jensen’s Precision Power Washing and restoration.

He is a Canton resident, and all around great guy.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: And welcome to a fabulous Friday. Fearless Formula. I am Sharon Cline and I am your host for the show on Business RadioX. I’m so excited today because I have like a different kind of energy in the studio. I’ve got Derek Jensen of Jensen’s Precision Power Washing. What’s really fun about having him on the show is it’s been almost a year since he’s been well, it’s been about nine months since he’s been here. And it was sort of the beginning of his journey for the show, for even me. I’ve only been was on the show maybe four months or something. So I still felt like I was getting my sea legs. And so we kind of had the same thing, like, let’s talk about where we’ve gone, you know, in that time. So I’m excited to to catch up with you again. And officially you are the owner, manager and CEO at Jensen’s Precision Power Washing.

Derek Jensen: Yes, ma’am.

Sharon Cline: Which sounds so badass. I just want to say.

Derek Jensen: Thank you.

Derek Jensen: It really is badass. We do some badass things.

Yeah, you do.

If it’s dirty or stained, we clean it for that clean time. Holler at the sauce slinger, You hear me?

Sharon Cline: Sorry. Oh, fun. Okay. One of the best things about Derek is that he is from Boston, and that is where I was born, you know, Massachusetts and New England. And so spending time with him is like talking to my family members. And the next thing you know, I start saying wicked. And I don’t know. It’s amazing how all of a sudden I kind of default to my my old school way of speaking, not my very American general, you know, But it’s like wicked awesome. Things like that. Okay. All right, all right, all right. Here we go. Derek, you wanted to come back on the show. We’ve talked a couple of times about this because you’ve got some changes that you’re kind of going through. You’re expanding, but you also have some really valuable information for people to know that I think as as not only a person who is in a small business, but you’re also a consumer out there, you would want to have this information for yourself. So that’s what I like, is that you really are trying to help people here.

Derek Jensen: Yes. Yes. This isn’t just to promote my business or grow my business. It’s yes, it’s part of that. But my main focus here is to bring knowledge and bring understanding to home owners on exactly what position they’re in. With the new changes due to the insurance industry and the way that insurance companies are covering warranties on roofs now.

Sharon Cline: So what? Okay. So what what are some of the major points that you think people don’t know?

Derek Jensen: So a couple of the major points that people don’t know is the difference between shingles. Okay. People just think a shingle roof is a shingle roof and that’s further from the truth. You got some that are absolutely garbage and then you got some that will last a lifetime and arrange in between. It’s very, very important when you’re dealing with a roof that you’re you’re putting quality shingles.

Sharon Cline: Do you find people are wanting to not spend as much so they get a lesser quality shingle?

Derek Jensen: I think what it is, is, you know, and I’m going to give GAF a huge plug here. I am a little biased. I think GAF is a great company. They make a great, great shingle. And, you know, talking to them and talking to their service department, their communication skills are awesome. They’re really proud of their product and they stand behind it. So the big thing that I wanted to get into and I’ll basically give a short little heck yeah, let’s go through it. Intro So you have the major players today in the in the shingle game are Certainteed, GAF, Iko, Atlas Roofing and Owens Corning. Okay. Those are those are the the top manufacturers.

Sharon Cline: Of the different shingles that are out there that generally people are using.

Derek Jensen: 99% of the roofs here in Georgia will have the shingles on. One of these will be on those roofs. Gotcha. And they have all different lines. You know, they have a shingle that’s. You know, low in cost, medium in cost and high in cost. What I want to talk about today and bring light to is the manufacturer’s warranty versus the allergy resistant warranty. Okay. In the past five years, these companies that I just mentioned, Certainteed, GAF, ICAO, Atlas Roofing and Owens Corning, they’ve all used this copper technology. And as we all know, copper will resist allergy. Okay.

Sharon Cline: Oh, okay. I didn’t know that, actually. Yeah.

Derek Jensen: Yeah. Copper is a natural allergy resistant. That’s why. And it comes from the ground. Copper comes from the earth. Okay. Right. So if you ever look at a place where there’s heavy copper deposits, you’re going to see mold and mildew doesn’t grow there.

Sharon Cline: So is that why they use them in air conditioning units and why? Oh, I got you right. Look at me learning today. I just never paid attention to that. So I appreciate the all.

Derek Jensen: Simple no brainer stuff. Yeah, okay. Yeah, but. But it’s stuff that you don’t know until someone kind of exactly puts light on.

Sharon Cline: Why would I know?

Derek Jensen: Right? So these shingle manufacturers, they’re all using a copper based technology and they’re infusing the granules of the shingles with copper so that they become allergy resistant. Oh, that’s.

Sharon Cline: Amazing.

Derek Jensen: It is. It’s a great idea. And. Most of the country it works. But here in Georgia, I mean, it doesn’t. You know, they say allergy resistant. Every single one of them guarantee it for ten years here in Georgia. You’re lucky if you get five. Why? Just because of the humidity, the heat. The climate here. It’s a breeding ground for the bacteria called gloeocapsa magma, which is what the black lines actually is.

Sharon Cline: Oh, no way. So that’s what people ask you to come and clear off the black lines that they have on their roofs.

Derek Jensen: Yeah. You know, and people don’t even really know that they have them up there.

Sharon Cline: Because how do you see. Right. You’re right.

Derek Jensen: You know, people don’t even look. But yeah, that’s what we do. People say, hey, I got some black lines on my roof. Well, hey, can you clean my roof off? And they don’t even realize what’s going on up there. And so I’m here to bring light to it and, you know, let people know, hey, look, there are a few alternatives to this. Another important thing, which is why I’m kind of doing this, is. Over the past two years, you’ve had a lot of insurance companies take a big, big hit on replacing roofs because you’ve got roofing companies going out there and putting in claims saying, Yep, yep, they need a new roof and they don’t. Oh, really? Okay. Right. So insurance companies are like, Well, we’re not a roofing company. We don’t know. We’re trusting them, but we’re losing money left and right here. Like we’re replacing a lot of roofs. And insurance companies, as you know, they’re in the business to make money. They’re not in the business to lose money. So this sparked the insurance company to do a little bit of their own investigation. And what they found is that all these shingle manufacturers, every single one says that, yes, these shingles will last X amount of years if you’re doing the maintenance. So insurance companies says, well, what is the maintenance? And so armor, which stands for the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Shingles Association. They say any shingle, all shingles, every 3 to 5 years, you’re supposed to have your roof soft washed. That’s part of roof maintenance.

Sharon Cline: Well, I had never done that ever. No one does. My houses that I know.

Derek Jensen: This is all new in the past two years. And because of this, insurance companies have now, you know, tooken their list of roofs that they have that they’re insuring, and they’re sending up drones and they’re taking pictures of aerial shots of the roofs. And if you got black lines all over your roof, you’re getting a letter in the mail that says, hey, listen, you’re not keeping up with your roof maintenance, so we’re not going to renew you at the end of the year.

Sharon Cline: Holy cow. How are you supposed to know these things? What letter goes out to explain these things to any homeowner?

Derek Jensen: It doesn’t Just the one saying you’re not getting renewed and then you’ve got to figure it out.

Sharon Cline: That’s awful.

Derek Jensen: And so that’s why I’m here doing this right now. It’s already happened to a few people in Georgia. I’m sure there’s going to be some people that are listening to this that, oh, I got one of those letters. You know, it’s a real thing. It’s happening. And it’s a shame because at that point it puts the homeowner in a real pickle, like a real big pickle.

Sharon Cline: How would you know? You know, of course, if you know something to prevent an issue, you’ll do it as a homeowner, right? Most people. So if you if you have no idea and you’re getting censured because of it, you know, you’re told no denied, well, you would have done it if you knew.

Derek Jensen: Well, here’s the thing. Once you get that letter saying we’re not going to renew you now you’ve got to go find insurance somewhere. And when you go to look for insurance, the insurance company is going to say, well, why do you need an insurance? Well, because my insurance company isn’t going to renew me. Why? Well, because they say, well, you need a new roof before we’ll touch you. And. No, but they don’t need a new roof. They just need a cleaning. They don’t they don’t need a $20,000 new roof. They need a $2,000 soft wash. Let me repeat that. They don’t need a $20,000 new roof. They need a $2,000 soft wash. But because they’re in this situation now, there’s no way out. They’ve got to get a new roof and they don’t need that. It’s it’s a waste. And it’s not covered under insurance either because they’re not keeping up with the maintenance. So homeowners are and I and I and I don’t mean this in a bad way, but homeowners are ignorant to this. Okay. And I’m here to just kind of shed light, bring, bring notice and say, hey, look, you know, it’s important to start looking up every time you walk out of your house or back out of your garage and you’re sitting there and you’re waiting for the door to shut, just look up, you know, just take a good look up at your roof, see if you’ve got some black lines up there. If you do, they’ll be really easy to see. If you do, call me.

Sharon Cline: So this is mostly happening in Georgia that because they don’t even last that long, because our climate and maybe other regionally areas like Florida maybe. Right. Right.

Derek Jensen: Or so. So parts of Florida, Georgia, parts of Alabama.

Sharon Cline: South Carolina.

Derek Jensen: Yeah. This this whole little area right here. Who knew?

Sharon Cline: I had no idea.

Derek Jensen: Yeah, it’s just it’s just the way the climate is, You know, we got gloeocapsa magma, which is a living bacteria, which is what those black lines are. It actually has a name. Okay. Okay. Don’t ask me to spell it. My third grade education ain’t going to handle that. All right.

Sharon Cline: Fine. Mine either. I don’t know how to spell that.

Derek Jensen: But it’s called gloeocapsa magma, and it’s actually a living bacteria. Okay. And as we know, bacteria is probably one of the nastiest things on this. It spreads so fast. Right? Right. So. Because it’s a living bacteria. Its diet is the granules of the shingles. That’s why it’s there.

Sharon Cline: Who knew?

Derek Jensen: Okay. That’s what it eats. That’s what it thrives off of. Now it needs three things in order to thrive. It needs heat. It needs humidity, and it needs moisture. We have that in abundance here. Okay. There’s no other place in this world that has those three levels in such a high level all together. You know, if you think about geographically, the way the United States is set up. Georgia and Florida are really the only two places that have that kind of extreme heat, humidity and moisture all in one all the time. Texas is really close, but they don’t have the moisture. Yeah, they’re dry. If they had the moisture in Texas, oh, it’d be over with. Roofs would be riddled with it out there.

Sharon Cline: So generally speaking, if you’re not in this sort of southeast area, your roof can be expected to last a lifetime. A lifetime. A lifetime to worry. But. But washing it every how often would you have to wash it if you’re in a different area?

Derek Jensen: If you’re in a different area. Maybe five years plus. I was going.

Sharon Cline: To say 5 to 10 years. If you really start to see it not looking great. But here in Georgia, it’s much more critical. Right.

Derek Jensen: It’s extremely critical because what happens is the gloeocapsa magma gets up there, it starts eating, the granules deteriorate in the granules, and then the shingle is wide open. It’s got no protection, it’s got no armor on it. So when the wind comes in, the hail comes in. It’s basically up there naked and it’s taking a beating. And that’s how you get hail damage, wind damage and storm damage. It causes the shingles to lift all that stuff. It’s it’s the beginning of the end of your shingles when you see black lines up there.

Sharon Cline: That and I think about the beginning and the end of any savings that you could potentially have. Right.

Derek Jensen: Because, I mean, if your roof goes, you know, that’s leaking down. So so now we’re not talking just shingles. Okay? Now we’re talking plywood. Yeah, Sheetrock. If it’s really bad and it gets into the wiring, it starts blowing some sockets. You know, you see the little circles on people’s ceilings all the time. Yeah. Okay. That’s that’s. That’s a direct effect of gloeocapsa magma being up on the roof and no one taking care of it. And it’s just doing its thing. Doing its thing. And over time, this is what we get.

Sharon Cline: Do you see when you’re driving around, you just look at roofs and you’re just like, Oh my God, this is a disaster. Like all the time.

Derek Jensen: I got to stop myself because I want to get out of the truck and knock on the door. Yeah, I’ve actually done that a few times.

Sharon Cline: Have you have you been like, Listen, I’m trying to save you? Yeah, it’s.

Derek Jensen: Terrible. And people just don’t know.

Sharon Cline: No, that’s the thing.

Derek Jensen: And the other thing is we live in a world today where people are so like. Afraid of being tooken. You know, when you go to them with something like that, they kind of look at you sideways, like, Are you telling me the truth?

Sharon Cline: Or what’s in it for you?

Derek Jensen: Because they’ve never heard of this before. So they’re like, What are you talking about, Willis? You know?

Sharon Cline: All right. So initially you were Jensen precision power washing, but now you have gone into helping in the roof part. How did that happen?

Derek Jensen: Well, I mean, I’ve always watched roofs, right? That’s one of the services we do. You know, we watch houses, roofs, gutters, driveways. Like I said, if it’s dirty, we clean it, right. And so roof cleaning has always been a part of the soft washing industry, a pressure washing industry which whichever word tickles your fancy. However, there. There’s never been a service in the pressure washing industry. That’s a mandatory service. Everything we do or anything a pressure washer company does, it’s it’s all a want, not a need to request.

Sharon Cline: Right. Right. I want to sell my house. I want it to look nice.

Derek Jensen: Right. So you don’t. If you don’t pay your power bill, you don’t have power, right? Pressure washing isn’t like that. You don’t need somebody to come wash your house. You just want somebody to do it right. So none of our services have really been a need like like homeowners don’t need us. It’s more of a luxury item if they can afford it and or a maintenance item if they can afford it. You know, that’s why you see so many homes that look terrible. You know, you drive by and you’re like, geez, what a nice home, but it’s dirty. It’s got, you know, algae growing on it. They just. You know, they’re living above their means. I mean, every month the bills come in and there’s nothing else. So paying to get the home washed, they can’t because they’re paying too much, you know, So those things happen. But basically what the roof stuff, the way the roof stuff came along for me is that after washing roofs and seeing this change with the insurance companies, that’s what made me go, Hey, a light bulb came on there. And so I started watching the trend. You know, following the trend, because it applied to me, it applied to my business.

Derek Jensen: It’s what I do. And so I said, if there’s going to be some changes going on, I want to make sure that I’m ahead of that curve so that it’s not such a big curve to come around when you try to learn it, right? Like I want to be in those conversations and be in those rooms and be proactive in what I was doing so that I could then protect the homeowners that I’m servicing. Got you. Right. Because good customer service is what really gets your business. I put up a post the other day a little simple saying that that hit me and come up with this all on my own. It was, if you want to be in business, you got to stay in business. And and I put read that twice because I wasn’t just talking about staying in business. I was talking about staying in the business, you know, the roofing company business, the get in their business, you know, if it’s got to do with your business. Make their business your be a part of the business.

Sharon Cline: Are you finding that not all companies are doing that?

Derek Jensen: No, they’re not. No. Here in this general area, there’s there’s maybe. And I don’t want to throw any names out there because we’re not going to do that. But there’s only a handful of us out of the Brazilian that are pressure washing that are actually serious and taking the time to learn these things. There’s not many companies that are authentic in what they do. It’s a hustle.

Sharon Cline: It’s a hustle. Interesting. Well, I mean, it is, right. There’s there’s that element of making money, which totally makes sense. Obviously, it’s a business, but you’re talking about a different level of care.

Derek Jensen: Yeah, this is this is Jensen’s precision power washing is here to stay. You know, we pride ourselves on being the only exterior cleaning solutions company in Cherokee County. That’s a title that we hold. We are a full service exterior cleaning solutions company. If you call us, we’re not going to tell you no. Okay. We do everything wet sandblasting. I mean, we do everything. There’s not another company out there that does what we do.

Sharon Cline: And roofs.

Derek Jensen: Right? So and we get called a lot of times to to go help other companies. You know, a lot of these big wash companies, they’ll call us and say, hey, you know, we need your expertise on this. We got a big one. We need another truck. We need another set of hands. We need somebody that knows what they’re doing. We need someone with chemical knowledge and they’ll call me and I’ll go help them out. Or, for example, and I’ll give him a plug because he’s a good friend of mine, Nick State. And I want to make sure I get that right. Statin I got it right there. Nick and I and.

Sharon Cline: Nick.

Derek Jensen: Yeah, he’s busting my balls all the time because I mispronounce his last name. So. So, yeah, so. So Nick’s a really good guy. He owns Wet and Wild down in the Decatur area. Okay. And, you know, we talk all the time. We’re going to conventions together. We’re sharing knowledge together. And, you know, I’ve helped him out a bunch. He’s helped me out a bunch. And that’s just kind of the way it works. Like I said, there’s there’s a lot of us here in Georgia that do this, but there’s only a real small core group of us that stick together like a band of brothers, you know, And that that’s been that’s been a great help to me, too.

Sharon Cline: Well, how wonderful to be able to to feel like you’ve got a family in this environment. You’re supporting each other and what you learn, you share. Yeah, it’s not.

Derek Jensen: Well, to a degree.

Sharon Cline: Oh, I was going to say there’s room for everyone, right? You want you want there to be people that care as much as you do, so you share what you know. But I imagine you still want to be the one in Cherokee County who’s covering all the bases, right?

Derek Jensen: Like, you can definitely sit down and eat at my table, but I’m not giving you my damn table.

Sharon Cline: But you can come eat.

Derek Jensen: But you can come sit down anytime you want.

Sharon Cline: I’ve heard that there’s that phrase that’s like with friends where, you know, I still want you to eat. I just don’t want you to eat at my table. Like I still want good things for you, but you’re just not going to be in my life kind of thing. So I like how you put a little spin on that. Look at you, Derek.

Derek Jensen: Here we go. Original.

Sharon Cline: Original. So what has it been like for you to expand your business?

Derek Jensen: Very difficult. It’s been very, very difficult and challenging. It’s been a lot of fun, but. This little journey that I’m on. You know, I’ve done a lot of things in life. You know, we talked about this the last time I was on the show. And I mean, I’ve done so much in my life, but I can honestly say that growing this business has been the absolute most hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

Sharon Cline: What is hard about it?

Derek Jensen: Well. First of all, I have no business running a business. Let’s just be honest, okay?

Sharon Cline: But you are running.

Derek Jensen: But here we are in business, so. Hey, man. Right.

Sharon Cline: Well, there are a lot of people who have dreams like you do or want to run a business, and it is daunting. It’s scary. There are so many aspects of it that people don’t know and they don’t do it because so fear. That’s why this is called Fearless formula. So one of the things that you had talked about is how the leap of faith that you took to start this business and and become somebody you never even thought you could ever be. And what I love is that that’s every man’s story. We all have our own hero journey story. You know, we’re trying to save ourselves and be our own heroes. And that’s kind of what you’re doing in your own way. So but that doesn’t mean that you’re just fearlessly out there doing everything and not caring about consequences. But that’s what we’re talking about now is like, what is that like for you? Well, trying to manage.

Derek Jensen: Yeah, it’s see, I’m a little crazy. I got no filter and I’ll just say what I’m thinking. So I’ve had to dial that back. That’s been a little difficult.

Sharon Cline: What have you had somebody say they don’t like something? What?

Derek Jensen: I maybe like the past six months, I’ve really kind of like, put a lot of energy into finding out, like, who my tribe is, you know, where do I what tribe do I belong to? Because. Because you can’t do it by yourself, right? That’s one of the lessons I’ve learned over the past year is as much as I love the the thought of, Hey, look, this is all me, I did this Mr. Big back, you know, it doesn’t it’s only going to get you so far. You definitely need a tribe. Like, if you want to succeed, you definitely need a tribe. Not only do you need a tribe like you need to be part of a tribe, and then you need to have your own tribe that you lead. Got you. Right. So that would be the biggest thing that I could say to people that are that are at that stage where they’re in business and they’re trying to get to that next level, but they’re not really sure and they just can’t seem to get there. Evaluate your tribe are you part of a tribe? Number one? Are you part of a tribe? And what is your position in that tribe? And then the second thing is, do you lead your own tribe? And what does that look like? Once you can kind of put those two things together, you’re going to find that the success ball just rolls.

Sharon Cline: So have you had to change a little bit of who you were before you met your tribe? How did how did you find your tribe? Um, because you said you have to change the way that you relate to people a little bit.

Derek Jensen: Well. Well.

Sharon Cline: You’re like an aw shucks right now. Yeah.

Derek Jensen: So. So, so basically what it is, is, is I’m trying to think of the word that that was said. I can’t. I can’t think of it off the top of my head right now, but. Yeah. So I basically sort out a few people that I realized in the community that I live in that are that are doing things that, that I align with, you know, their visions, their actions, their, their participation to the community. Because I’m a big community guy, you know, precision powerwash and restoration. We’re a community company. You know, this is going to be our second year taking care of the senior center in Canton, you know, taking care of our seniors. I remember you.

Sharon Cline: Mentioning that last.

Derek Jensen: Time. Yeah, we didn’t let that go. Okay. And we still do that. A matter of fact, we got to meet with Tim over there in October. We’re a community driven here. And so I wanted to try to I knew I said, if I’m going to be part of a tribe, it needs to be a community based tribe. It needs to be something that’s doing something within the community because that’s where I align. Right, right, right. The problem is what’s the problem? The problem is, is that I’ll say what I feel and I don’t you know, I don’t hold nothing back. And if you don’t like it.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, but we’re in the South, right? So we sugarcoat and we dance around. Yeah.

Derek Jensen: And the passive aggressive just ain’t me, you know? I mean, I’m just straight aggressive, you know, There’s no passive anything.

Sharon Cline: And how does that go for you? Right?

Derek Jensen: And so I’ve had to adjust that. Right. And so I let’s see, back in I think it was November of last year. Yeah. You know, I had I had caught on to this this little movement that’s happening called the Black Sheep Project.

Sharon Cline: And we talked about this. Yeah, I loved it.

Derek Jensen: And, and so I started kind of like following along that and then realized that that Mr. Gary Lamb is, you know, kind of a really big deal. I mean, he’s doing a lot of things. He’s got the Black Sheep Project podcast that he does, and he’s helping all kinds of people through that. You know, he’s reaching all kinds. He’s mentoring people. He’s helping people grow. He’s doing all kinds of things. They’re having, you know, men be able to hold themselves accountable. You know, it’s really a good thing that he’s doing through that Black Sheep Project podcast. And then he’s got revival events. You know, he does all the events, Guardians of the Jukebox that he just did. I heard about that. Yeah. So he’s he’s all over the place doing that. The barbecue and brews festivals that he does. He just did making bacon down there. I mean, the guy is just, you know, he doesn’t stop. Yeah, right.

Sharon Cline: He’s got his heart in the community and.

Derek Jensen: And then he. And then he’s. And then he’s my pastor as well. Right. He’s. He’s the head of Action Church in Canton. So, you know, Gary is just one of those guys that I just immediately kind of fell in love with no homo or nothing like that. But, you know, Yeah, I just I just immediately attached to the guy and, and I said, this is either going to go really, really good or this is going to go really, really bad. But I’m six three and I ain’t scared of shit, so let’s get it. Gary And, and that’s how it went, right? And so, yeah.

Sharon Cline: He’s on board, though.

Derek Jensen: He’s on board. It took him, but it took him a little bit. You know, I’ll be honest, like, this is what I’m talking about, you know, we’ll go back to the tribe thing, okay? I let it be known. Hey, listen, I want to be a part of your tribe, you know, and. In the beginning it wasn’t really received that well. Right. Interesting. Yeah. Because, you know, he he’s like, listen, this is my tribe. Yes. But, you know, just because I want you here doesn’t mean everyone else wants you here, you know? And you can’t be coming in here disrupting the the vibe, you know. So there was a lot of things that I had to take accountability for, you know, and really take a step back and look at and say, geez, you know. I am I. Am I allowing, you know, my my own. Self love to be toxic in my life, right? Like, am I am I ignoring some things that need to change and and using self love as a way to deflect a negative that I should be looking at?

Sharon Cline: Derek, this is deep. Yeah, Deep thoughts. And you have to be so real with yourself. And not many people like, they can’t. It’s shameful.

Derek Jensen: They can’t. They get in the mirror, they look at themselves and they go, Oh, I don’t like that. So they put on a mask and all that does is fuck everybody else up too, because now no one knows who you really are and what you’re really about. So they, you know, we take people at face value and I start dealing with you for 6 to 8 months and then I find out, wait a minute, this isn’t even this is a mask. This isn’t even this person. And it’s just so upsetting. Yeah, it’s it’s a real letdown. You know, It’s a real letdown.

Sharon Cline: So you have had to kind of ask yourself what you ultimately really want and then change according to that.

Derek Jensen: Yeah. Like what? Where, where? What am I? What are my priorities in life? You know, like, where do I want to be now that I’ve kind of like. Gotten over that hump, you know? You know, we touched on this in the last podcast. People can go on and look at it. It’s on your page with all the changes and all the things I’ve overcome in life and getting my life back after spending 17 years in the federal prison system, you know, and I’m only 47, that’s half my life. So after doing all that and getting it all back and rebuilding everything and doing it on a solid foundation this time, right? Like I had a really, really good empire going, but I didn’t have it on built on a solid foundation, and that’s why I lost it, right? Like God came in and he said, This wasn’t your blessing. You you made this blessing, this wasn’t God made, this was Derrick made. And he took it. Right. And so now that I’m at a point in my life where I’m able to acknowledge that and accept that and heal from that. This company is what he’s given me. This is your blessing.

Sharon Cline: This is the foundation, right?

Derek Jensen: And so, you know, after kind of getting over that hurdle, it took me two and a half years. Right. And then two and a half years of getting over that, I started looking around and I’m like, Yeah, you know, you’re going to have to use a lot more tact and you’re going to have to really, really, really tone this down some because people don’t like the brash so much. You know, it’s a lot to take. I’m a lot I’m a lot of energy and most people have a real hard time with it. So I’ve had to dumb that down for some folks.

Speaker3: Dumb it down.

Derek Jensen: Yeah, Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Which is so counterintuitive because you want to be like a smart person, business owner, and you want to be as aggressive as you feel like you need to for your business, but you don’t want it to be, you know, shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak.

Derek Jensen: Yeah. And you flirt with that line like you always want to be yourself, right? You never want to be something you’re not. Right. And so I find myself struggling with that a lot. Like, am I doing this to appease this person or am I doing this because this is who I really am? And in business, sometimes you have to know how to flirt with that line because. You’re going to have to do some of that if you want success, you know, and that’s part of it. Like you’ve got to know how to flirt that line.

Sharon Cline: How do you know which one you’re playing to, whether or not you’re being authentic to yourself or you’re being appeasing to somebody else?

Derek Jensen: It always starts off as authentic to myself. It always starts that way. But the minute I realize, you know, in dealing with a customer or in dealing with a relationship or a friendship or anything else, as soon as I realized that they don’t appreciate my authentic self, that’s when I have to evaluate, okay, how far do I want to go with this guy to appease them? How important are they to me and where do they align in my success? And that just gives me a level of, you know. Where I’ll go with that person. Right. Because not everyone is is is going to want to get on board the journey.

Sharon Cline: What I like, though, is you’re talking about being very honest with yourself in what you really want. Like, in other words, a lot of business owners, the dollar is the ultimate decision maker. And you’re saying that’s not the case here?

Derek Jensen: Again, you know, I’ve learned to live without money, and I suggest that everyone gets that opportunity. I mean, I know everyone thinks going to prison is a horrible thing, but do some time in a serious institution and you’ll realize that there’s so many things that you can do in life without money. It doesn’t take money to be happy at all. And if that’s if if money is the route to happiness for you, you’ve got life all fucked up.

Sharon Cline: Not only that, but I do believe that there’s never enough money. When you have that mentality, there’s never enough. It’s almost like I saw this person had one. What was it like? $1 billion in the lottery. I can’t remember. It was some crazy number, but like the government took half or whatever, and you’re like, What? I only get 500 million. But when you think about it, like only, only, but because you initially got so much, it doesn’t seem like it’s enough. I don’t think I can ever have enough money or chocolate or sleep or pleasure, you know what I mean? Like, there’s just so many things that I sort of feel is like endless. So when your value system is something like that, you’re never really truly satisfied in your soul. Right. I was being sarcastic. There’s enough money in the world and chocolate. I just want you to know that maybe not chocolate, maybe not chocolate.

Derek Jensen: All right. I should have brought chocolate instead of t.

Sharon Cline: Shirts or t shirts that Derek brings me. Okay, so you’ve had to become very serious about who you are and what you want in your business sense, and that there have been some changes you’ve made. Are there any other moments that you’ve had that have been surprising to you as you’ve expanded in this past year?

Derek Jensen: Yeah.

Speaker4: One.

Derek Jensen: One of the biggest surprises was I never realized. Exactly. How much of a role I was playing within the community.

Sharon Cline: Wow. Really?

Derek Jensen: Yeah, Because. You know, here in Cherokee County, especially this little area, Canton, Woodstock, Holly Springs, this little area, it’s it’s big, but it’s small, if that makes any sense. Yes. Right. It’s not hard to rub shoulders with somebody who knows somebody. Yes. You know, and so somewhere down the line, one of your friends is going to know one of my friends. It’s just that big of a small town, right? It’s just big enough where we have our space, but it’s small enough to where somebody knows somebody. Right. And so that’s that’s where it’s at for me is. Getting to that point to whereas. My name is respected. I don’t necessarily need it to be liked. I need it to be respected. Right. And so that’s kind of where it’s been now. And that’s kind of what we’re doing is we we did make some mistakes in the beginning, you know, and we caused some issues trying to grow, you know, people in the way a couple elbows like people don’t like that but I’m coming through, you know, And so we created a few little issues, right?

Sharon Cline: You ruffled feathers, so to speak.

Derek Jensen: Plucked them more like it. But yeah, not ruffled them. I was hungry. I wanted chicken that night, you know?

Sharon Cline: Oh, my God.

Derek Jensen: So, yeah, so we’ve had to kind of go back and make amends and make amends and mend some fences. Yeah. Interesting. And then. But, but, but then carry that through and then make the changes so that we don’t do that again. Got you. Right. So that’s been kind of the biggest thing with us.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. You haven’t had someone to lead you through this process, though. You’ve had to learn all of this pretty much on your own. All on my own. And so how would you know exactly?

Derek Jensen: You know, make a mistake. That’s how you find out. Yeah. You know, just don’t make it twice. It’s okay to make it once. Just don’t make it twice.

Sharon Cline: But also owning up to it. That’s big because a lot of business owners make the mistakes and then they just blame something else or someone else. But to to take accountability is does create credibility for yourself and a respect.

Derek Jensen: See, that’s a really double edged sword with me because even if I wanted to do something like that, which I never would, but even if I wanted to. Where? Where am I going to put it? This is me.

Sharon Cline: It’s you. It’s all on your shoulder. What?

Derek Jensen: I mean, like. Yeah, it was my secretary. You don’t have one of those? Oh, shit. Right. You know. Yeah. So there’s nowhere else to put it but me. Now, that’s a good thing and a bad thing, right? Because at the end of the day, if it’s good, it’s really good. But if it’s bad, then. Then it’s. It’s me and the truck dealing with me on the way home, and that’s never a good ride.

Sharon Cline: Where do you. Okay, So if you were to say that you do have a fearless formula, what would you say your fearless formula is for your business?

Derek Jensen: Um. It’s a good question.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I like good questions.

Derek Jensen: We just, you know, we just want to go out and show that we can compete at the highest efficiency level out there. And we want to bring value to everything we do that that’s basically our fearless formula, is making sure that every job we do, every customer we deal with, has an amazing experience. And that’s basically it. You know, we want to let people know that, you know, we’re here, we care, and we’re going to take care of you. We’re not trying to dig in your pockets.

Sharon Cline: Don’t you think that people can feel when you’re not being authentic?

Derek Jensen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Sharon Cline: Or when you’re nickel and diming them for something that they don’t technically need. But, you know, because you’re the expert. Right.

Derek Jensen: And social media has has brought that to the foreground. Really? Yeah. Because I mean, you know, people people can get to see it now a lot more on social media, you know.

Sharon Cline: And it’s immediate as well.

Derek Jensen: Right. And so you do that enough times to enough people and. You’re done. You know, it’s going to spread like wildfire on social media and. You do that once or twice, man. You can make or break your company. You know.

Sharon Cline: What do you think at the end of the day when you’re driving home, what’s the feeling that you have that you just kind of give yourself a high five? Like, I just did a good I had a good day.

Derek Jensen: So I’ll go a little bit deeper on that. It doesn’t matter if it was a good day or a bad day or anything like that at the end of the day when I’m going home. I give myself a high five because I’m going home and I get to do this again tomorrow. So if it was a great day, we get to do tomorrow even better, right? And if it was a bad day, then that means tomorrow is easy because it can’t get any worse. So we already got the bad one out the way. Let’s get the rest of the good ones going the rest of the week.

Sharon Cline: And you get to go.

Derek Jensen: Home and we get to.

Sharon Cline: Go home and do it again and do it again. And it’s not have to. It’s get to.

Derek Jensen: Right. Because it was a lot of years in my life that I didn’t get to go home. Oh, yeah?

Sharon Cline: Well, Derek, I can’t thank you enough for coming by and sharing more of your story and your journey. And I just have to say candidly, you have such a depth to your spirit that you are willing to share that I don’t always get to access here on Fearless Formula. So I want to thank you for being so willing to share the things that you’re learning and not lead with pride and hubris. And you know this. I’m so great and my business is so great. But you’re like, Here’s my struggle. Because what that does is like, gives permission for everyone else to feel like it’s okay for them to struggle. It is, and we all do. Yeah.

Derek Jensen: And the biggest thing is it’s okay to struggle, but it’s also okay to, you know, hold yourself accountable there too. Like. It. I think we make things a lot more harder than we have to. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: You know, I know I do.

Derek Jensen: And but with that, I want to kind of jump into a couple of things because I know we’re running short on time. I did bring some stuff that I wanted to touch on, you know, please feel free. Yeah. So with the roofing industry again, there’s a lot of changes with the insurance companies, and insurance companies are really starting to take a good long look now at the roofs that they insure. And I just want to talk to all the people that may be listening and the people that are live on my Facebook. Allergy resistant shingles with copper technology is really a thing. It’s not a gimmick. It’s really a thing here in Georgia if you’re not using a copper infused technology shingle. You’re wasting your money. You’re absolutely wasting your money. And here’s why. And I’m going to use, for example, I mean Certainteed, GAF, ICAO, Atlas Roofing and Owens Corning all will do this, but GAF is the most easiest to deal with. Right. So I like them. So GAF has a product called Timberline, HD Z. That’s their allergy resistant line. Okay. And they say that you need to use the proper hips, ridges and everything when installing these shingles that come along with this. Yes. So, yes, it’s at the top of the price point. Okay. However, here’s the beauty of it. If you have the timberline shingles with all the proper hips and ridges on it and you ever get black lines on your roof, you’ll never pay for a soft wash. Interesting. Gaf will cover that cleaning because they stand behind their product. Okay. They say ten years. You’re not getting ten years in Georgia and they know it. You know, I was actually. I probably shouldn’t say this on the air, but I’m going to. Oh. Uh oh.

Sharon Cline: Okay. Okay, We’re going.

Derek Jensen: Yeah. I actually had a phone conversation with the vice president of GAF and was going over a lot of the information. And when I gave it to him and broke it down. Hey, look, you know, you got this product, you advertise ten year warranty, you’re never going to get that here in Georgia. You’re going to get five years at best. And I broke down all the facts to him of what I was doing on my end, you know, And it took him three days, but he finally got back to me and his exact words were. Yeah, you. You kind of got us by the balls because they now realize we’re never going to get ten years out of our shingles down there. They’re always.

Sharon Cline: Going to be having to deal.

Derek Jensen: With. And so and again, this is something that the homeowners don’t realize, okay? They get these algae shingles, they spend all this money, and then they got black lines up there and.

Sharon Cline: They call anybody, you.

Derek Jensen: Know, they call anybody and they’re paying, you know, and they don’t they don’t have their paperwork. Yeah, they don’t need to. And then on the other end of that. You know, because insurance companies are making a big deal out of roof maintenance. Now, whether you have allergy resistant shingles or not, you still have to do roof maintenance. They’re going to cancel you for having black lines on your roof. That’s a fact. So there’s a new tax code this year, 2023. Because of all this, there’s a new tax code out that allows homeowners to. Um, write off a portion of the cleaning up to $3,200 on your taxes. On your taxes? Yes. You can now write off up to $3,200 on your taxes under an energy and efficiency maintenance upgrade. Whoa.

Sharon Cline: Yes. I had no.

Derek Jensen: Idea. Right. And so with doing all that, like I said, we took the time to get recognized through the Asphalt Roofing Shingles Manufacturers Association. We’re recognized for them. We have a certificate of compliance through them. Good for you. Yeah. And so every roof wash we do, we’re issuing homeowners this certificate and we’re putting it doesn’t go to the homeowner. It actually goes to the address. Okay. So if you have a sold your home, it’ll go It transfers.

Sharon Cline: That’s wonderful. Transferable.

Derek Jensen: Right. And that’s the thing. A lot of people that you know. It’s so important to know what you’re getting into, because if you buy a home, the warranty doesn’t transfer. Unless it’s under the home. Truth. Okay. If it’s in a person’s name, it doesn’t transfer. So you buy a home and the real estate agent sells it to you as Yes, it’s got algae resistant shingles on it. It’s guaranteed for life. And you’re like, Oh, great. You get into the home, you have a problem, you call GAF. And they’re like, Well, you’re not the original owner, right? So there are some things that people need to be understanding when they’re buying homes and selling homes. Make sure that if you’re spending this money and you’re investing in your investment this way, make sure it’s transferable.

Sharon Cline: That’s a huge selling point. You know, I would think and I’m.

Derek Jensen: Dealing with a lot of realtors now helping them kind of get get to the bottom of this. But basically how it shakes down is there’s a few different ways that you can you can have coverage on your roof right from the manufacturer. Right. So there’s there’s a standard manufacturer’s warranty which covers the product you purchase. Okay. Okay. So that’s a standard manufacturer’s warranty. Got it. Then there’s a workmanship warranty, which that covers the contractor that comes to do the work. Right? And then there’s the extended manufacturer’s warranty. That’s the one that homeowners want. Okay. The other two, um, this last one, the extended menu. This covers contractors workmanship. Along with extended coverage for the products. So if you get the extended manufacturer’s warranty, you get the other two in with it. On top of all the other benefits. Got it. So it makes no sense to just cheat out on a couple hundred dollars.

Sharon Cline: When you could have it all. You can.

Derek Jensen: Have everything.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, that totally makes sense.

Derek Jensen: Okay, now I just want to get into some breakdowns real quick so people know and can if they hear these words, it might trigger some things for them. Excellent. So Ecco is a roofing shingle company and they’re allergy resistant line is called the Dynasty performance line. And they say that ten years allergy resistant hands down, if you got black lines in less than ten years, we’ll cover it. Perfect. Wow. Okay. So but that’s only on their dynasty performance. Allergy resistant line. Okay. Owings Corning. I don’t really interesting. Care too much for this company. Okay.

Sharon Cline: Interesting you say that because that’s the one I’ve heard of in the roofing industry the most. Yeah.

Derek Jensen: You hear a lot of them. They they got a really big name and and it’s, you know, they’ve reached a point where they’ve gotten too big for their britches and yeah, I just after, after talking to them I just really.

Sharon Cline: Oh okay.

Derek Jensen: And getting them to to back like so they have a street guard that’s their allergy resistant line. Okay. And they. Go into it a little bit deeper. They say that they use products from three M. You know, again, they offer the ten year warranty on it and they have it. You know, they say, okay, well, you need to have the approved hip and ridge products on it. They want pro edge, Razor ridge or Deco ridge, hip and ridges on it. Okay. And so they make you spend a lot of money to get this allergy resistant coverage. And if it does wind up getting allergy on it in ten years, Owings Corning is going to try to find a way out of that before they’ll find before they’ll actually back up their work.

Sharon Cline: That’s terrible. That makes me so frustrated. I know that’s what they’re supposed to do. But at the same, you know, that’s their goal. But at the same time, come on.

Derek Jensen: They’re really hard to deal with when you call them and tell them that their product failed. They act like a little kid. They want to throw a tantrum.

Sharon Cline: It’s terrible. Oh, gosh.

Derek Jensen: Now I will say that Certainteed, ICAO and GAF are not like that. Okay? I’ve had very, very, very good experiences with them. Okay. And so Certainteed, we’ll get into that. Certainteed brand is called Street Fighter. Okay. Okay. You see how they all have these little play on words?

Sharon Cline: Do they do?

Derek Jensen: And again, they say allergy resistant for ten years. Okay. So there’s the common denominator. Everything’s got to do with street fighter or some kind of play on words. But so they all got that going on and then they all got the ten year going on. That’s the common denominator in each. Got it. And what Certainteed basically says is pretty much the same thing allergy resistant properties using copper technology that allow the shingles to release the copper technology over time to combat gloeocapsa magma, which is the black lines that are on your roof. Okay, now. That’s what they all say. Ten years, allergy resistant. But here in Georgia, you can’t you can’t do that. Okay. You’d have to have shingles made of copper. If that was the case.

Sharon Cline: Could you imagine now or. But like. Like a copper roof. I can imagine. Right? You’re all set. But most people don’t have that. No, they’re doing a the combo.

Derek Jensen: But if you look, you know, and that’s the point I want to make. So copper is allergy resistant. Yes. But it tarnishes.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. It’s got patina doesn’t it? Like it turns green or something. Right. I didn’t think about that.

Derek Jensen: Okay. So so so that’s the that’s the that’s the double whammy there. Okay. Yes. They’re using copper because it’s an allergy. It’s a natural allergy resistant. But. It patinas. So. If you’re using copper technology, shingles, it’s going to patina interesting and it’s going to create black lines. And now you don’t know, are you dealing with patina and failure of the copper or are you dealing with gloeocapsa magma? So it’s very, very important that if you’re going the direction of this algae resistant technology, that you really do your homework and know what you’re getting into. Okay. Because is it worth the investment? 1,000,000%. Okay. If you go with any one of these brands, even though. Even though Owens Corning can be a real pain in the ass to deal with, they still make a great product. I don’t want to sound like I’m. Dagenham. Okay. I’m just saying that they’re a little tough to communicate with. You know, some people communicate great, some people don’t. It’s just the way it is, you know? I’m sure married folks will agree with me there. Right, right, right. And so, you know, they make a great product. They’re just really tough to get them to do what they say they’re supposed to do. Right. There’s a lot of there’s a lot of banter.

Sharon Cline: That’s going to go on.

Derek Jensen: There. Right. Yeah. The rest of them are pretty good. But but that’s just it. You know, I would suggest, you know, to to anyone that owns a home or that anyone is thinking about replacing a roof or whatnot, you know, building a home. You know, this this goes out to builders that may be listening to this, contractors that may be listening to this. If you you’re not using one of these companies and you’re not putting allergy resistant shingles, hips and ridges up on these roofs, you’re doing the homeowner and your customer an outrageous disservice. You know, egregious because they’ll never, ever, ever have a roof problem again if they use these products. You know, these products, they say in ten years, allergy resistant, then they’re saying 25 years to lifetime warranty. I mean.

Sharon Cline: It’s the dream.

Derek Jensen: They’re putting. Yeah, they’re putting some really big, big, big claims out there and they. They will stand on them. Right. So if you’re not using these products here in Georgia. I mean, I get it. You know, it’s a little bit more money. Some cases it’s a lot bit more money. But, I mean, this is your home. This is your investment.

Sharon Cline: It’s worth it.

Derek Jensen: You know, if you’re going to stay in that place for the rest of your life, there’s some peace of mind knowing that that roof is good for the rest of its life. If this is just a starter home or, you know, a layover or whatnot, there’s some real peace of mind knowing that you got the right stuff up there. When it comes time to sell that, you’re going to be able to get your value right. And then also for people that are, you know, got into this to to rent and make money off of being a landlord. I mean, it’s a real peace of mind to to rent out a piece of property knowing that the tenants that you have in there are covered by the best stuff possible.

Sharon Cline: They’re not going to call you saying we have a big leak, right? And now all my things are ruined.

Derek Jensen: Yes.

Sharon Cline: You know, and you have peace of mind knowing you don’t have to worry about if anything does happen. Right.

Derek Jensen: And so, you know, that’s that’s the big thing is I want to get it out there that look, you know, the roofing industry is changing. The insurance industry is changing. Roof maintenance has become a requirement. Okay. If you’re not getting your roof maintenance cleaned at a minimum of 3 to 5 years, you’re at risk of being canceled and not renewed. That is a real deal thing. How can people find that out?

Sharon Cline: I was just going to ask you, how can people find out even about you? You know, like if they wanted more information on this, because I’m sure this will inspire people to start investigating their own situations. And if they wanted to talk to you about it, what would be the best way they could get in touch with you?

Derek Jensen: (404) 431-4576. Call me on my shirt. There we go. Jensen’s precision power wash and restoration out of Canton. You can Google us. We’re a five star company on there. And I just gave you the digits, so you got no excuse now.

Sharon Cline: Well, Derek, you’ve just really helped. I think a lot of people have a potential way for them to save themselves, like not only money, but like the mental torture. You know, when you really know that you’re making a good decision, having that peace of mind can be really priceless.

Derek Jensen: Yeah. And I want to give another plug. You know, you asked me that question. So one of the companies that we’ve kind of networked with and kind of like linked up with is is roof advisors out of Canton of Canton. They here local in Cherokee County someplace. Okay. But Naomi over at Roof Advisors has been. An absolute blessing. You know, we got to talk to her a lot and go over some things with her and share with her kind of what we’re doing on our end, because they they’re a they’re a roofing company that exclusively uses GAF products. Got it. And so I brought all this knowledge to her and said, Hey, how much do you know about the products that you’re putting up there? And we sat down and we had a conversation over it, and it turned out that Naomi was actually considering starting to to to add soft washing, roof maintenance to, you know, roofing companies are starting to add this service.

Sharon Cline: That’s amazing because.

Derek Jensen: It’s a necessity.

Sharon Cline: Now. Yes, it is. Okay.

Derek Jensen: So a lot of roofing companies are low key searching out how do I get a roof washing set up? Right. Okay. And I want to say to every single roofing company out there that’s thinking about buying and purchasing and hiring employees to do roof maintenance. Don’t call me.

Speaker3: What a plug.

Sharon Cline: Oh, my gosh. We need to end there. That was perfect. That was, like, the very perfect ending. Good stuff, Derek. Thank you. Very welcome. I’ve had the best time chatting with you. Absolutely.

Derek Jensen: It’s always a good time coming in here. Thank you. And now you get to bring your mom in.

Sharon Cline: My mom’s visiting. Yeah. Yeah, I know.

Derek Jensen: I think Thanksgiving dinner is next.

Sharon Cline: You’re part of the family. All right, Derek, thank you so much. You are Welcome back. Any time. We’ll follow up again, because I’m just so enjoying your journey and really appreciate the time that you get to spend here. And obviously really sharing your heart and caring about people. It’s not about the money. It’s about really helping people.

Derek Jensen: Yeah, it’s really about the community and helping people out. So thank you for doing next year.

Sharon Cline: Hooray! Hooray. All right. All right. Thank you all too, for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Klein reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.

BRX Pro Tip: Are You Really Ready to Delegate?

October 2, 2023 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Are You Really Ready to Delegate?

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BRX Pro Tip: Are You Really Ready to Delegate?

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, the question of the day, are you really ready to delegate?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, a lot of folks understand the importance of delegating, but sometimes they self-sabotage and they’re really not ready to delegate. So, this is an exercise you can do to see if you really are ready to delegate. Something you can do is just go look at your calendar, or look at your to do list. Gather them up, go back, write down the last 100 different tasks that you did that you put on a calendar, that you put on a to do list. So, write them all down, get 100 of them, then put them into categories. What are the little chunks of tasks that you’re doing yourself over and over again? And then once you’ve done that, find somebody on your team who is the right person to take over some of those categories. And once you do that, remember to only keep the things that you, number one, want to do and things that you are great at, the things that are your superpower, everything else should be delegated to somebody else. If you can do this activity and go through your last 100 tasks and sort them and delegate them to the right people, you keep only the things that kind of align with your superpowers.

Lee Kantor: You’re going to be way more productive and your team is going to be able to take a lot of stuff off your plate. Now, if you do this exercise and you’re like, oh, I’ve got nothing, there’s nothing to delegate, then you’ve got a bigger problem. You have to build a better team. You’ve got to get more people that can do more things because you’re getting bogged down with too many things that really aren’t moving the needle in your business. You should only be doing the things that generate the most ROI and that brings you the most joy. Everything else has to be delegated to somebody else on your team. If you do that now, you have more time to do really the most important things that are moving the needle in your business. And you should do this exercise at least once a year. So go through the last 100 tasks to see if it’s time to delegate more stuff to more people.

BRX Pro Tip: Embrace Selling

September 29, 2023 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Embrace Selling

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BRX Pro Tip: Embrace Selling

Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, today’s tip. Easy for me, I’m wired this way. Easy for some of our studio partners. Not so much for others. This idea, embrace selling.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:17] Yeah. Businesses do pretty much only two things. They make things and they sell things, right? In our world, as some people call what we do, show business. In the making of shows, part of that is the easy and fun part. We all love doing it. We can sit here all day long and do it. Your clients are gonna love doing it. That’s the easy part. But nobody eats until something sold. So, the business part of this better come into play pretty quickly.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] And you have to have a sales process that’s as elegant as possible. And you have to have funnels. And all of that stuff has to happen. In our place, we can do that pretty easily. We use the serve model for sales. Select the right guest. Engage with them on a compelling show. Get a meeting and relate and verify if it’s a fit or not. And then, execute a pilot. The serve model works for us. It’s elegant. It’s non-salesy. Every step organically leads to the next step. And that’s how we do it. We move the prospect from being unaware of the opportunity, for them to consider the opportunity and then, to act on the opportunity.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:27] And that’s what we do every day here. And make sure in your house show that you’re doing that. You’re selecting the right people. You’re having a good show experience. So, they’ll have a meeting with you. So, they can relate and verify if it’s a good fit. And then, execute the pilot. And then, you teach your clients to do the exact same thing. You got to hold them accountable so that they’re selecting the right people, that they’re having a good show and then, they’re getting follow-up meetings. So, if everybody does that, then things are going to be sold and everybody wins.

Cracking the Code of Technology with Shaun Huffman

September 29, 2023 by angishields

Northwest Arkansas

Cracking the Code of Technology with Shaun Huffman

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Join us for an insightful conversation with Shaun Huffman, the mastermind behind Computer Consulting Service (CCS). Discover how CCS monitors and maintains networks across the nation, ensuring the smooth operation of businesses of all sizes.

Shaun shares his journey from vintage computer enthusiast to an IT expert. Plus, get valuable insights into cybersecurity and the ever-evolving world of technology. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of IT solutions and their impact on businesses.

Don’t miss this episode of Northwest Arkansas Business Radio!

Follow CCS on Facebook.