angishields, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Accept Chronic Mistakes

August 10, 2023 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Don't Accept Chronic Mistakes

00:00 /

BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Accept Chronic Mistakes

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, we’ve talked before about how to handle mistakes, we all make them, but there’s also something to be said for, you know, you can’t let it be an ongoing pattern, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:20] Right. It’s one of those things where you want to create a culture where it’s okay to make a mistake, it’s a learning opportunity. That shouldn’t be a big deal. It should be an opportunity for us to get better as a team and the role model that mistakes are okay because if people are afraid to make mistakes, they’re typically afraid to take risks, and then they could be holding your company back. But the line is drawn when they’re making the same mistake. If a mistake is being made over and over again, if you have shown a standard of behavior and that behavior is not at that standard over and over again, you have to do something about it. Those types of chronic mistakes that happen over and over again cannot be tolerated. They have such a detrimental effect on your company and on the rest of your team. When other team members are seeing behavior or results not lining up with the standard, then they become disincentivized to do the standard. So, you just have to have kind of hard and fast rules when it comes to these types of chronic mistakes.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:26] And you have to have rules, and systems, and disciplines that can document that mistake and turn it into a process that does not get repeated. Too many times, businesses fail not from one big blow but from a thousand little cuts. And these kind of little mistakes over and over again are eroding the trust you have in your community, the trust you have with your team. So, you have to start thinking about, what are some of the things that you can be doing to prevent new team members from making the same mistakes that former team members have made before them? You have to document everything. You have to have that standard operating procedure for all of the work that is being done in your business. And you have to nip some of these chronic mistakes at the bud. And sometimes, that means getting rid of that person, if they keep making the same type of mistake over and over again. They’re just not a good team member and they’re kind of poisoning the culture of your company.

Ask the Expert: Darin Hunter with MortgageRight

August 9, 2023 by angishields

Excel-Ask-The-Expert-Darin-Hunter-Feature

Cherokee Business Radio

Ask the Expert: Darin Hunter with MortgageRight

00:00 /

On today’s Excel: Ask the Expert, Randell and Robert are joined by Darin Hunter from MortgageRight, who shares his background in the mortgage industry and how he grew his business. They discuss marketing strategies, the importance of direct communication, and the power of teamwork.

The conversation then shifts to Darin’s TV show, recent accolades, and upcoming episodes. They also delve into topics such as the Federal Reserve’s rate increase, inflation, and the challenges faced by community banks. They discuss the current state of the housing market, affordability issues, and potential solutions.

Darin Hunter is a seasoned professional in the mortgage industry with over two decades of hands-on experience.

As the esteemed branch manager of the Woodstock, GA MortgageRight location, he is a licensed loan officer operating across 27 states throughout the United States.

Darin’s extensive experience is amplified by his recent accreditation as a Certified Mortgage Advisor, a testament to his expertise and dedication to continuous professional growth.

His deep-seated knowledge, unwavering passion for assisting borrowers, and relentless drive to deliver the best mortgage experience set him apart in the competitive landscape.

Darin’s commitment to excellence and personalized service not only meets but often exceeds the expectations of his clients, solidifying his position as a trusted and respected figure in the mortgage industry.

Darin is also the President of the Woodstock Business Club.

Follow Darin on Facebook and YouTube.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Excel Radio’s Ask the Expert. Brought to you by back shot photography and video. It’s your story. Make it awesome. For more information, go to buckshot.com. Now here’s your host.

Randell Beck: [00:00:30] Hi everybody. As they said in Poltergeist, they’re back. Stone’s with me here, co-host Robert Mason here. Hi, guys. How are you doing?

Darin Hunter: [00:00:39] Good, good, good.

Stone Payton: [00:00:40] Good. It’s a double header today.

Randell Beck: [00:00:42] Today we’re doing content. We’re throwing out the episodes, bringing in all the special guests and the superstars and the rock stars. You’d think we were a power player.

Darin Hunter: [00:00:50] I know. We’re going to be. It’s coming. That’s right.

Randell Beck: [00:00:53] That’s right. Special guest today, Darin Hunter from MortgageRight. Hi, Darren.

Darin Hunter: [00:00:57] Hi, sir.

Darin Hunter: [00:00:57] Thanks for having me in, guys. I appreciate it.

Randell Beck: [00:00:59] We’re going to talk a little about your story. But Darin, for those of you who don’t know yet, is a superstar and we’re going to get to that. Tell us a little bit about mortgage. Right and about Darren Hunter. Sure.

Darin Hunter: [00:01:11] So I am I’ve been in the mortgage game now for 22 years, so I’ve I’m like one of the old guys in the mortgage business. I’ve made it through a couple of different downturns and survived and keep thriving. They can’t get rid of me. I’m like the cockroach of the mortgage world, so I’ve been having a good time doing it. Been graduated from UGA with a finance degree and wanted to be a bond trader. That was my whole my whole gig. But when you graduate in 2002, things were changing. Things changed a little bit in Wall Street, you know, just prior to that, right?

Randell Beck: [00:01:42] So for about 15 minutes, I wanted to be a bond trader, too.

Darin Hunter: [00:01:47] So anyway, I literally took the first gig that I was offered and that happened to be in mortgages. And I just happened to you know, I understood finance. I understood how to restructure debt. I just kind of had a knack for restructuring people’s debt by taking equity. And at that time in the early 2000, we were having we were having a nice little run up in equity and appreciation. And so people were taking advantage of pulling out some money. So we’re doing a lot of refinances, second mortgages, home equity lines. And I just understood that and understood how you could take money and cash flow, how you could reinvest money and create other opportunities, whether that’s investing in the stock market or investing in real estate or whatever the case may be. And so I just was able to speak to people about that pretty intelligently and, you know, right out of the gate and just had some success. And, you know, shortly thereafter started just like most most success stories, I guess, you know, I saw that things could be done a little bit differently. And I went out on my own and was literally had a branch of the first net branching company that I got involved with, which was a group by the name of flagship financial group. They’re no longer around, but we started out of my out of my house, first house I ever bought.

Darin Hunter: [00:03:03] I had a I was in one guest room. I had another guy in another guest room. And as a couple years went on, I had people in my living room, people in my family room. And then the BellSouth guy told me that, Hey, man, there’s no more phone lines. You got to you got to get an office. So we eventually residential service. Yeah. Turns out, yeah. So, you know, we just started growing from there. And then, of course, the crash hit. And believe it or not, you know, I found that I had another knack and that was fine spotting trends. And I was able to find a couple of trends. I was licensed in 27 states and noticed that on CNBC on a daily basis, you saw campers and people flocking to all the states that were doing fracking. You know, the oil industry. You remember, you remember. I mean, you know, there was an asset bubble or a commodities bubble. South Dakota, North Dakota, That’s exactly correct. And people thought I was crazy for being in South and North Dakota. But it turned out, you know, it was kind of my saving grace. Pennsylvania, Ohio, of course, Texas. And so the oil industry, you know, oil was blowing through the roof at that time. So that was one of the only industries that were paying well. They needed places to go. They couldn’t be in campsites forever, so they started buying houses.

Darin Hunter: [00:04:12] So I was marketing to those campsites. And then I started thinking about, well, who else is paying the government? Well, we started looking at some of the different military bases that were out there in the States that I was licensed in and started marketing to them. And, you know, next thing you know, we’re doing a ton of VA loans and just kind of grew the business from there. And, you know, it was a weird time back in 2007, 2008. My parents, you know, I think my dad had lost his job. My mom was on the verge of hers. My sister had lost her job. My neighbors were out of job. I mean, it was just you know, there was a lot of, you know, high unemployment. Right. All across the board. So, you know, I was in my late 20s and I didn’t really you know, it wasn’t like a flashy guy. So and I didn’t want to flaunt anything. And we were having some success. And so I started just under the table, quote unquote, under the table. I say that I just wasn’t like telling people about it. I was just buying up real estate as much as I possibly could. And, you know, it turned out a good time to be buying. 15 years later, it turned out that was a pretty good move. Yeah, I’ll say so.

Randell Beck: [00:05:08] So this story is sounding kind of familiar to me. You know, our previous guest on our last episode was Mayo, professional football player. He and then. Then drug. Dealer. Now we got Darin, basketball player and then a mortgage agent. So basically same story.

Darin Hunter: [00:05:21] Yeah, pretty much. It’s all the same, Right?

Randell Beck: [00:05:25] All right. So Robert is a top market realtor over in Marietta and Roswell. He does a tremendous amount of business. I like to think that the video I do for him has something to do with that, no doubt about it. But but mainly. Mainly it’s his charming personality and movie star. Good looks, right?

Robert Mason: [00:05:40] Yeah, that’s all.

Randell Beck: [00:05:41] What was what does a guy like Robert need to know about mortgage? Right.

Darin Hunter: [00:05:45] So mortgage. Right. We provide value, right? So, you know, I’m not going to sit up here and I’m not going to talk to anybody and tell them how great my services are or how low my interest rate, how low my closing costs are because they are I’m going to talk about the value that we provide to you and your borrowers to how do we become a partner with you. And so that way I’m not sitting there asking you for referrals. How am I providing you referral? And it may not necessarily be handing you a deal, but it may be education, it may be the new trend right now is, is is Chat, GPT or AI and how we implement AI into real estate. And we’ve had a lot of success teaching agents, teaching brokerages on how to use that successfully right out of the gate. So again, just spotted another trend and felt like I wanted to be on the front end of that curve. So that’s how we add value. That’s the biggest thing you need to know about mortgage, right? For sure. When it comes to referral type partner, you.

Robert Mason: [00:06:47] Know, I think one of the hardest things for me to get get around these days is, is how reluctant people are to pick up their phone or answer their phones. I’ve got a lot of people in my sphere and it’s these are business hours. And you call people and people don’t answer the phone. People don’t return phone calls. You know, people are reluctant to talk to you or to meet with you. It’s like pulling teeth to get people to do their job these days. I don’t know if you’re finding that at all.

Darin Hunter: [00:07:16] So there’s no doubt. You know, there’s there’s the younger generation, I guess, you know, I’m. I’m the xenial, right? So I’m in between. I’m not quite a millennial, but the millennials definitely have that problem. And I’ve spent a lot of time educating my guys on how to. Have uncomfortable conversations and not buy. You can’t do that by text. Okay. So we always talk about, you know, your success will be determined by the amount of uncomfortable conversations that you have in life and in business. And you’re not having that conversation over the via text or via email. You’re actually picking up the phone. You’re discussing that with that person. And sometimes it’s about ripping off the Band-Aid. So we spend a lot of time on that because that’s one of my big pet peeves to just pick up the phone. Now, when I started in the business, I had to make 300 outbound calls a day. So I kind of got over that fear, that fear of getting on the phone and talking. And certainly when we brought when we bring people in, I definitely train them to to get on the phone. I don’t force them to do 300 outbound phone calls a day like I would do. I mean, that’s kind of like, you know, walking, right? You know, that’s like the old story as my dad used to tell me about walking to school in the snow. Uphill both ways kind of thing. So, you know, we don’t do that anymore. But but yeah, it’s it’s you’re on you’re on call in this business you have to be Yeah. You know it’s you try to set a expectations when you’re talking with your clients your borrowers also your your referral partners. But things happen. You know this you’ve been doing it. You said 33 years. So, you know, you got to be able to jump on things and put fires out right out of the gate and and be able to act and act efficiently.

Robert Mason: [00:09:03] I mean, because my business is linked to your business. Sure. And there’s no day that I’m. That I’m off. If I’m on vacation, my phone is still there. Unfortunately, I’m still answering the phone. Right. But I just so many of my coworkers, people that I’m around and they take the weekends off, they’ll go on vacation and they won’t answer their phone. And I get it. People need to unplug. I totally get it. But for me, in my business, if I need a pre-approval letter or if I need to know what the rates are to see if this guy’s going to qualify when I run it on my HB 12 C, I need to know the answer to those questions. Well, you.

Darin Hunter: [00:09:38] Know, one of the one of the answers to that is, is technology. You know, that’s that’s where we’ve been able to step into is use some of the some of the technology where we can if we’re not available for whatever reason there is, you have the opportunity to up to a certain level change your pre-approval letter or you have the ability to to check on interest rates. But not only that, but we’re you know, you mentioned it before. I didn’t say anything about it, but I was I was a fairly high level basketball player for a long, long time. And I’m a big team player. You know, that’s all Everything around my life is team, whether it’s my family, my office, the business clubs, the networking clubs. It’s about team and team effort and when I bring people on to my team. We’re all we all we have each other’s back. So if I’m on a town, somebody’s picking up the phone. If somebody else is picking up the phone, I’m picking out of town. I’m picking up the phone for them. Right. So that’s that’s the key is, is making certain that you have coverage. So yeah, I get that. Absolutely.

Randell Beck: [00:10:34] Woodstock Business Club was your baby, right? You started that with some of the others.

Darin Hunter: [00:10:37] Well, there was there were six of us that put it together for sure.

Randell Beck: [00:10:41] We started it as a team. Obviously, you’ve built a really good team over there.

Darin Hunter: [00:10:44] We have. We’ve got some great leadership. You know, we started as as another networking group. You know, it was one of the shall not be named networking groups. And and it just wasn’t going anywhere. There wasn’t I don’t want to say it wasn’t leadership. It just it was so rigid and it was closed. And they have their places and they have they do wonders, There’s no doubt about it. And for a lot of people and a lot of places. But what I find is no matter how closed the networking group is, not everybody is 100% loyal to that.

Robert Mason: [00:11:17] So the contributors, right.

Darin Hunter: [00:11:19] So we try you know, when we came up with the concept of the open, not the we developed the concept of it, but we implemented the concept of open networking group for the Woodstock Business Club.

Randell Beck: [00:11:31] You did it with a unique character, too.

Darin Hunter: [00:11:32] Yeah. And just energy, you know.

Randell Beck: [00:11:34] Some of the others.

Darin Hunter: [00:11:34] Just a lot of energy, not stuffiness. You know, obviously we’re in there to to to generate income. Okay. That’s that’s the bottom line. Like anybody telling you differently is, you know, I don’t believe you, but I mean, for friendship, of course. But we’re there to generate money, but we’re not going to sit there and put up numbers like you would on a you know, if you were at my office and we’re running through your pipeline, you know, we’re not going to we’re not going to go through you know, we’re not going to micromanage how many referrals you’re giving out and then putting a value to that. You know, your, your your level of contribution will rise to the top and people will see that as the way I believe. And then people will be loyal to you if you’re doing that.

Randell Beck: [00:12:20] People are getting tired of hearing me say it all the time. Stone Especially. But but you’ve built such a neat community there as well. I don’t know if Robert knows this about it, but when he says team, he’s not kidding. It’s a community effort. And the club I’m have reason to know that the club has helped people that have needed help when they’ve been in trouble. And some things have gone on and this this club has stepped in and made a real difference in some people’s lives just for the asking. Yeah. So it’s not just a networking group. It’s not even just a community group. It’s. In a very real way. It’s loosely organized, but it is a team, really a bonded team. It is. It’s a real unique environment. I like it.

Robert Mason: [00:12:57] A lot that I love that.

Darin Hunter: [00:12:58] Yeah, we’re taking it to the next level too. Now, at this point, you know, we’ve been able to we’ve had a couple of years of nice run and now we’re implementing some automation, newsletters, automated texts. Just to remind people, you know, we’ve got the websites, you know, that we’re just trying to trying to create additional value for being a member. It’s 50 bucks a year. It’s not a huge ask, but a lot of a lot of networking groups don’t charge anything That’s a cheese.

Robert Mason: [00:13:20] Dip and a margarita.

Darin Hunter: [00:13:21] For example. Yeah, right.

Randell Beck: [00:13:23] All day. And so, Robert, another surprise for Robert here. Stone and I kind of know a little bit about this, but Darren’s a superstar, Darren’s Darren’s gone national now. He Tell us about your TV show. Tell us about this hosting gig.

Darin Hunter: [00:13:36] So I don’t know about Superstar. I mean, I’ve been a superstar in my head for 44 years for sure. But but I got an opportunity to be on what’s called financing the American Dream. It’s part of American Dream TV. And there’s a couple of different arms. There’s selling Atlanta, selling Houston, selling, you know, whatever city they’re in, whatever metropolitan area they’re in, you know, selling. But those those shows are local, which is, you know, they’re great because you become a local sort of celebrity in that in that in that area.

Robert Mason: [00:14:03] The local expert.

Darin Hunter: [00:14:04] Exactly. So but financing the American dream which is what my arm is, is a national show and it airs once a month. It’s a five minute My segment is a five minutes within a 30 minute show. And you know, we we meet with it’s about community culture, lifestyle, real estate. So kind of like that 8020, you know, because we don’t want necessarily want to be HGTV. But, you know, HGTV has done pretty well, too. So.

Randell Beck: [00:14:34] Well. And this is a pretty special deal. That team that production team has got a couple of Emmys under their belt, according to their website.

Darin Hunter: [00:14:40] They do. They they and they’ve just recently picked up, I think, five tellys to his. And I’m still kind of new to it. I’m only I’m less than a year into it. So they’ve they’ve had some pretty nice accolades.

Randell Beck: [00:14:51] Those are vigorous slaps on the back from your colleagues right saying yeah that’s cool well done that’s what they are. Yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:14:58] And they give us they give us so much freedom too. It’s really up to it’s real TV. It’s not just reality TV. It’s scripted. Yeah, it’s not scripted at all. I mean, you know.

Robert Mason: [00:15:07] It’s kind of like this.

Darin Hunter: [00:15:07] Program, right? Like when I go to a when I go somewhere, I do. I try to do my due diligence and I try to come up with questions and concepts and discussion topics. So it leads somewhere. So we’re not just wasting time out there. But, but yeah, it’s.

Randell Beck: [00:15:23] It’s excellence. Mortgage, right? Is excellence. Excellence keeps coming up all the time. Yep. And everybody else, you know, on a show called Excel, it’s almost like we planned it that way. Almost. Almost.

Robert Mason: [00:15:32] Well, I mean, when we’re talking about, you know, financing and mortgages and there’s a lot of people talking about that right now. That’s the subject of today’s environment, fiscally speaking.

Randell Beck: [00:15:44] They just hit us with another rate increase this past week, didn’t they? No.

Robert Mason: [00:15:47] I heard that they were not going to increase. That I could be wrong. You are.

Darin Hunter: [00:15:51] It was a quarter point increase on the overnight lending rate, which is not overnight. Overnight lending rate. That’s not mortgage rates.

Randell Beck: [00:15:57] That’s right. Clamping on the bank a little now.

Darin Hunter: [00:16:00] They’ve been clamping on the bank pretty significantly. It’s unprecedented.

Randell Beck: [00:16:03] Does that have to do with the Silicon Valley Bank deal or is it something else?

Darin Hunter: [00:16:08] No, this is this this is the Fed’s attempt at fighting inflation. Right. This is what their attempt is to fight inflation.

Robert Mason: [00:16:16] And raise the cost of money to fight and fight inflation, to me seems the.

Randell Beck: [00:16:19] Wrong way. It is make it more expensive. That makes no sense. It’s not going to work, right?

Darin Hunter: [00:16:24] Yeah, it’s the Fed is, you know, kind of our arch enemy at the moment, right? I mean, and unfortunately, what the Fed does is they look in the rear view mirror, they don’t look ahead, and they depend on lagging indicators to make decisions on information that, you know, you can get real time. So they should be able to make an act on real time. I mean, for example, they kept mortgage rates artificially low for too long. I mean, you can look at the charts for a decade when when if you follow inflation, the chart of inflation and you follow mortgage rates over the history of time, they they follow one another. Mortgage rates follow inflation. What happened when they kept when they were buying mortgage backed securities and they were artificially keeping mortgage rates low, They kept mortgage rates low, but inflation was spiking. So instead of stopping the purchasing of those mortgage backed securities and letting mortgage rates do what they typically do, we would have and stop pumping that money into the economy. We would have definitely not have seen as significant of an in my opinion. I can’t say without a shadow of a doubt, of course. But I mean, it should have slowed down inflation significantly. And now we’re playing catch up. And you I mean, and you see what we’re dealing with right now.

Robert Mason: [00:17:36] Well, you see the investment in the bond rate to that. It’s that’s taking a lot of these banks out as well.

Darin Hunter: [00:17:40] Oh, well, you know, interest rates go up. What happens? Interest rates and bond prices work inversely. So if interest rates go up the. Price of that bond goes down. So if that asset goes up, the interest rate goes up, then the cost is going to go down. And that’s exactly what happened to the community. Banks Right. You know, it’s a real thing. It’s called interest rate risk. And it’s mind boggling to me that nobody is overseeing that. That’s that’s that’s something that should have been paid attention to. It should have known it could have stopped a lot of this. And unfortunately, there’s a lot more to come, in my opinion. We just saw another one this past week where there was another banking failure. So it’s know just kind of really the sort of the tip of the iceberg, in my opinion.

Robert Mason: [00:18:29] Well, nobody’s talking about it. They’re afraid to talk about it because we’re already in a in a fragile economic situation.

Randell Beck: [00:18:36] They’re being and it’s.

Robert Mason: [00:18:37] Getting worse.

Randell Beck: [00:18:37] From talking about it, too, because it’s going to expose some imbalance in the bank portfolios where they’ve got.

Robert Mason: [00:18:42] And this outright.

Randell Beck: [00:18:43] Various kinds of risks that they’re overexposed to all these banks is what happened in the 80s with the fur bearing trout farms when the interest rates started going up.

Robert Mason: [00:18:49] Well, look@the.com collapse in 2000. Yeah, it was. It was. What was the.com collapse based on? Nothing. Air, No brick and mortar. Those those those companies were coming and going and were getting fed millions and millions and millions of dollars and people were buying it and people had no idea why they were even buying, me included. And I lost. So there’s a lot of that going on.

Randell Beck: [00:19:11] And inflation’s a money phenomenon. The more money you put into the system, the price is just printing money.

Robert Mason: [00:19:16] Randy, come on. It’s the federal government. They can do whatever they want.

Randell Beck: [00:19:19] There is no other outcome to that than inflation. And so now the question is trying to manage that by what do you do by the same people, by looking in the rearview mirror. That’s not a good not a good strategy, is the question.

Darin Hunter: [00:19:30] They’ll do what they want inflation, because then it devalues the debt that they have.

Robert Mason: [00:19:33] And you look at these countries that are getting ready to get rid of the dollar as the as the standard bearer as well. And that is frightening.

Randell Beck: [00:19:39] And we all know every one of our listeners knows that in an inflationary period, when you issue new money, the one that benefits the most is the first person to get the money. That’s right.

Robert Mason: [00:19:49] That’s right. And all of our listeners know where we stand to who is that? Yeah, before we get ourselves in trouble.

Randell Beck: [00:19:56] So what’s coming up on on your TV show now? What I saw you did a couple of episodes. One was with that Keller Williams agent.

Darin Hunter: [00:20:04] Yeah, that was that was one of the first ones we did, actually. So we just recently did Terminus Wake Park, which is up in right outside of Cartersville, or Emerson, really, right there at Lake Point. And and Chase Andrews is the owner of that, and he’s just an unbelievable guy. His energy is phenomenal. He’s so positive and he does so much for such for all the youth that he touches. Yeah. I mean, he’s he’s like, he really is like this father figure that’s out there showing he’s an ex pro. He used to live here in downtown Woodstock. Actually, that’s actually how I met him initially. And then, you know.

Randell Beck: [00:20:37] Pro what?

Darin Hunter: [00:20:37] I’m sorry. Ex Pro wakeboarder. Okay. Yes. So Terminus wake part is, is is a cable system on these two lakes and they have all these different jumps and rails and all the stuff. I have no idea what I’m talking about and how to do, but, but it’s really awesome to watch. And you know, the film’s really, really well and they just have this awesome community, tons of positive energy and he just does so much and he’s got a great thing going. And you know, you know, there was a lot of action going on, a lot of like suits coming in, talking to him while we were there. And so, listen, I’m just speculating, but it seems like he’s got a couple of big things in the works, but he’s got nothing but positive.

Randell Beck: [00:21:17] There’s a wake park, a wave park they’re going to build over like Buford area somewhere over that way. And the flat, big, big deal. Wave Park coming up. I talked to the developer on that a few weeks ago.

Robert Mason: [00:21:29] These are these are activities that we probably don’t want to go do. Right.

Randell Beck: [00:21:33] I think we want to try, don’t you?

Darin Hunter: [00:21:35] So let me tell you.

Randell Beck: [00:21:36] Screw up your other knee.

Darin Hunter: [00:21:38] While I was there, while I was there, there was a gentleman, his name is Leo. He he made the cut of the show that I got to see the first cut on. And he’s about he’s in his mid 70s. He was there for exercise and and it was just like, you know he wasn’t scripted at all. I just saw him. I was like, I got to interview you. You got to be on this show because we got all these young kids coming up. You know, I mean, I’m talking, you know, ten year olds up to mid 20s doing all these flips. And he’s out there. He grabs his board and gets on there and just an awesome guy, super positive again. I mean, it’s just a really cool community and he just goes out there 4 or 5 times a week to exercise during the summer. That’s awesome. Yeah, it’s cool. Very cool. It was a lot of fun. It was. It was one of my the most fun I’ve had on the show. So that was the most recent one that’s getting ready to air. I don’t know the date yet. I should know literally any day now, but it’ll be in the next week or two. And then tomorrow we’re actually filming at a this gentleman is from South Africa. He built this super successful business where they do the powder coating for all these high end and high dollar cars. He’s got a place in Alpharetta. He’s got a place in Marietta, and he’s also hooked in with Tesla. And so we’re looking forward to to checking that out and. And seeing some pretty fancy cars. And, you know, I’m not a big car guy. I mean, if I’m still driving the same first new car I bought in 2008. So I’m 15 years in on my car, well, I’m.

Robert Mason: [00:23:01] Afraid to spend money, so I’m a realtor. I never know when I’m going to get paid.

Speaker5: [00:23:04] Exactly.

Darin Hunter: [00:23:06] We’ve been down that road before, so. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, so and then then we’re doing Atlanta Motorsports, Park Speedway. It’s the one in Dahlonega. I’m drawing a blank on the name, but that’s at the end of we.

Robert Mason: [00:23:20] Have people stay at our we’ve got an investment property cottage on a lake lake, scanty and big canoe. And so we have people that come in and they rent our place and they’re they’re like racing at that track watch.

Randell Beck: [00:23:32] Watch in the fall, by the way, for the motorcycle racing documentary from us. Awesome.

Robert Mason: [00:23:37] John, is that is that where you did your that that shooting last year?

Randell Beck: [00:23:40] Some of it over there, some of it at Talladega and some of it down in Florida?

Robert Mason: [00:23:44] Yeah, that was pretty cool.

Darin Hunter: [00:23:45] So they’ve got these new condos that they built at the the park and where you can buy the condo at the garage below and then you can sort of customize the top level and like literally like a condo. I mean, there’s people make them into bars and like man caves on steroids, if you will. And then down below are like where they keep their cars and then they have little balconies and then they overlook the track. I mean, it’s just so, so cool. And we’re getting ready to go out there and film that. And there’s a drag race that night or that Saturday that we’re going out there at the 26th.

Robert Mason: [00:24:16] I think that would be so cool.

Darin Hunter: [00:24:17] Yeah, we’re looking forward to that one too. That’s going to be fun.

Randell Beck: [00:24:19] We should go check that. That’s a lifestyle deal, right?

Robert Mason: [00:24:21] Yeah, we should go look at that. That’d be good. Yeah. So tell me, what’s going to what are your prognostications for mortgages moving forward in the next, say, six months?

Darin Hunter: [00:24:33] So, you know, I’ll be the first one to tell you that I did multiple classes, multiple presentations back in November, December of last year on inflation and where my expectations were. And I should have been. Right. And.

Speaker5: [00:24:51] But were you?

Darin Hunter: [00:24:53] I should have been right. But I did not foresee the banking crisis that took place. And that’s where, you know, when that took place, you know, the amount of money that the Fed started to reprint again and pumped back into the system. You know, you saw M2, which was money supply, right. Of the Fed. So you saw it actually starting to make a nice trend. One of the one of the biggest dips we’ve had in decades. It was dipping nice very, very nicely. As soon as those banks went under in March, that spiked back up and then boom, interest rates flipped back around. So I was expecting interest rates to.

Randell Beck: [00:25:31] Is it really a crisis? We’ve had a few banks closed. Big ones. Yes. A lot of money. Yeah, no doubt. It’s a crisis for the people at the bank and their depositors. Is that really a banking crisis? I mean, it is. It’s we’re talking about a monetary phenomenon because a handful of banks went under.

Darin Hunter: [00:25:48] There’s going to be many more, in my opinion. I know time will tell, as always. Right. But it’s not it’s but it’s not that, you know, think about the payroll that’s not getting paid. The people that are that have nothing to do with these banks that are no longer going to be receiving their paychecks because, you know, a banker wasn’t paying attention to wasn’t paying attention to the risks that they were taking on with the amount of bonds that they were holding, which got devalued. And then they totally they got triggered. So so it’s not just it’s affecting so many people and there’s so many layers of people that are going to be hurt by this if they don’t do anything about it. And so, yeah, I think it is a crisis. I think it’s right now have been staved off. I think there’s there’s the potential for some significant hits. You know, we’ll see.

Robert Mason: [00:26:32] A couple of months ago, Janet Yellen was asked about inflation and she admitted I don’t really understand inflation. Oh, yeah. Oh, no kidding. Yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:26:39] Yeah, no kidding. It’s. It’s it’s kind of sad, honestly. And they have, I think, 200 of the the top economic economists in the country supposedly, you know, evaluating all this stuff and yet they continue to make. Do you think their.

Robert Mason: [00:26:54] Hand is being forced or do you think that they’re just I hate to use the word ignorant, but come on.

Darin Hunter: [00:27:01] I think it’s above my pay grade, first of all. But I think, again, I mentioned it earlier, they’re looking at lagging indicators. They’re not looking at you know, they’re not they’re looking in the rear view mirror. They’re looking at data that’s already been that’s already been digested by the by the system. And if they were to make decisions real time, they would have a better handle on what’s happening. And so I just I think they’re using. It data that’s just late to the game. Honestly, that’s that’s really where I where I believe they’re making their biggest mistake.

Randell Beck: [00:27:33] So what leading in what are the leading indicators say what are you looking at.

Darin Hunter: [00:27:36] So you know when you’re calculating consumer price index, you know, housing is one of the shelter. The cost of shelter is one of the largest factors that’s in that calculation. Right. It’s about 30. I’m going to miss I’m going to not have this on dead on, but it’s around 32% of what the total calculation is. So shelter costs have been coming down tremendously. But how they’re calculating the shelter cost is a 12 month average as opposed to a month to month average. So a month over month average, in other words. So they’re looking at the last 12 months where so if you’re looking at a bell curve, you’re seeing it’s still going up and just barely peaking at the top of the we’re talking housing prices, shelter cost, monthly cost. So rental rates essentially.

Robert Mason: [00:28:26] Okay. Rental rates.

Darin Hunter: [00:28:26] So, you know, the cost and rental rates have been coming down, you know, across the board. And so in real time, they’ve they’ve dropped tremendously. But the factor that they’re using is still it’s it’s just now it’s just now rolling over. So it’s just taking some more time. But at the same time, you know, we’ve now seen where CPI numbers are coming down into the you know, the high threes peaks are coming down pretty significantly. Producer are. Consumer expenditure. Cpi, consumer price expenditures and then consumer price index. Those two inflationary indicators are coming down. So, you know, we should see you asked me about what my next six months is. I do believe that interest rates will come back down. You know, I initially thought they’d be closer into the fives by the end of the year. I think we’ll be back down to the low sixes by the end of the year. And, you know, as far as how that affects housing, you know, I mean, you you see it, you’re in real estate. It’s you know, I would say what housing crash, you know, we’ve been, you know, been told that there’s this housing crash taking place for the last two years. Well, nothing’s not seeing it at all. I mean, I think that’s.

Robert Mason: [00:29:32] A micro or a macro look, right? So if you’re looking at some cities, you’re going to you’re going to be okay. Sure. If you’re looking at LA, Yeah. Things are a little bit different in Chicago, Illinois.

Darin Hunter: [00:29:42] Boise, Austin.

Randell Beck: [00:29:45] Just the in-migration every year alone, which we’ve talked about. Right.

Robert Mason: [00:29:48] And Covid changed.

Randell Beck: [00:29:49] Everything. Thousand people a year. Yeah. We get 140,000 crash going to happen in the Atlanta area.

Robert Mason: [00:29:53] We have 120,000 that came in in the last three years every year. And we’re looking at the same numbers right now. What we’re not getting, Randy, is we’re not getting the people who live here that are upgrading their house that they’ve been in for seven and ten years going, hey, honey, now’s the time for us to have that house, right? No remodeling.

Randell Beck: [00:30:11] We’re also not getting 30, 40, 50,000 housing units a year coming up out of the ground. I mean, how would you It’s not even physically possible. You’re going to raise a new town the size of Woodstock every year. You can’t do it. Cartersville But Well, okay. So a thousand. A couple of thousand. Sure.

Robert Mason: [00:30:26] One of the things that I’m hearing.

Randell Beck: [00:30:27] But that doesn’t that doesn’t contribute to the backlog that’s stacking up.

Robert Mason: [00:30:31] Well, there’s a huge backlog. And for realtors like me that are busy, that have a lot of clientele and and some some gravitas in this business, we’re still going to make money. But a lot of realtors are flying out of here.

Randell Beck: [00:30:44] There’s no crash. Right. It’s just getting hard.

Robert Mason: [00:30:46] Yeah. It’s back to being.

Darin Hunter: [00:30:47] You got to back. You got to get back to working.

Robert Mason: [00:30:49] We’re back to normal again. It’s just a hard business to I’m seeing because 2024 is going to be a political year. Sure, the politicians are going to make some financial decisions based on what looks good before a election, an election year. And so I’m hearing for some from some pretty big people that I get to listen to some of their conversations that, yeah, you’re going to see some some of those numbers coming back down to earth and they’re going to try to help the housing industry because of that uptick in 2024.

Darin Hunter: [00:31:23] Yeah, it’s it’s a challenge right now. I mean, you know, I’ve had this conversation countless times over the last couple of years. And, you know, when I see first time homebuyers and they’re they’re taking on payments that are over $3,000, you know, I sit there and I think about like when I was in my mid 20s, I was like, God almighty, man. That’s that’s a that’s a tough nut to pay every single month. But I remind myself that what I’m seeing on a regular basis are dual incomes. And these folks are coming out of college making 80, 90, 100 grand a piece. So their the amount of money that they’re making is significantly more than the amount of money that I was making in the early 2000 when I first started. And I would imagine, you know, as we as you go on in the 90s and the 80s and so on and so forth. So there’s there’s definitely more money being made now that doesn’t help the lower class. The middle class affordability becomes a major, major issue and it still will it will maintain or continue to be an issue for some time. I don’t know how to correct that. I don’t know how you get a builder to build affordable housing when you have the opportunity to build a $500,000 house. How are you going to talk them into building a $300,000 house.

Randell Beck: [00:32:37] Make it affordable so the profitable to do it and the way you do that is ease up on the restrictions, not clamp down on them. And you let you let prefabs happen. And those beautiful architecture, prefabs, I was showing you and tiny homes and all the things, all the trends that are developing that cities tend to sniff at for 25 years before they finally get the message. Right. Right.

Robert Mason: [00:32:58] So some of the numbers that we’re talking about, so 85% of the population makes below $85,000 a year when interest rates are 5.5 and above, they’re tapped out. That first time home buyer or that second time home buyer is tapped at around $450,000. Okay. So if the average price and the average price home in Atlanta in particular is $475,000 unit sold, that is the average number. So 85% of the people that are out there to buy houses cannot qualify. Right. That’s a problem.

Darin Hunter: [00:33:33] It is. It’s a major problem. And the quickest way to do that is lower interest rates. You’re not you’re not going to get you’re not going to have a crash that’s going to drop prices so significantly that it’ll make it affordable. The only way to do that is you’re 100% correct is to reduce interest rates. But again, you know, pick your poison. We go back to, you know, artificially low mortgage interest rate, That means the Fed’s pumping in money into the mortgage backed security market and then, boom, there you go. Then we’re going to see spikes in inflation and the cost of living starts going up. So, yeah, commodity prices go through the roof, oil, food, you know, you name it, commodities across the board will spike. Now, they can’t now. Now they can buy a house, but they can’t afford to live in it. Right?

Speaker5: [00:34:22] Right.

Robert Mason: [00:34:23] Can’t afford groceries.

Darin Hunter: [00:34:24] And yeah, it’s it’s a it’s.

Robert Mason: [00:34:25] A tough look at new car prices. 65, 75, $85,000. I mean, who can afford that?

Darin Hunter: [00:34:30] Yeah. There’s a reason I’m still driving a 2000 2008 Toyota Sequoia. Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:34:37] Well, I just borrowed Randall’s car because mine’s in the shop and I’m like, Dude, I can’t afford a rental car.

Randell Beck: [00:34:42] So you’re a sequoia man, too?

Speaker5: [00:34:43] Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:34:44] I’ve seen yours. I always got my eye on yours.

Speaker5: [00:34:46] Yeah. Salt tricked out the only.

Randell Beck: [00:34:48] Car with every vowel in its name.

Speaker5: [00:34:51] Yep, that’s right, Sequoia. I like that. Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:34:55] So behind a door number A and door B are not so good. You can’t. You can’t reduce the interest rates artificially. You can’t. There’s no way to stop this train that the acceleration of prices of the homes. So there’s got to be a door see there’s got to be a third option.

Darin Hunter: [00:35:11] I think that’s back to adjustable rate mortgages. But here’s the here’s the kicker.

Robert Mason: [00:35:15] Libors and all that nonsense.

Darin Hunter: [00:35:17] Absolutely. Yeah. So, I mean, for a long, long time, that was a great product. Yeah. And but here’s the you know, you know, you’ve heard the word inverted yield curve.

Speaker5: [00:35:27] Yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:35:27] Well, that’s exactly what we’re dealing with right now. That’s why that’s why we do not have. Adjustable rate mortgages that are lower than your 30 year fixed mortgages because we’re in an inverted yield curve. Now, that same time, when you’re qualifying a borrower on an adjustable rate mortgage, actually the qualifying to qualify a borrower for an adjustable rate mortgage is significantly harder because you’re taking that that that initial rate, you’re adding two percentage points to that to qualify them on that. So it’s a qualifying rate of two points higher than the initial start rate. That clearly wasn’t the case back in, you know, the during the crash years of mid 2000. Right. So that lesson’s been learned. So I think there has to be. Number one, we get back to a normal yield curve where your short term interest rates are lower. That’s going to help make it more affordable for buyers to get into a house. But you also have to change some of the lending guidelines and you have to ease up on that. And so, yeah, there there again runs the balance. You know, if we’re using now, now they don’t use Libor, they use the CMT constant maturity Treasury average is what they use, right? So it’s a little bit more consistent, a little bit more stable than what they used in the past.

Robert Mason: [00:36:36] But so conventional will have to adopt FHA guidelines or even even higher.

Darin Hunter: [00:36:42] So, you know, right now FHA is kind of the only, only game in town. I mean, frankly, the first time for first time homebuyers for the most part, because recently FHA reduced their my requirements, right? So they dropped it to 0.5% or 0.55%, depending upon if you’re putting 3.5% down or 5% down. And with a with a conventional loan, it’s going to be based off your credit score. It’s going to be based off your income, it’s going to be based off your down payment. So all these things play a factor in determining what your mortgage insurance premium is going to be as opposed to FHA. You could have, you know, 55% debt to income ratio. You could have a 600 credit score, you could have no assets, 3.5% down, and your mortgage insurance rate is the exact same. So as opposed to.

Speaker5: [00:37:33] A risk.

Darin Hunter: [00:37:34] That is a risk.

Randell Beck: [00:37:35] Also disincentivizes people to well, different conversation as is apparently. You know, we’ve used a lot of terms and ratios and acronyms here, including Libor. What do they know about money in London anyway? But.

Darin Hunter: [00:37:50] Well, it’s nonexistent anymore.

Randell Beck: [00:37:51] So apparently what we need to do is run a mortgage 101 series under this. Bring Darren back a bunch.

Robert Mason: [00:37:57] Absolutely. Because there’s a lot of people.

Randell Beck: [00:37:58] That this is how this works.

Robert Mason: [00:38:00] People don’t know how this stuff works.

Darin Hunter: [00:38:01] You know, now the you know, for there’s so many studies out there that that asking first time homebuyers how much they need for a down payment and all just I mean it’s the numbers are astronomical. It’s like 90% of people still believe they need 20% down for for first time homebuyer which you know listen, if you have it, that’s great, but.

Speaker5: [00:38:21] That’s not sure. But you don’t have to have.

Darin Hunter: [00:38:23] You don’t need to have.

Speaker5: [00:38:24] That. I mean.

Randell Beck: [00:38:25] Va is not even the only zero down deal.

Darin Hunter: [00:38:27] Anymore. Usda is available. There’s there’s a couple down payment assistance programs that are out there.

Robert Mason: [00:38:33] There’s Bank of America still the best USDA program.

Darin Hunter: [00:38:37] Actually, I heard mortgage rates, USDA programs, the best one in town.

Speaker5: [00:38:40] Okay.

Robert Mason: [00:38:41] Okay. So that’s where I need to go.

Speaker5: [00:38:42] Absolutely. Okay.

Robert Mason: [00:38:43] All right.

Speaker5: [00:38:44] Let’s clarify. You know.

Randell Beck: [00:38:45] You know, the opposite of right is both left and wrong.

Robert Mason: [00:38:48] Well, I knew I was setting him up to.

Randell Beck: [00:38:49] To deal with mortgage, right? Not mortgage.

Speaker5: [00:38:51] Wrong. Right.

Robert Mason: [00:38:53] I needed him to say that on the air, Andy.

Speaker5: [00:38:55] And it’s been said Bank of who?

Robert Mason: [00:38:59] Bank of.

Speaker5: [00:38:59] Who.

Randell Beck: [00:39:00] All right. So let’s shift gears for a minute. Your national scope with your show. You’re you’re involved in your community. You’re building this great team. We talked about doing doing good for a lot of people in a lot of ways, providing jobs for people. What excites Darren Hunter about this, all this stuff. What’s driving you?

Darin Hunter: [00:39:17] My daughter? It’s real simple. You know, I’ve got a I’ve got a beautiful young daughter. She’s six years old. She started her first day of kindergarten today. So we put her on the bus. She got on the bus, you know.

Robert Mason: [00:39:29] Picture day. You got a picture of that?

Darin Hunter: [00:39:30] Oh, I mean, my phone is loaded with pictures for sure from from this morning. And then, you know, my my mother was there. Father was there, you know, her older sister, of course. And then we we followed the bus to the school and walked her and she just walked right past us and went right into the school, sat down. I was like, you.

Speaker5: [00:39:45] Know, no big deal.

Darin Hunter: [00:39:47] We’re just, you know, mommy was in tears. And I’ll be honest, it was a little more emotional than I was expected. I expected to be. But but yeah, it was.

Speaker5: [00:39:55] It’s a milestone.

Darin Hunter: [00:39:55] Yeah, it is.

Randell Beck: [00:39:56] And of course, she has a medical challenge. And you have a foundation. You’re raising money, you’re contributing to the research.

Speaker5: [00:40:03] She does.

Darin Hunter: [00:40:04] She does. She was born with a rare genetic disease called Kbbg. So it affects the it’s a mutation. She has mutations. Some of them have deletions within their 16th chromosome. She has mutation, which means there’s some connectivity there. And so she’s you know, if there’s a spectrum, if you will, you know, she’s probably she does a lot better than most. So she’s, you know, functioning. She goes to school. She’s a little delayed. She’s she’s she’s got some she goes to speech, occupation. No physical therapy twice a week for all of them. And then, as a matter of fact, unfortunately, we just found out last week that I didn’t even know this was the thing. I thought we kind of skirted this. But, you know, hearing loss of hearing is an issue for the ears and just found out she’s deaf in her in her right ear. So we’re now dealing with that. She’s going in for cochlear.

Robert Mason: [00:40:53] Implants, maybe.

Darin Hunter: [00:40:55] Honestly, it’s so new. I’m still not even still kind of processing. We got to go in for a CT scan tomorrow to figure out if there’s anything else going on. So, you know, it’s one of those things where we thought we were kind of out of the woods on some of these things, but you’re just never are when you’re dealing with a genetic disease. Unknown. Like when she was born, she was 286in the world to ever be diagnosed with this with this particular disease. And it’s not to say there’s not many others out there. They just the genetic testing wasn’t that prevalent. Right. So and now it’s become more prevalent. There’s about 800 kids now. And and so sort of one of the the selfish ways that we dealt with it is we started a nonprofit. It’s called Every Link Matters. And we raised funds to help kids dealing with CABG. But we depend so much on the local community. We give back to the community as much as we possibly can, you know, in whatever form we can, whatever we need. And, you know, we talk with we try to do about one family a month, whether that’s, you know, helping with medical bills. That’s kind of like where it all started. You know, my wife and I were just blown away with the medical bills that we were experiencing. And we’re like, how are these how are people that don’t have the the resources able to pay for this? And that’s kind of how it all started. And then, you know, it was therapy for us to try to get out there and help a little bit. So it’s turned into a pretty fun, fun event. It feels great for us. We’re loving it. We do a big golf tournament. Stone is always their big, big, big contributor. And he gets out there and enjoys a couple beverages out there with with the crew.

Speaker5: [00:42:27] In fact, I heard.

Randell Beck: [00:42:28] The last one was sort of like a drinking tournament with a golf sideline.

Darin Hunter: [00:42:31] I didn’t even know they were playing golf out there.

Speaker5: [00:42:35] Yeah, swing.

Darin Hunter: [00:42:36] But yeah, it’s, you know, back in the early 2000 and mid two, thousands I don’t even know if you’re a golfer, but, you know, golf tournaments used to be a blast. There was so much fun. And then, of course, you know, a couple bad apples out in Sugarloaf ruined it for all of us. And it got on the news and all that kind of stuff. And so so, you know, we’re kind of bringing it back in a much more tame way. But but definitely, you know how it goes. If you’re the people’s wallets get a lot more loose. You know, the more opportunities they have to have an adult beverage. So we do it safely and have a good time with it. And turns out we raise a lot of funds and then we’re able to do some good with it. So we’re excited about it.

Robert Mason: [00:43:16] I was in a golf tournament in Chattanooga last year and it was for the UTC wrestling team and one of the one of their wrestlers had died of cancer or something. So they were raising money for that. And so for wrestlers, I was an old wrestler that I looked like a wrestler, right? And so on the tee boxes, skirmishes were were breaking out, you know, old guys against young guys and all these dudes. And we’re just, you know, we just never grew up. So. Yeah, I understand. I totally.

Speaker5: [00:43:46] Get it. That’s fun.

Randell Beck: [00:43:47] I can’t add to the golf conversation. My brother is a scratch golfer. My dad was a golf pro in the summers up in Colorado at this course.

Speaker5: [00:43:54] It was.

Randell Beck: [00:43:55] They make fun of my golf game. I got nothing to add.

Speaker5: [00:43:58] The blue bluebloods.

Darin Hunter: [00:44:01] I wish I was a scratch golfer. I love love the game, but not a lot of work.

Speaker5: [00:44:05] Oh, man. Yeah. No.

Darin Hunter: [00:44:07] But yeah, we’re excited about that. That’s, you know, that’s what gets us excited these days. And, you know, just just the growth of what we’re able to do in the community and being part of such an amazing community. I mean, we were downtown Woodstock. Woodstock as a whole is just an unbelievable place to be a part of. And we’re just so thankful that I had an opportunity. You know, I’ve been down here for a long time, lived down here, played down here, drank down here, ate down here. But, you know, of course I worked down here because I’m everywhere. But, you know, I had an opportunity to invest in downtown downtown on Main Street, on Woodstock, in Woodstock. And when the opportunity came about, I mean, it was a no brainer. I jumped on it all day. Yeah. And so we we now have, you know, part of the that’ll be the legacy building, you know, for the family or for kids. The building I bought the it’s a condo so there’s actually three units in there and I bought the top floor. And then my hope is is that I’ll have the bottom here soon enough.

Speaker5: [00:45:07] And you can.

Speaker6: [00:45:07] See the sign from ball ground.

Randell Beck: [00:45:11] It’s like the beacon on the way home on 575. Oh, there it is.

Darin Hunter: [00:45:14] It’s within the city limit or city standards.

Randell Beck: [00:45:18] Beautiful new office, by the way. I did actually manage to get out one night and get to your party for your ribbon cutting. That was a beautiful place.

Darin Hunter: [00:45:24] You can thank my wife for that. My wife is she’s got she’s a very, very talented lady. You know, not only is she beautiful, but she’s talented. She’s not must not be smart because she married me.

Speaker5: [00:45:32] Yet. Two out of three ain’t bad. Yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:45:34] Yeah. So but she she did a heck of a job. And it’s, I mean, I enjoy going to my office every, every day. It’s just great to be part of the community, great to walk into a beautiful spot that, you know, we only we we we built and own and you know, it’s just it’s kind of like, you know, when people ask about ownership and renting, it’s kind of the same thing. Like I just I enjoy I feel more a part of the community that I own that building, you know what I’m saying? You know.

Randell Beck: [00:46:01] You got a stake in.

Speaker5: [00:46:02] It. Yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:46:02] You know, I want to see everybody do well. I want to see the community stay up to a certain standard, those type of things. So, yeah, it’s owning is a big thing.

Speaker5: [00:46:09] We’ll be on.

Robert Mason: [00:46:10] The lookout because Randall asked me the other day about, you know, some some space to buy, you know. So we’re looking.

Speaker5: [00:46:16] Yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:46:18] You know, one of the things I did too, a long time ago was I bought commercial real estate as well. And commercial real estate is an interesting game right now. But yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:46:26] It’s, it’s kind of on the down side a little bit.

Darin Hunter: [00:46:28] It’s a I’m interested to see time for me to buy.

Randell Beck: [00:46:31] In other.

Speaker5: [00:46:32] Words. Yes you know that’s.

Darin Hunter: [00:46:33] That’s one of the things I mean, this is kind of a little bit off topic. But you know what? How do one of the ways to maybe deal with housing shortages get people into some of these, repurpose some of these office buildings? I’m just going to take. I would think so. I mean, it’s going to take a lot of money to repurpose these and look.

Robert Mason: [00:46:51] At the shopping center space that’s getting ready to be the.

Randell Beck: [00:46:53] Last. They build everything around that core which serves the office properly, but it’s not built for residential, multiple bathrooms.

Speaker5: [00:47:00] Kitchens, shops. Take some money, but take some time.

Darin Hunter: [00:47:02] Yeah, it will. It’s not going to happen overnight, we know that.

Speaker5: [00:47:05] But but it’s.

Randell Beck: [00:47:05] A it’s a viable. It’s a viable approach. It’s going to be expensive, which means it’s going to be high end housing. That’s not the entire equation.

Robert Mason: [00:47:14] Well, the last guest we had was looking for a church space. Right. And so the idea for him was to look at some of the shopping center space that’s going dark. Sure. Because big spaces, he needs 35, 45,000ft² minimum. And so there’s a lot of there’s a lot of opportunity there for for guys like that. Right.

Darin Hunter: [00:47:32] Yeah. Well, I’ll certainly keep my eye open. I’m always got an eye on any opportunities. Yeah, it’s.

Randell Beck: [00:47:38] We looked at a space this morning and the roll up door where you can pull the truck in. Yeah, right in the middle of it. They’d built a wall. So the bay space was on one side and this little work area with a workbench on the other side. But the wall that divided them was you could pull the truck in about five, six feet and then you’d hit that.

Robert Mason: [00:47:56] Is it load bearing?

Speaker5: [00:47:57] No, there’s no way.

Robert Mason: [00:47:59] It is load.

Randell Beck: [00:48:00] Bearing. No, there’s no way it’s load bearing.

Robert Mason: [00:48:02] Oh, okay.

Randell Beck: [00:48:02] So in there to demise the space which could come out.

Speaker5: [00:48:05] Could come out. Yeah.

Randell Beck: [00:48:06] Trust.

Robert Mason: [00:48:07] I’m much better at demo.

Speaker5: [00:48:08] It was a trussed roof like every other thing.

Randell Beck: [00:48:10] It’s just like why did you put it there?

Speaker5: [00:48:11] You know? It makes no sense. Right in.

Randell Beck: [00:48:13] The middle of the.

Speaker5: [00:48:14] Door. They knew you were coming.

Robert Mason: [00:48:15] They didn’t.

Speaker5: [00:48:15] Want you.

Randell Beck: [00:48:16] I guess that’s it. Don’t let that guy in here, not Randall back. What inspires you before we leave? Anything you’d like to communicate to people in the community or the club or.

Darin Hunter: [00:48:28] I think just education right now, you know, really just educating people and letting them know what’s really going on. You know, there’s you know, I feel so. I’m very frustrated with so many that missed out and listened to some of the wrong talking heads and the fear mongering that took place while interest rates were low and while housing was a little more affordable. You know, and, you know, I just hope that I can educate more and more people and sound the alarms as much as possible that, you know, the. The one of the greatest ways to grow wealth is through real estate. I don’t you know, listen, I know there’s tons of different ways now. There’s Internet businesses obviously investing in stock markets, commodities, I mean.

Speaker5: [00:49:11] Equities, influencers, you know.

Darin Hunter: [00:49:13] Hey, listen, I just had an unbelievable experience with influencer. That was that was like eye opening. Very, very interesting. I’ve got some really very, very cool.

Randell Beck: [00:49:21] A lot of surprising stuff behind that, isn’t there?

Darin Hunter: [00:49:24] Very cool stuff coming up that I’m very excited about. We’re going to talk about that. Yeah, we will. I’ll definitely come on and show. I’m like, That’s actually one of the new inspiring things that I’ve got coming up. Cool.

Randell Beck: [00:49:35] Well, definitely come back.

Speaker5: [00:49:36] I’ll talk. We’ll talk.

Randell Beck: [00:49:36] About that. Jared how interesting that show was with.

Robert Mason: [00:49:39] We got a lot of guys we need to bring digital.

Speaker5: [00:49:41] Marketing. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:49:43] Yeah. The influencing game is is mind boggling. And surprisingly, at least the couple that I’ve met are shockingly intelligent.

Speaker5: [00:49:53] And I say that I kind of.

Darin Hunter: [00:49:55] Have to say.

Speaker5: [00:49:56] That.

Darin Hunter: [00:49:56] I only say that because you see some of the silly stuff that they do and it’s like, you know, they’re it’s silly to us, but they’re laughing all the way to the bank and they’ve got all these different streams of income coming in and they’re and they’re just intelligent about it. And it was, it was just really like, Wow, man, I really am just judging this guy. I was like, Shoot, I got to take a step back and realize there’s a million ways to make.

Robert Mason: [00:50:21] $1 million check.

Darin Hunter: [00:50:21] Myself. Yeah, it was it was eye opening and, you know, and these guys are getting paid, paid for literally minutes of their time.

Speaker5: [00:50:31] Right?

Robert Mason: [00:50:32] That’s yeah, that’s a whole nother conversation we’ll have for later.

Darin Hunter: [00:50:35] Yeah, for sure. So yeah, hopefully education and then some of the series that I’ve got coming up, I’ll just give you a little, little, little tidbit. I’ve got an Nil education series coming out.

Speaker5: [00:50:45] Teaser.

Darin Hunter: [00:50:46] Name, Image Likeness series coming up. So sponsored by, of course, the one and the only, the mortgage rate team.

Speaker5: [00:50:54] I love it. I love.

Randell Beck: [00:50:55] It. We got a lot to talk about with Darren.

Robert Mason: [00:50:56] Yeah, we’ve got a lot to talk off the air, too.

Randell Beck: [00:50:58] He is a Renaissance man, a mortgage master, a real estate investor, a community pillar, a philanthropist and a business networking guru. Darren Hunter, mortgage. Right. Thank you.

Ask the Expert: Mayo Sowell with LIIV Atlanta

August 9, 2023 by angishields

Excel-Ask-The-Expert-080123-Mayo-Sowell-feature

Cherokee Business Radio

Ask the Expert: Mayo Sowell with LIIV Atlanta

00:00 /

In this episode of Excel: Ask the Expert, we’re joined by Mayo Sowell, Co-Founder of LIIV Atlanta. We learn about Mayo’s background as a former football player and his journey in life.

Mayo shares his struggles with staying focused and falling into bad habits during his time at Auburn, as well as his career challenges in the NFL. He then opens up about how he found faith, leading him to start a church in Atlanta. Mayo shares his vision for his church and the goal of finding a permanent location.

LIIV Atlanta’s mission is to see ALL people flourish by Knowing God, Finding Freedom, Discovering Purpose, and Making a Difference.

Mayo Sowell, Co-Founder of LIIV, is an experienced Executive Pastor with almost 15 years experience of ministerial background. He’s skilled in Communication, Creative, Leadership Development, and Discipleship.

Mayo’s leadership style exhibits loyalty, humor, grace, truth with an entrepreneurial mentality to successfully influence, design, and execute non-profit and for- profit mission based organizations.

Connect with Mayo on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Excel Radio’s Ask the Expert. Brought to you by shot photography and video. It’s your story. Make it awesome. For more information, go to buckshot.com. Now here’s your host.

Randell Beck: [00:00:30] We are in the studio today with Stone and Robert again. Hi, Stone. How have you been?

Stone Payton: [00:00:35] I am doing well. I’ve played all summer. It’s great to get back in the saddle again.

Randell Beck: [00:00:40] The last time we did this, you made me run that devil machine over there. And I’m going to let you do that today.

Stone Payton: [00:00:47] All right? I got you, baby. Earn your keep town.

Randell Beck: [00:00:50] And. And Robert Mason’s here. The real estate master. Yes, sir. How are you?

Robert Mason: [00:00:54] I’m good Man. Can’t complain. Nobody’s going to listen anyways.

Randell Beck: [00:00:57] You got that right. But they’re listening to the show.

Robert Mason: [00:00:59] They’re listening to the show.

Randell Beck: [00:01:00] So we’ve got a great show today with a very special guest that Robert invited. Robert, introduce your guest.

Robert Mason: [00:01:05] Our guest today. Well, we’ve got two gentlemen here. Mayo Sowell is my neighbor. And I mean, he literally lives right next to me. And he’s the senior pastor of LIIV Atlanta. And he played football at Auburn War Eagle. War Eagle. We won’t say go War Eagle again here on the show today. Promise. Go dawgs. And we’ve got Will Aldridge, his sidekick who we’re real happy to have on air today as well So welcome in, gentlemen.

Will Aldridge: [00:01:31] Thank you guys.

Mayo Sowell: [00:01:31] Thank you.

Will Aldridge: [00:01:32] Before we start, I just have to say one thing because I had to apologize the other day. I got an Alabama fan and one of my groups and I had to tell him, but this will be good. My nephew just got accepted to the School of Architecture at Auburn.

Mayo Sowell: [00:01:47] Praise. Congratulations.

Randell Beck: [00:01:48] And because he’s like valedictorian and all this, he’s starting almost a year ahead of his colleagues. So he’ll go straight into the labs and the practical stuff while the others are taking their their leveling courses and that sort of thing. Yeah, So that’s a pretty good school to get in, but especially on that basis, I think it’s going to be a good experience.

Mayo Sowell: [00:02:05] You’re going to love it. Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:02:07] One of my best friends, Shan Morris, he played football at Auburn back in the 80s and we grew up together. So I see him a lot and he’s always he’s always playing those Auburn Tigers.

Mayo Sowell: [00:02:19] We need to be we need prayer.

Randell Beck: [00:02:21] Isn’t Clemson the Tigers also? Yeah they are yeah. So there’s a good rivalry there right?

Robert Mason: [00:02:25] I think Auburn just stole one of our recruits, a linebacker, if I’m not mistaken, from Georgia.

Mayo Sowell: [00:02:29] Yeah, it was a five star. We flipped him.

Robert Mason: [00:02:32] Flipped our linebacker.

Mayo Sowell: [00:02:33] Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:02:34] Wow. They need help, though. Auburn doesn’t.

Mayo Sowell: [00:02:36] Oh, my goodness. Low blow. No, we do. I’m actually living here in Atlanta now. I’m kind of a tech Bulldog Falcon fan, so, I mean, I’m moving over. You know, I do have an allegiance to Auburn. But, you know, I’m you know, I’m here. I’m proximity now. So did you did.

Randell Beck: [00:02:55] You grow up in Alabama?

Mayo Sowell: [00:02:56] I was born in LA and I grew up in Louisiana. So I was an LSU guy. Uh huh, yeah, a little bit of UCLA guy. So I’m a little bit of everything.

Randell Beck: [00:03:05] So I guess, you know, when it comes to saying hook em horns, this is the wrong crowd. Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:03:09] Don’t, don’t, don’t do that. We won’t talk Bijan Robinson today.

Randell Beck: [00:03:12] Yeah, yeah, right.

Mayo Sowell: [00:03:14] Today.

Robert Mason: [00:03:14] So we’ve got a fantastic story to tell here. Mayo’s got a fantastic story to tell here. And really, Mayo’s incredible journey in life is a three part series. It should be a frickin mini series as far as I’m concerned. So, Mayo, let’s break it down. Kind of like what you and I talked about years zero through 25, 25 through, you know, where you’re at now.

Mayo Sowell: [00:03:38] Yeah. It’s, you know, like, you know, Roberts is it’s been a journey and you know, I think the journey is still going. But you know, for for time’s sakes, you know, we will start at that young age where I was born, like I said, in LA and my parents, they lived and they did the California lifestyle in the 80s. So I was born in the 80s. And and, you know, we just we just had, you know, we had rough times in the big city. And my dad was struggling. He was trying to find his career. And my mom, you know, she was being a young lady in L.A. And they decided to move to Louisiana. And at that time, you know, the marriage wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t as healthy as it should be, I would say. And I just grew up, you know, seeing my mom and dad argue and fuss and fight and stuff. And probably around the age of 13, 14, I started playing sports. And at that time, when I really, you know, fell in love with basketball, that was my kind of my first sport. You know, I played basketball. My mom and dad got divorced and my mom decided to just run away from my dad one morning when he went to work and she was like, she just came and gave me some, you know, a trash bag. And she was like, Hey, fill this trash bag up with your clothes. And I was like, Oh, okay. And I felt I filled it up and we left. And we went all the way to Birmingham, Alabama, and that’s where we stayed.

Mayo Sowell: [00:04:56] And my dad wasn’t in my life at that time, and my mom was working somewhere and she she met this guy that was a Christian and he was a believer in his name. Was his name was they called him Dick Gardner, but his name was Robert Gardner. And he was like, Hey, Mel, I really love for you to play at my son’s. So I started playing with his son and his son, you know, mentor me a little bit. And that’s when I really fell in love with basketball. And I started to take it serious. And then they was like, Hey, man, why don’t you try football? I was like, I don’t play football. I just play basketball. And I excelled at football my first year, and that’s when I started getting recruited and stuff. And Auburn ended up recruiting me, Alabama, LSU, all the schools in the SEC. And I chose to go to Auburn University. And at that time, you know, when I went to Auburn, I was like, you know, I was I was pretty good in football, but I just couldn’t stay. I couldn’t stay focused. You know, I was going out partying and drinking, just doing the just doing the college thing. And I just had those bad habits. And, you know, ultimately, I got an opportunity to go to the NFL, went to the NFL, and that was my first time experience in Atlanta. You know, a black guy with money in Atlanta with no no values or no morals or anything, but just.

Mayo Sowell: [00:06:13] That’s an accident waiting to happen because we moved to Atlanta. My guys, we we said, hey, like we like we made the we made the we told each other. We was like, hey. So a friend of mine went number two pick to the Miami Dolphins. Another guy went number five to Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carl Williams. Another guy went number seven to the Washington Redskins. Then another one went 17 to the Washington Redskins. So all these guys just millions of dollars. So I’m a friend. What’s my responsibility? Help them spend their money. So so we all decided like, hey, let’s just be friends, just help each other, spend our money. So we decided we was like, Hey, where are we going to live at? Like, let’s just like after the off season, let’s live in the same space so we can hang together. And we was like, Well, Atlanta, I mean, we heard the ratio is 16 to 1. Yeah, we was like, we was like, that makes sense. We got money, we got women 16 to 1. I can I can deal with those odds. So we moved to Atlanta and man, I mean, we just went on this journey, the 16 to 1. It was just fast living. And I just I mean, it just overtook me and I ended up getting at that time I got cut from the Buffalo Bills because I couldn’t keep up. I’m living this type of life off the field and I just couldn’t keep up. Then I tore my ACL. So I’m back in Atlanta and at that time.

Robert Mason: [00:07:26] Is that your rookie year?

Mayo Sowell: [00:07:27] Yes. And at that time, Robert, I was like, Man, I was like, What am I going to do? What am I going to do? You know, I graduated from college. I did get a degree, but I’m like, Am I going to start all the way over? So I tried real estate. That didn’t work.

Robert Mason: [00:07:39] That’s what your father was in real estate.

Mayo Sowell: [00:07:41] He my dad was in real estate. So I tried what I knew my dad was in. So I tried real estate that didn’t I didn’t have the patience. And I just had this bright idea one day. Well. In the in the nightlife, three people are glorified. The athlete. The rapper. In the drug dealer like, you know, in culture, in the nightlife at that time, it was three people that was glorified. I was like, okay, I can’t play and be the athlete anymore because my ACL is gone. I can’t rap because I can barely hold a beat. You know, I’m not going to grow cornrows out and be a rapper. I can’t do that. So I was like, Hey, what about this third option? Sell drugs? So, you know, you met my dad. Robert You know, we’re very entrepreneurial. My whole family is just very entrepreneurial. We see some do some get some recruit, some do some make something. That’s just us. And I gave it a shot, You know, I started, you know, went on my venture and I started selling drugs. I started with marijuana and then just continued to grow. And I did that for six years. And I was doing a deal down in Arizona. And I obtained I obtained everything that I wanted. I had all the cars my friends had.

Mayo Sowell: [00:08:53] I had all the money they had. I had everything. And I was doing a deal down in Arizona and. Little did I know I was doing a deal with the federal government. Oops. Oops. I remember like it was yesterday, buddy. You know, a car came across the parking lot going 40mph. And I was like, Man, this car is about to hit us. We was in the parking lot, you know, kind of broke in the deal. And and I seen the I seen on the shirt of the person driving it said DEA. Then the lady next door with the baby in the basket, she came out with a firearm. Dea. Then the guy walking on the corner in the trench coat looking homeless. Dea. It was a sting. The guy that we was doing. The guy that we was doing work with, he was a federal informant. And at that time, they took we was in Arizona and took they took us away. It was two of two of my friends and I seen a piece of paper come up under it. It came under the door and it said Mayo Sowell versus the United States of America. Now, this is not Mayo Sowell versus like Atlanta, you know, Fulton County, you know, this is the, I would say year to date the strongest,

Mayo Sowell: [00:10:09] Well established nation ever versus Mayo Sowell. So. Well. I didn’t know what to do and I was facing a minimum of 15 years of life. My other friend was facing a minimum of 30 to life and my other one was facing a minimum of 47 to life. And I was like, What am I going to do? And man, it was I mean, I can go on and on. Like,

Robert Mason: [00:10:33] Did you call your dad?

Mayo Sowell: [00:10:35] I was scared to call my dad. I called my mom. I called home the next day and I called my mom and it said it said, you have a collect call from federal prison. And I was thinking I was in Florence and Florence, Arizona to accept press six. To decline, press nine. She accept. She pressed six. At the other end of the phone, it was. Hey, mom. This Mayo. She hung up. Unbelief. I had to wait to call 30 minutes because you can’t you got to call in 30 minute intervals. So I called back. Screaming. No, no, no, no. My baby. I’m like, Yeah. Hey, man, it was just, you know, it was. Yeah. I mean, you know, life. Life hit me right there in the face, and I kind of woke up.

Stone Payton: [00:11:34] How old were you at?

Mayo Sowell: [00:11:36] That’s a great question. I don’t keep up with age anymore. I think I was 27. 28. 527. Right. I think I want to say 26. You know. Yeah, it hit me, you know, so I could either. Yeah, I just it hit me like I could. I had a decision. I could have went down in a shell. But if you go down in the shell in prison, right, then you can be taken advantage of you because now you become vulnerable or you had to numb up. Puff up. To not become vulnerable. So I had to numb quick. I had to real quick and and it was chaos because I was in Arizona at that time and Arizona, this gang like down south, you know, like we might do a little gangs out west. Oh, no, it’s gangs. You got the natives, You got you got the they call them the chiefs. You got you got the espanoles. You got the Serranos, you got the Nortenos, you got the Mexican mafia, you got the whites, you got the like, dirty white boys, they call them. Now you have Aryan brotherhood like this. It’s territorial. So it’s not. Let me think about my time. No, let me think about my life right now. At least five minutes, because they can take it. So it was it was chaotic. But yeah, it was. It was, Yeah. Hey, listeners, I’m sorry about this story, right? Right. Hey, somebody follow in your car? Like what? What is happening right now? Robert, are you sure this is your neighbor? How often do you stare out your window at your neighbor? You know me. I’m his neighbor. I promise. We’re neighbors and we’re good neighbors. We’re happy neighbors.

Robert Mason: [00:13:16] We are. We love each other.

Randell Beck: [00:13:18] There was a time, of course, the disclosure, right? All the people portrayed in this show are real. These are real characters.

Mayo Sowell: [00:13:24] Real people, real grass, like real hay, real traffic on the on the cul de sac.

Robert Mason: [00:13:29] It happens, man. There was a Sunday where we had an incident in my house where a guy came to my door who was arrested the day before, who broke into somebody’s house in the neighborhood and and ran off all of a sudden. So we’ve got this strange incident going on with a neighbor or we didn’t even know. And so this guy on a Sunday comes to my door and we’ve got ring doorbell and I, we saw him coming up the driveway and we knew exactly we were like, oh, no, it’s that guy. It’s the guy that’s going to break in. And so my wife and I, we have code words and we have we have action plans in place when things might happen. So hers is call the police, get her her Glock 27 and mine is to grab a shotgun rifle, whatever is appropriate.

Mayo Sowell: [00:14:20] Glock 27.

Robert Mason: [00:14:21] Well, yeah, a shotgun is appropriate for one coming up the driveway, in my opinion, because I you know, I’m a 1911. Don’t hurt the neighbors. Right. Don’t hurt overpenetrate and hit any of the neighbors if anything goes down. So this guy comes up and we I run him off. I’m like, dude, you need to leave my house right now. Wife’s calling 911. And they came and and the guy escaped. And so I think it was the next night I’m.

Mayo Sowell: [00:14:43] Out of town, by the way. My wife is blowing my phone up. I am nervous, but praise God, she’s in a group text with him.

Randell Beck: [00:14:51] Yeah, Robert’s next door.

Mayo Sowell: [00:14:52] So now I’m in this group texting. I see his preparation. I’m like, I don’t never need to come back. You okay? Trust me. Whatever I’m going to do, I promise you, he’s going to do it a thousand times better.

Robert Mason: [00:15:03] We’re going to get there. And so your wife hit me up and she goes, There’s somebody banging on the door.

Mayo Sowell: [00:15:08] This is the next day. The next night? Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:15:10] And it’s dark. And so I grab a handgun and I go bolting out and it’s you.

Mayo Sowell: [00:15:17] Me, It’s me. He don’t know. It’s me. I’m beating on the door because. Okay, wives, they lock every door. Yeah. Like, why do they lock doors? No, we live here to not lock doors. Yeah, she locks every door, so I’m beating on the door. And I said, Hey, I hear. Hey, who are you? Yeah, I’m like, Rob this Mayo, bro. This Mayo. Like, Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:15:37] So I had to apologize real quick. It was.

Randell Beck: [00:15:39] Amazing. Well, I find it’s good to announce myself when I’m showing up at his house, too. Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:15:44] Yeah, Probably.

Mayo Sowell: [00:15:44] Good announcement.

Robert Mason: [00:15:45] Yeah. We heard you coming way earlier yesterday.

Randell Beck: [00:15:48] Walk me through this. How does someone get to the point where they want to become a drug dealer? I mean, I understand if you get kind of. You live in Compton, let’s say, right? It’s just the only path you can take and just kind of happens to you by circumstance. All of a sudden you’re surrounded by it. How do you walk down a path where you say, This is what I want to do?

Mayo Sowell: [00:16:05] I would say it’s the same. It’s going to be a horrible illustration. I would say it’s the same thing as Robert walking down the path and wanting to do real estate. You know, he knew it. He seen an opportunity, he seen a void, and he’s seen that he can learn it. However, it was a resource that was close to him. So there’s a lot of guys in the inner city now. My journey was different because I wasn’t in the inner city because I had to go in. But there’s a lot of guys in the inner city and they see that resource next to them. They see a void, they see a need, and they were like, Hey, this is a quick way. Let me learn it and do it. So for me, everyone around Atlanta, you know, just they would smoke this high level marijuana. I seen a need. Let me fill a void. Let me learn how to do it. That’s how I walked into it. Now it grew as as of course, you know, we probably know real estate guys that get in, you know, I would say residential. And then all of a sudden it grows to commercial and, you know, but the same thing, it grew on me. And the bottom line was it the bottom line? It was just pride, ego to get this lifestyle with someone with glorify Mayo at the end of the day. And it was by this word right here that we say sometime these words by any means necessary, I will get back to it. And that was it. It was the quickest route.

Robert Mason: [00:17:29] So are you saying that’s a cultural issue? Because.

Mayo Sowell: [00:17:32] No, I’m not saying it’s a cultural issue as much as I’m saying it’s the easier issue culturally. It’s easier to get to it to to go get like it’s I would say it’s it’s five people away. Like maybe in Decatur, in the inner city of Decatur, you can go to five people and you can get a bag of weed. Whereas right here in Marietta, I can go to five people and get a piece of real estate. It’s kind of, you know, it’s almost like who you know, it’s the circle. You know, they say, you know, you show me your friends, I can show you your future.

Robert Mason: [00:18:10] Five people you hang around with the most.

Mayo Sowell: [00:18:11] Yeah. You know, and it’s just, you know, so that’s why that’s why I believe in diversity so much. Because now my network has changed. Because my friends have changed. You know? So now just where I can go left and go five people away and probably get a bag of marijuana, now I can go right and go five people away and get a piece of real estate. So that’s why I think diversity is so huge. And I think it’s a lot of things that try to keep us divided so that we can’t use the resources from each other. And I think that’s this huge problem.

Randell Beck: [00:18:40] You mentioned the rule of five people. I hear that a lot lately. That’s been coming up a lot. It’s becoming a theme out there. Basically, you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. That’s right. You believe that? Is that a valid philosophy to you?

Mayo Sowell: [00:18:53] Do I believe it’s. This is gamble. What? I gamble on it. I would gamble and say, I don’t know what it’s proven, but I would take that back. That’s a good bet that if I spend time with five people, I would become the sum total of them. I take that back.

Randell Beck: [00:19:09] I think deceived bad company corrupts good morals.

Mayo Sowell: [00:19:12] That is that is a great piece of literature in the Bible.

Randell Beck: [00:19:16] I hear that one’s been translated a few times.

Mayo Sowell: [00:19:18] Oh yeah, probably. Yeah. A thousand times.

Randell Beck: [00:19:22] Yeah. So what made the difference for you? Here you are sitting in this prison, you get hard, you’re looking around, you know, I mean, at any on any given day, your life is a question you’ve got to answer. Right? So now what? What happens next?

Mayo Sowell: [00:19:34] So I end up I end up coming back to Atlanta because I bond out from Arizona. I came back to Atlanta and I’m still waiting on how much time they’re going to give me, what’s my sentence going to be. So I stayed out for a year and a half and I got worse. You know, I say I took more risk because I knew I was either going to go on the run or I was going to go to prison. So I took bigger risk, you know, So and a friend of mine, I was going to go on the run. I wasn’t going to go to court. I wasn’t going to go back to Arizona to go to court. I was just going to go on the run, take a chance. And I called a friend of mine and it’s crazy how, you know, like in the Bible, it has this story of God speaking through a donkey. And I don’t know anyone’s faith. I’m not into, you know, this is not a faith talk or whatever, but it’s just in my faith, in this Bible, it shows God speaking through a donkey and what the point of is the story. God can speak to anyone or anything. So I called a guy and he’s I mean, he’s not a man of faith. He doesn’t like I wasn’t even a man of faith. And I say, Man, I think I’m not going. You know what he said to me? He said, bro, just go. For some reason, I think you’re going to get your life back and it’s going to be better.

Mayo Sowell: [00:20:55] I’m like, hold on. You know, you’re the guy that’s going to encourage me and tell me how to go. Like, what do you mean, go? I think you’re going to get your life back and it’s going to be better. First of all, you don’t even say better out of your mouth like that’s not even in your vocabulary. So it threw me off. I’m like, Am I talking to the police? Like, are you the feds? Like, what’s going on? And I went, Sure enough, I went and I the judge, when I went before the judge, they gave my co-defendants one of them. They gave 16 years. The other one, they gave 37 years. And now I’m about to get sentenced. They sentence all three of us 3716. And now he gets to me, the oldest judge on the United States circuit Judge Carol. He says. And that’s a whole nother story right there. Because side note, I lawyers was from New Jersey and they wanted our lawyers for racketeering and conspiracies and everything, so they throwing heavy time at us. So I’m like, I’m about to give me ten years. He said, Mayo. For some reason. I think you’re going to get it right. I’ma give you under the mandatory minimum. I’ma give you 50 months. So 50 months is right. About four and a half years. So I ended up giving me 50 months. So I go to prison for 50 months. For 40 of those months, all I did was connect with people and think about how to do what I did better.

Mayo Sowell: [00:22:28] So. So prison is a school. It’s a school. So you can sit under different philosophies on how to do things. It’s a it’s a diverse school. So now you have Spanish people in there, you know, now you have a closer pipeline to where you come from. You got you got Colombian. Like it’s just like I mean, it’s a school and that’s all I did. Network Think about how I’m gonna do it better. Until ten months ago. Here’s my diversity. A white guy. Came across the racial lines. And said, Could I pray for you? Now, at that time, I’m like, why would I? I don’t need like, I’m there’s nothing you can do for me. He laid his hands on me and he prayed for me. Everything cold turkey. Everything. Now, you know, it’s PG 13. You know what we’re doing right here in prison? Like, I mean, like, it’s no females, so it’s like, I didn’t even have that desire anymore. And I went back to my unit and I’m like, Where is that desire go? So now I’m like, I’m checking all my desires. I’m like, do I want to go back to Atlanta and sell drugs again? Because I had two restaurants in Atlanta. I had I was doing music, I was doing a lot of things. I didn’t want to go. So I went back to him. I said, Hey, what happened with my desires? Where did they go? And he said, That’s God.

Mayo Sowell: [00:23:48] I can’t even tell you where they went. So it intrigued me to meet the God that took my desires and he gave me the Bible. So he said, You’ll find that God in this in this book right here. So I’m studying this book, looking for this guy named God that took my desires that I want back. I’m in prison. I can’t do nothing. Let me have them. I couldn’t get him back. Took me on this journey. And I fell in love with Jesus. Everything changed from that point on. For the remainder of the time. It took me it took me maybe a month and a half to figure out this is something supernatural. For that rest of the time. I said I would like to learn how to help other people come free of what I was in. Bondage to fear, insecurity, money, pride, power, position, everything. I want to spend the rest of my life trying to help people break free. And that’s when I sold my life. I called my I call my guys in Atlanta. I said, Yo, I’m not coming back. And they were like, no, you got to come back. You have all the connections. Well. I only got one connection I know about right here in his name. Is Jesus. It’s like, Yo, you got to come back. You got to come back. I’m not coming back. Call my dad. I say, Dad, can I come home and move with you? He’s like, Sure. Went home, moved in with him.

Robert Mason: [00:25:18] And he was in, what, Birmingham?

Mayo Sowell: [00:25:20] Birmingham? Yeah. He’s in Birmingham, Alabama. So I’m like, Man, I got to learn how to give people this hope and in a in a pliable way. So I’m like, I’m called to be a pastor, I think. But I don’t know how to pastor people, you know. So I got to learn. So I get out of prison. Robbie Here you go. You go again. I’m like, Hey, I’m out of prison now, okay? I gotta get trained. What do I do? I got to find a pastor, black guy. Let me find a black pastor. That’s what I’m thinking. Like, that’s. Come on, guys. I know you’re listening and you’re riding in your car, and that’s like you’re thinking the same thing. Black guy, black pastor. Okay. That’s what I think. But I had an ankle monitor on and I could only go to church within a five mile radius. In a tree just fell through my parents house on one side of town, and they just moved before I got out of prison on another side of town. Guess what? It’s only one church in a five mile radius. It wasn’t a black church, a white church. I’m like, oh, I’m like, okay, God, I’m here. You know? So this is not enough, right? Like, what’s going on? And I meet the pastor.

Mayo Sowell: [00:26:26] The pastor said, Hey, I want to shake some hands. I’m going to be out in the lobby. That’s 2400 people in this room. I’m like, I’m not going to be able to shake his hand. Like, everybody’s going to be in line. He got to hug every baby and kiss every grandma. Nobody was in line. And I said, Well, God, if I can ask him. And he said, Yes, that’s how I know it’s you. And I asked him and he said, You’re a pastor. I said, No, I’m something else with another P word, but not a pastor. And he said, No, you’re a pastor. I said, Well, actually, I’m a federal prisoner and I’m on probation and here’s my ankle monitor. And I showed it to him. And he said, your pastor, he ended up scholar shipping me to Highlands College, sending me to military school, hiring me on staff. Bought my first vehicle, made sure I had clothes. I didn’t have anything. I left every dime that I had in Atlanta. And he helped. He helped. He helped me get on my feet, you know. And I said, this is the guy that I served the rest of my life.

Robert Mason: [00:27:24] So God was speaking through him as he spoke through the gentleman in your prison. Yeah. And the.

Randell Beck: [00:27:31] Circumstances.

Robert Mason: [00:27:32] And the circumstances. And your mom and your dad. And now, Will, will you hear this? You know this story. Tell us how Mayo is doing.

Speaker6: [00:27:44] I’m thankful for his leadership, much like the pastor he mentioned did for him. In many ways, he did for me. I grew up in faith but never really made it mine until college. And when I went through some family things and I was actually in ministry school at the time and I actually had to complete a certain amount of work hours, internship hours with ministries in order to graduate. And so I had known the church that he came from church, the Highlands. They had a campus in Auburn, and that’s where I was at. And through a connection there, they were like, Hey, Pastor Mayo is going to Atlanta to launch a church and he’s going to need interns to get this thing off the ground. And I was like, Well, I got to get a degree, so I’ll do it. And so I came. In. It’s just the intentionality and the availability of like a pastor to be there. He uses the word proximity a lot, and I was just around him, and there’s just something so attractive about the way he lives his life that I was like, I got to like, I’m not going back to the school, that I’m literally two classes away from graduating. I’m staying in Atlanta because, like, I’ll do whatever he wants me to do because he’s poured so much into me. He sees where I want to be. He’s trying to grow me to disciple me to get to where God’s ultimately called me to be, but he just put his hand all over it. He’s like, Well, I see where you want to go. I hope you get there. Yeah. And so much like the pastor did for him, he’s been doing for countless people here, me included. So he’s doing amazing.

Robert Mason: [00:29:14] It’s it’s a funny thing about mentoring young people or mentoring people in particular. I’ve been blessed, starting with a great grandfather. His name is Mike Bloomberg. And back in the 40s and 50s Meyer lived in Memphis, Tennessee, and Jews couldn’t hold public office in Memphis, Tennessee, back in the 50s. And so Meyer was such a strong person back in those days that he couldn’t run for mayor. So there was a mayor in charge, but Meyer was the mayor and back of the mayor. And when the mayor retired after eight years in Memphis, his his leaving office speech was about Meyer, Bloomberg, my great grandfather. And it was amazing. I heard that story a couple of years before my father died. And my father pulls out this speech and here I’m 54 years old or 50, whatever. I’d never heard this about my grandfather or my great grandfather and Mayo. You are that kind of person. From the very first time I saw you when you moved in. You’re waving. I’m waving at your kids. We’re just. I’m like, Who’s this guy? I mean, yeah, he’s all right. This looks good, you know, because the neighborhood that you and I live in is like the UN. There’s everybody. Everybody, every single type of person there. And I love it that way. I mean, like, Diwali will come and we’ll be shooting off fireworks like we did last year and the cul de sac. And then this other family from Afghanistan will walk. It’s just I love it. And you talk about diversity and you really live that. Yeah.

Mayo Sowell: [00:30:48] It’s it’s important. It’s important because I’ve been I’ve been impacted by more than one. So it’s only right to give to more than one. So in some in some sorts, I think we’ve all been impacted by more than one, you know. So yeah.

Randell Beck: [00:31:05] I have a philosophy and these guys haven’t even heard it because we don’t get to talk about it in the This.

Mayo Sowell: [00:31:09] Is big when someone comes in. I have a philosophy. This is getting.

Robert Mason: [00:31:14] Ready to launch.

Randell Beck: [00:31:15] And I’m going to get you guys to discuss it. I want to hear I want to hear your feedback. But in these groups we run in, we don’t get to talk about this much. So we all go through stuff, right? And and we have crises and crisis produces opportunity, and opportunity gives you some learning and you can develop good things out of it. Right. But nowhere in there does anybody ever talk about purpose. What’s the purpose of going through all that? I think it’s kind of like the pay it forward idea. I think what you do in life enables you, empowers you, gives you what you need to bless other people going through similar things. Correct? Discuss.

Robert Mason: [00:31:51] Well, when you leave this life. Right? People are at your funeral. You can’t take anything with you. Right? So there’s that. The people that are sitting there are the testimony to your life. Those around you, whether it be your children, whether it be your friends, whether it be the wills, the stones, they are going to be the testament. Did you do it right or did you do it wrong?

Mayo Sowell: [00:32:11] Yeah, no, I, I totally I agree with Robert and and piggyback. I agree with you totally. I think that’s I think that’s biblical. You know, if you think about crises, you think about pain, you think about purpose. If you just go to the epitome of Jesus Christ. He went through a crisis. He went through pain. To leave a story so we won’t have to go through it. And I think that’s everyone’s I think that’s everyone’s calling life is the pain that you take on. Let’s make sure that you go through it and your purpose is no one behind you will go through the same thing, Right?

Robert Mason: [00:32:48] There’s some reasoning behind it. Yeah, it’s a reason.

Mayo Sowell: [00:32:50] But sometimes people they what happen in the middle of their pain, they start to get selfish and they only see them being out of their pain instead of seeing what they’re in their pain for, they end up paying for the people behind them.

Robert Mason: [00:33:04] So we’re talking about greed eventually turns into greed. Yeah, yeah. Power breeds greed.

Randell Beck: [00:33:11] Or validation or whatever it is they’re seeking for.

Mayo Sowell: [00:33:14] So it goes back to your statement. Pay it forward. Yeah. Yeah.

Randell Beck: [00:33:18] All right. So clearly, you went through this experience. Yes, sir. You got that calling, that that motivation to bless other people. Your church and being a pastor is the way you do that. Tell us about Live Atlanta.

Mayo Sowell: [00:33:30] What’s that like? Live? Atlanta is is living now. We’re nine months old. You know, I moved I moved over to Atlanta maybe a year and a half ago. And I was Robert’s neighbor. And still, you know, we still are neighbors. And I mean, he seen me in the infancy stages of it when we was just having like launch parties in the basement. And we launched last year, September the 18th. And we I mean, we worked hard, we prayed hard, we prepared hard, we prepped hard. And that first day we seen over a thousand people show up to the first service. Wow. And right now, we’re right now we’re just right in the six hundreds, you know, nine months in. And we just pushing I mean, we’re you know, the live is live alive and it’s a story behind that also, you know, but in short, it stands for love because our church, we are going to love every human that walks in the door despite their deficits. We’re going to love him despite that’s our job is to love him. We’re going to operate with a high level of integrity because people deserve to trust us. Myself included. That’s why I’m big on proximity, I believe. I believe it’s hard to go wrong when somebody is in your mess. Like when you’re this close to me. Like, I can’t go with Susie. I’m sorry. I’m with Robert. And Robert sees Susie and he sees me flirt at Susie. No, you can’t do that. So proximity is huge. So we believe in integrity. That’s the that’s the second. I mean, the first I and the second I is influence because I didn’t use my influence properly the first time. This time I want to use it right first, I mean, the second time. So we use our influence to help others up and push them forward and then victory. We all want to experience the victory of Jesus Christ. And that is live Atlanta. And we believe every human deserves love, integrity, influence and victory.

Robert Mason: [00:35:23] We had another friend of mine, Jim McCray, just.

Randell Beck: [00:35:26] Listening to him. Yeah, the live needs to have the E on the end and the E would be for excellence, for excellence.

Mayo Sowell: [00:35:32] It’s huge.

Randell Beck: [00:35:33] I can feel it.

Mayo Sowell: [00:35:34] Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:35:35] We had another pastor friend of mine, Jim McCray, who was head of that church in Canton that I told you about. Yes, sir. That situation. Stone Remember that his wife ran same kind of vibe of how he lives his life now, purpose and his purpose is to speak, is to speak. The gospel is to educate those around us. And he’s doing a great job. And Mayo, you are doing an exceptional job. This is year one and you had 1000 show up day one and now you’ve got a congregation of 600. It’s going to build my friend and it’s because of you and people like Will that are sitting right next to you, man. They they love you. We love you and people are going to support you.

Mayo Sowell: [00:36:14] I think, you know, and I don’t take that lightly, you know, because, you know, as a leader and hopefully you guys are listening, you know, still love me a little bit. But as a leader, my biggest thing is insecurity. You know, I get insecure because you know of what I see and I’m like, Can I do it? But that’s why that statement means so much to me because just like the guy. That God spoke to him and said, Hey, you going to get your life back? My pastor, God spoke through him. Hey, your pastor. I take those words that you just said the same way. And I and I’m so grateful for it. Seriously, I’m so grateful for it because it speaks to the thing that I think about the most. Am I good enough in Mayo?

Robert Mason: [00:37:01] All of us go through those those moments of, you know, am I going to am I going to be able to honor the person that’s next to me? Like, I think that with my wife, I live a purposeful life to honor my wife and my children as well. And so, like social media, for instance, I’m constantly she’s got a nickname, Holy Bear. And she’s, you know, I put funny pictures of us and, you know, I don’t take it too seriously or try to influence in a way that’s not me real. And, you know, Randy has a unique situation being in the Navy and being side by side some of the nation’s toughest warriors.

Mayo Sowell: [00:37:39] And thank you guys for your services.

Robert Mason: [00:37:41] Well, that’s Randall and I have done a lot of shooting and a lot of stuff with some guys, Green Berets, SEALs. And to every one of those guys, they will say, yeah, I was I was not sure of myself for a large part of my terms in the service. He’s like, But it was a guy next to me. I had I had to I had to knuckle up. I had to put that extra weight on. I had to do what I had to do for the guy that was sitting next to me. I could not let that guy down. And that’s what leadership is all about. We call them.

Randell Beck: [00:38:11] Swim buddies and they have an enormous influence on you, right? It’s like the five people theory, right? But in the Navy, it’s all about your swim buddy. That’s the guy you don’t let down. That’s the guy you take care of. That’s the one with the big influence. Yeah. I really.

Mayo Sowell: [00:38:23] Swim next to each other.

Randell Beck: [00:38:25] In training and stuff. Yeah, like, it’s like a cohort thing. You’re paired together and. Yeah.

Mayo Sowell: [00:38:30] Who was your swim buddy?

Randell Beck: [00:38:32] He’s gone now. Yeah. Yeah. So the point I wanted to make of that was that. Influence from the people around you is one thing, but you’re talking about insecurity. Nearly every one of those guys had a. They felt like they had something to prove to the world. But which might you might call that insecurity. You might not, I don’t know. But the idea was I think I can do more. I want to do more. I need to prove to the world that I can.

Robert Mason: [00:39:09] That’s important.

Speaker7: [00:39:10] Yeah.

Randell Beck: [00:39:11] And sometimes you can’t. And in war, sometimes it takes a buddy to pull it out of you. You know.

Robert Mason: [00:39:15] You don’t have a choice. Yeah. You sink or you swim.

Mayo Sowell: [00:39:19] Sink or swim.

Robert Mason: [00:39:20] Yeah. And that’s what we all do in life, whether it’s being real estate, whether it’s being a pastor, whether it’s being a businessman. We sink and swim by the decisions that we make every single day. And we better hold ourselves accountable because, okay, there may be nobody watching. But you know what? There is somebody watching.

Mayo Sowell: [00:39:36] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:39:37] Yeah. And he’s much larger than anything we’ve ever thought of.

Speaker7: [00:39:40] Yeah.

Mayo Sowell: [00:39:42] Agree.

Randell Beck: [00:39:43] So the guy was gone. His name was Phil, And Phil was always watching.

Speaker7: [00:39:47] Always.

Randell Beck: [00:39:47] But I was always watching, too. And, you know, everybody has that experience and ideas fade and the group can be something you like and also something you don’t like. But that, buddy, you’re not going to let down. That’s right.

Speaker7: [00:40:01] Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Randell Beck: [00:40:03] Which I guess in the Christian world nowadays, they talk a lot about accountability partners, but that’s not really the same thing. It can be close to it. Yeah.

Mayo Sowell: [00:40:11] Sometimes because accountability, your only good, your accountability is only good is what you let them know.

Speaker7: [00:40:18] Yeah.

Mayo Sowell: [00:40:19] Yeah, right. This swim, buddy, that’s different. He knows everything. He’s a buddy. He’s there.

Randell Beck: [00:40:23] You’re in the same state room. You’re on the same training. You’re in the same mission. You have no.

Mayo Sowell: [00:40:29] You have no option not to let him in.

Randell Beck: [00:40:30] If you. If you fart in your sleep, they know it.

Mayo Sowell: [00:40:32] Hey, bro, you got gas. You had gas last night and I stayed up. Yeah, You had gas, bro. Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:40:40] So where do you go from here? Mayo? Tell me. You know, I know you’ve got your church up and running, and so tell me how this all evolves.

Mayo Sowell: [00:40:47] So where we go from here, of course, we are in Riverwood High School right now, so we’re a portable church. That means we.

Robert Mason: [00:40:54] That’s where I went to high school.

Mayo Sowell: [00:40:55] Really? Yeah. That’s cool. So we’re in River Ridge, Riverwood High School, and we’re a portable church, so that means we go in every Sunday and we set up we get there 430, 5:00 and we set up and we make it a church and we take it down after the service, after the 1130 service. So of course we would be praying. And, you know, I would say just waiting for God to just, you know, bless us financially to get our permanent location and we want to move into a permanent location. We do have a vision, you know, not to only be in one location, but we want several other locations around us, the city of Atlanta and hopefully Georgia. So like will, you know, my job, I think, you know, Will is called to be a pastor. So Will would like to pastor a location. So whether or not Will’s location is in Atlanta, Will has Chattanooga on his heart. He and I was driving. He was like, yeah, I think I’m called to go to Chattanooga one day. Pastor helped me get there. I’m like, okay, I’ll help you get there. So it would be a lift. Chattanooga one day, hopefully. So that’s that’s the vision, you know, for God to just continue to send great people because I think great organizations, you can’t be great without great people. And, you know, he sent us some great people thus far. And we’re just praying for great people. We pray for two things. Two peas. The presence of God because Mayo can’t change anyone. God can. The presence of God. It’s my job to love him and then great people, because great people begets great people. So that’s the two things that we pray for. And hopefully we become a permanent location here in the middle of next year sometime.

Robert Mason: [00:42:23] So permanent location, what does that look like? What type of space? Where? What county? What city?

Mayo Sowell: [00:42:29] That’s a great question. So permanent location would look like right now for what? We have to accommodate us. We would need 35,000ft² or higher. So if you get down into the 20 twos it now it becomes, you know, it’s not convenient for young families to bring their kids and check their kids in. It’s crowded parking lots more. So you need probably 31,000ft² or higher. So I would like to stay I would like to stay somewhere close to the 285 loop, not going past, I would say Peachtree Corners. So Buckhead, Vinings, Sandy Springs, not Camp Creek. Maybe stop at Smyrna right there for the first permanent live location. So I would say Alpharetta is too far. Canton is too far. Where we are right now is, you know, where we are right now is Woodstock. Woodstock. I think that’s too far north. I would like to start urban. Okay. I would like to start urban because they say they say 98%. They say 90 to 98% of the people within the perimeter is unchurched.

Robert Mason: [00:43:35] Well, there’s a there’s a real problem in commercial real estate these days. And so there are a lot of opportunities. And if I’m you, I’m looking at some shopping center space that people are pulling in and out of. I mean, you look at Lenox and Phillips and Phipps. I mean, no one’s going over there anymore. Nobody’s going into these malls. And these malls might be a good place for you to start. Yeah, I.

Mayo Sowell: [00:44:00] Think I think it’s I think it’s a great.

Randell Beck: [00:44:01] Space available to tons of.

Mayo Sowell: [00:44:03] Space.

Randell Beck: [00:44:04] Some of the office buildings.

Mayo Sowell: [00:44:06] You’re doing remote work now because of Covid, you know, the leftovers of. So it’s a lot going on. So I don’t know.

Randell Beck: [00:44:11] What would be wrong with being in an office building for that matter.

Mayo Sowell: [00:44:13] I mean, nothing would be wrong. Just have.

Robert Mason: [00:44:15] The open space.

Randell Beck: [00:44:16] Take the right configuration that you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mayo Sowell: [00:44:18] So that’s what we’re looking for. I mean, you know, we’re not picky, you know, we just want to have something with great people in the presence of God. I think it’d be great.

Randell Beck: [00:44:26] I love the story. I love the spirit. You brought it in with this. And you know, what’s going to happen here is people that are going to find this recording are going to be at a decision point. Right. That’s why it’s going to be brought to them to their attention. Right. So. What do you have to say to that person.

Mayo Sowell: [00:44:44] At the decision?

Randell Beck: [00:44:44] He finds this. He’s looking he’s in a crisis. He or she she’s they’re in a crisis. They’re trying to make a decision. They’re trying to figure out what their life’s about. Yeah. Before we go, what do you have to say to that person?

Mayo Sowell: [00:44:54] So I’m doing this collection of talks on try this. Meaning I’m doing a sermon series three weeks and I’m the whole idea is try this, try this, try this. Now you might ask that person might say, okay, may I hear you? They’re listening right now. Okay. What do you mean? Try, Try what? They’ve tried everything. They tried to escape in a bottle. They tried to escape in the pill. They tried to escape in porn, whatever it may be. They tried that. So try this. Try prayer. And to make it simple, I’m giving them the shortest prayer to pray. Three words. Lord, help me.

Speaker8: [00:45:36] Three words.

Mayo Sowell: [00:45:38] Try this. I’m not telling him to go to a church. I’m not telling him to get accountability. I’m not telling him to give. I’m not telling them to get baptized. I’m telling them to try this. Lord, help me. I believe I can look them in the eye and I can look God in eye and say I led them right. I never see him again. I will never meet him. Lord, help me. Try this.

Robert Mason: [00:46:10] That’s pretty powerful.

Randell Beck: [00:46:11] I don’t think I have anything to add to that.

Robert Mason: [00:46:13] What do you what do you say after that? Yeah.

Randell Beck: [00:46:16] I say thank you for coming in.

Mayo Sowell: [00:46:18] Yeah, no, thank you guys for having me.

Randell Beck: [00:46:19] I really enjoyed talking to you. Seriously?

Speaker7: [00:46:20] Yeah.

Robert Mason: [00:46:21] I’m so glad that this happened. Mayo, you’re a special person. And Will, man, your journey is just beginning.

Speaker6: [00:46:28] It is all this guy.

Randell Beck: [00:46:29] Sounds like it’s going to get fun.

Speaker7: [00:46:31] Yeah, it is. Someday.

Stone Payton: [00:46:33] Lord, help.

Speaker7: [00:46:33] Will No.

Mayo Sowell: [00:46:37] No. I pray that. No, I. I take the me out and I say, Will the Lord help? Will And did God say, is this why Mayo does will need help. Because he did with me. Yeah. Ain’t that the truth Cuz he deals with me and then I would change it. Lord help my wife. Why Mayo? Because she deal with me.

Speaker7: [00:46:59] Yeah, that’s the truth.

Mayo Sowell: [00:47:00] That’s a song.

Randell Beck: [00:47:01] Well, there you have it. Everybody excel with mayo.

Speaker7: [00:47:05] Yeah. Thank you. And we’re.

Robert Mason: [00:47:06] Going to have you back and we’re going to follow up and we’re going to we’re going to see how this this is.

Speaker7: [00:47:10] Going really interested.

Mayo Sowell: [00:47:11] Here. How you say no to my neighbor.

Speaker6: [00:47:13] No, thank y’all.

Robert Mason: [00:47:14] Because I found you in the front yard.

Randell Beck: [00:47:16] I really want to hear the the growth of the church. I’m very interested to see how this goes.

Speaker7: [00:47:20] Yes, sir. Thank you.

Women in Business Putting Food on Our Tables Part 2

August 9, 2023 by angishields

Women in Motion

Women in Business Putting Food on Our Tables Part 2

00:00 /

In this episode of Women in Motion, Rhonda Busnardo, Jacqueline Smith, and Michelle Razavi, discuss their roles in the food industry and the challenges they’ve faced in their careers. They talk about their companies and the unique products they offer.

The conversation also touches on the impact of the pandemic on their businesses, their approaches to digital marketing, and their go-to-market strategies and the opportunities available in the industry.

Rhonda Busnardo has worked in the Food sector most of her career starting off in retail, moving into food and beverage manufacturing and distribution, and currently in the Gaming and Entertainment industry.

Rhonda grew up in Southern New Jersey. Rhonda and her husband, Anthony, have 4 boys aged 20, 14, 12, and 6.

When Rhonda isn’t working, she enjoys family time and being at the beach. Rhonda enjoys kayaking, boating, dancing, and is currently working on her long game in golf.

Jacqueline Smith has built Go Energy Foods from the ground up. With healthy products on her mind, Go Energy Foods created E3 Energy Cubes, a protein bar that not only tastes amazing, it’s actually good for you.

Jacqueline & her husband, Cleve, are passionate about using the finest ingredients to give you the highest nutrition and the most amazing taste.

They work tirelessly to see their products make it into your hands.

Michelle Razavi is the Founder and CEO of ELAVI, a wellness company that offers gut-friendly designed by fitness trainers.

She brings a professional background in e-commerce working in sales, digital marketing, and online retail having worked at tech, digital marketing, & most recently the Sephora Innovation team.

Michelle is also a certified fitness instructor and yoga teacher at Equinox and Alo, based in Los Angeles.

About our Co-Host

Dr. Pamela Williamson, President & CEO of WBEC-West, is an exemplary, dedicated individual, and has extensive experience as a senior leader for over twenty years.

She has served as the CEO of SABA 7 a consulting firm, overseen quality control at a Psychiatric urgent care facility of a National Behavioral Health Care Organization where she served as Vice President and Deputy Director,and has served as the CEO of WBEC-West, since 2008.

Her extensive experience in developing and implementing innovative alliances with key stakeholders has enabled the organizations to reach new levels of growth and stability. Her ability to lead and empower staff members creates a strong team environment which filters throughout the entire organization.

She takes an active role in facilitating connections between corporations and women business enterprises and sees a promising future for WBENC Certified women-owned businesses.

Dr. Williamson holds a Doctorate in Healthcare Administration, a Master’s degrees in Business Administration, and bachelor degrees in both Psychology and Sociology.

Connect with Dr. Williamson on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Lee Kantor here another episode of Women in Motion, and this is brought to you obviously by WBEC West. And we couldn’t be sharing these stories without their support. Today’s topic is women in business who are putting food on our tables. This is a food and beverage special edition. And today’s guests are Rhonda Busnardo with Caesars. we have Jacqueline Smith with Go Energy Foods and Michelle Razavi with ELAVI. Welcome.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:00:57] Thank you. Excited to be here for having us.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:59] Well, I’m excited to learn about each and every one of you. Let’s first go around the room to share kind of a little bit about your firms. Let’s start with you, Rhonda. Tell us about Caesars, how you serve in folks over there.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:01:12] Yeah, my name is Rhonda Busnardo. I’m a director of strategic sourcing on the food and beverage side. My job is basically finding the best price and the best foods to bring to the customer’s table and create a wonderful experience for them across the nation.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:29] Jacqueline, you want to tell us a little bit about what you got going on?

Jacqueline Smith: [00:01:33] Absolutely. My name is Jack Smith. Refrigerated protein bar that actually tastes good. So that’s our claim to fame.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:42] And Michelle.

Michelle Razavi: [00:01:44] Yeah, I’m the Founder of ELAVI. We make gut friendly snacks designed by fitness trainers. And we have two product lines, gut friendly collagen protein bars and these low sugar dessert cashew butters.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:55] Well, welcome to everybody. This is an exciting episode for us. This is a lot of folks are getting into this industry and a lot of folks want to learn about it. Let me throw this out to everybody. Maybe some of the early challenges in your careers. Was there any hurdles that you had to overcome to get where you are today?

Michelle Razavi: [00:02:15] I mean, I’ll go first. How long do you have? So what’s unique about our story is that we launched just two months before the pandemic in January 2020? So that in and of itself was a huge challenge in terms of trying to overnight overhaul our business and go to market strategy and really funding cycle because we were bootstrapping this thinking we could launch and then in six months we would be able to fundraise after showing some product market fit. And so having to operate on an extremely lean budget and build a brand online with no opportunity to sample and do events, that was really the most extreme form for a small business to kick off, but really encourage and force us to flex our digital marketing muscles and became a blessing in disguise. But yeah, that was that was really difficult to navigate in our in our early first year.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:03:11] Yeah, we had a very similar experience. We launched our brand in 2019 and we had one year under our belt and we were just getting ready to grow when the pandemic hit. And like she said, in-person events ended and people weren’t meeting with new products to put them on their shelves. Everybody just just kind of stopped. And so we survived that process. And really it took until 2022 for us to really have in-person meetings again. So that was probably our biggest challenge, was kind of waiting until we had an opportunity again to meet with buyers for in-store brands.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:55] Now, Rhonda, in your role at Caesars, I would imagine you’re constantly looking for vendors doing interesting things. How do you kind of go about that process?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:04:08] Well, for me, what I do is I attend food shows, of course, and then I collaborate with our chefs at the property and see what they’re looking for and what their needs are. Um, and, you know, reach out to local markets that way.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:26] Now, is there anything you look for Like, are there some kind of must haves and nice to haves when it comes to a vendor?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:04:36] Well, with vendors, obviously, depending on if it’s a regional need or a national need. Um, I’m obviously looking for volume. Um, if it’s a national need, of course. And then if not, then I like to really look into our regions and different, um, you know, local foods and produce and different diverse markets. Obviously women owned business is great for us. Seizures really supports that. So anything innovative is always, you know, what we’re looking for.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:14] Is there anything a vendor can do to stand out?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:05:18] Um, really just become a part of any anything out there that’s diverse or innovative and really put yourself out there networking, going to these shows, attending events. There’s a lot of not only, you know, food shows, but diversity events and different things that make you stand out and stand above, you know, maybe another vendor or company.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:43] Jacqueline how do you go about standing out?

Jacqueline Smith: [00:05:48] So one of our of our biggest things that we’ve done is we’ve created this protein bar that is different because it comes in three squares. Instead of just being a big bar, it’s three different cubes. That’s where the name energy cubes comes from. And then we’ve really gone into the really amazing ingredients, like it’s soy free, it’s dairy free, it’s gluten free, everything’s non-GMO and everything’s all natural. So it’s really good for you. And that’s something that, when we were in our R&D process realized was happening. There were a lot of people who claim health benefits or healthy products, but their their ingredients don’t always say that when you really dig into the ingredient labels. And we wanted to make sure our ingredients were the top of the line.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:37] Michelle, how do you stand out?

Michelle Razavi: [00:06:41] The way we like to stand out is a couple of things. One is innovation in our product set. We’re the first and only company to have developed and launched a line of colorful dessert cashew butters. I like to. We just got into Costco for a Costco roadshow, and that has been an eye opening experience in terms of product positioning. And the number one thing people tell us is like, wow, this is like a healthy dessert that’s, you know, diabetic friendly and low glycemic and the colors attract people. So we have dessert cashew butters that are blue and pink and chocolate. And the innovation in that is how we stand out where, you know, for us to catch the eye not only in social media, but of like large retailers that are dream accounts so early in our in our brand like lifetime that’s that’s been really key for us is just like create a really innovative different product like we have a bar line as well and I’m sure Jaclyn can attest to this. It’s a very competitive category. And yeah, there’s like a million bars that, you know, people say it’s better for you for this and that. And so we’re like, okay, how do we push boundaries and really wake up and shake up a sleepy category of of nut butters? And so we kind of create something that’s like next level but cashew butter based. And second to that, I would say we stand out a lot in our digital marketing footprint. So have a digital marketing background, so very active on TikTok, on social media, on Instagram.

Michelle Razavi: [00:08:09] We do a lot of collaborations with influencers, and that’s really generated a lot of buzz. We’re in pop up Grocer in New York, and we also did a Mermaid Smoothie bowl with Juice Press, which is the Equinox Cafe in New York. So we love innovation. We love partnerships because it’s just such an opportunity to really combine audiences and get people excited to see that, you know, you’re you’re pushing boundaries and thinking outside of the box. And then lastly, we do, you know, put ourselves in front of the company, you know, not many brand founders are comfortable putting themselves on social media on their website. And we from day one have been full force about that because I’m a firm believer that people buy from people and that authenticity and trust that we have established from day one as fitness professionals, as health professionals who understand and know what happens to the body when you consume certain things and how important nutrition is, that’s really allowed us to generate that that trust with our consumers that, you know, we know what we’re talking about and we’re creating the best products that we personally put in our bodies every single day. And so that’s allowed us to really take market share from other incumbents and stand out that, you know, we’re we’re proudly women owned. We’re proudly bipoc owned. We’re, you know, proudly, you know, putting ourselves out there to really help people be healthier and feel better in their bodies.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:36] Now, any advice, Michelle, for folks that are aspiring food entrepreneurs is to really stand out in digital marketing? Did you kind of go heavy in one channel or did you kind of repurpose content content amongst the many channels? Like what are some do’s and don’ts in regard to digital marketing for food entrepreneurs?

Michelle Razavi: [00:09:59] Yeah, I love this question because for, for different channels you you can repurpose to a certain extent, but each channel really does have its own vibe. So for instance, TikTok, it’s it’s shorter, it’s faster, it’s leans towards a slightly younger demographic. So just even the editing style is significantly different and the value propositions and the hooks vary greatly. People want to be entertained on TikTok, they don’t want to be sold to. Whereas on Instagram and a little bit of Facebook, the content, you know, doesn’t have to be as choppy or as entertainment focused. It could be more product focused or storytelling. Then you can take that onto YouTube or Pinterest. You know, those are also different channels. So the way I approach it is, you know, have your value propositions where, you know, you stand out on. For us, it’s, you know, our dessert cashew butters or low glycemic and vegan compared to like a Nutella. So we’re helping people have less sugar without the sugar alcohol that upset your gut. So all of our products are gut friendly, so we double down on our content tentpoles really based on, you know, the value that we provide. I also in any content creation strategy for entrepreneurs, I highly recommend leading with value people do not want to be sold to, right? So, you know, there’s there should always be, you know, a storytelling aspect behind your behind your company of like, why you why did you start this? What was the pain point. But mostly what’s in it for them? What is the consumer gain from interacting with your product? How are you helping them? How is your life better with your product than versus without? And I think so many people make the mistake of saying like, buy us or we’re on sale or, you know, this is why we’re better or, you know, me, me, me versus like, no, no, no point it to the. Somewhere. It’s. This is how we help you. This is the pain point we solve. This is where we come in. And so that’s really, you know, how we position digital marketing and content is, is really consumer focused.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:55] Now, when you say consumer focused, is it something that you and your team have kind of said, okay, this is the focus, or is it when you had an opportunity to talk to consumers, listen to them, maybe take in some of their words that they’re using to describe your product and then integrate that as part of the message?

Michelle Razavi: [00:12:17] Yeah, no, that’s a great call out. So we do a lot of testing. So the way we kind of get that feedback to then reintegrate back into our marketing is by looking at reviews. So we do a 360 holistic view of how people are talking about our products and our company. So we look at everything from Amazon reviews to reviews. After submitting a review on buying from directly our website, we have a chat box on our website through Shopify where people can chat in and anytime they have a question. We also follow up with How did you hear about us? Would you like to see what you know excites you kind of thing like that? And then we also do a lot of field in-store demos and so we keep a log of any feedback or, or really just asking people, Hey, what resonated with you? What made you pick this up? What made you put it down? What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it? And so integrating all those different data points helps us create even stronger content. And look, people are vocal. Like anytime we’ll run an ad, people will type in questions, comments. And so then that integrates back to us of, Oh, okay, people don’t understand what Blue Spirulina is or why. Like people don’t believe that things can naturally be blue. And so then that, you know, helps me reinforce, okay, this is something that we can lead with or this excites people from an engagement standpoint. Um, but at the same time, we also, I think in person is people are just so open and excited to share feedback. And so I encourage entrepreneurs to just be curious. And if someone gives something negative instead of being defensive or taking it personally, just kind of dig deeper and be like, Oh, okay, like what would you like to see? What would get you excited and use it as an opportunity to get curious?

Lee Kantor: [00:13:57] Jacqueline, can you share?

Jacqueline Smith: [00:14:00] Oh, I have to say that I just love everything she said. And it’s so many of the same things that we’ve been doing as well. Um, so one of our biggest things is educating people. A lot of people want to eat healthy, but they don’t know why it matters so much and people don’t understand, you know, if you get half your daily fiber in a bar, how much that helps their mental health, their gut health, and why most of the foods that are processed out there now don’t have fiber in them. And so people have eliminated fiber from their diet. And that fiber is actually the lack of fiber is actually affecting their mental health. And so educating consumers on why what we’ve put in our bar matters helps them recognize, oh, there is a really big health benefit to this. And I actually like how it tastes. And so it gives them that that reason of their why behind what they already know they love and it gives them an additional reason. And I love that she talked about sugar alcohols because that’s something that I was talking to my team about just the other day, because we’re very careful as they are to not put sugar alcohols in our product. And so a lot of things that claim health benefits often have the sugar alcohols to keep their sugars down. But it is a gut buster and it is really hard on people’s guts and they don’t understand why they’re in pain or why they have that bloated feeling or why their stomach just in knots after eating something they thought was healthy for them. And so educating them on those kinds of things really makes a huge difference in how the consumer responds to your product and why they can see that it’s actually not just a product they enjoy eating, but why it’s actually good that they’re eating it.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:45] Now you’re using the word health and healthy a lot. Is that a term that it’s kind of lost some meaning in terms of it’s almost in the eye of the beholder. A lot of people are defining health and health healthy differently, and they’re not really educated on what’s truly healthy. And there’s a lot of things, especially in these larger brands, that they make it seem like it’s that healthy. But it really the bottom line, it really isn’t very healthy. And you got to educate folks on the difference between this kind of fake, healthy and real healthy.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:16:21] Right. So there’s different kinds of help. So some people are looking for something that maybe doesn’t raise their glycemic index. And so they think, well, that’s healthy for me if it doesn’t raise my glycemic index. What they don’t realize is the sugar alcohol is still producing an effect for their body. That’s that’s going to be painful or or more difficult for their body or it doesn’t help their digestion. And so when we’re talking about a healthy product, we want it to fit as many of the categories as we can for their health. We don’t focus on fads like keto or or paleo, but we’re focusing more on a macro, balanced, balanced diet rather than just a product that fits a fad that will come and go and that won’t maintain a long term health plan.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:12] Now, any advice for the consumer in this regard? Because I would imagine there’s some legal and regulatory requirements when using terms like healthy natural. Well, things like that. Or is it kind of still the Wild West?

Jacqueline Smith: [00:17:26] That’s a great that’s a great question. Yeah. So as far as I know, it’s the Wild West in terms of healthy. Now, you cannot make those same claims. When you say natural, something to be considered natural does have to be a truly natural product and it can’t be artificial colors or artificial flavors, but healthy. That’s kind of a anybody’s game. Some people may call it healthy when it’s maybe not for someone else.

Michelle Razavi: [00:17:55] Yeah, there’s there’s a couple different words, so I’m not sure if everyone’s aware with like kind bar with that long running lawsuit over the the word natural on their labels. Healthy might not be regulated. It could be regulated in the future. But at the same time I feel like consumers are becoming more educated and more discerning. You know, even at a Costco like I was having so many people ask me questions that I never thought people would ask me. And and there is this curiosity and and general interest coming out of the pandemic that people are having about their health, whether it’s from social media that they’re learning about things or their family members that are educating them, you know, it is really exciting, this overall general movement of people trying to just be healthier in general, how we dissect that and how people really try to, you know, slice and dice, that does vary. Some people think anything keto is healthy and that’s you know, it’s doctor pointed out not necessarily the case or just because it’s vegan. That does not mean it’s healthy because it could be pumped with a ton of sugar to taste good. And so I think, you know, the responsibility of the consumer is to do what’s best for them and and their specific body and health goals. But then also for the brands to just be transparent of what you’re not and what you are and drawing a line in the sand because you can’t be everything to everyone. And if you were, then you’d be paralyzing trying to run that kind of a company. But really just trying to find your tribe and, you know, aligning your value proposition with with their health goals.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:30] Now, Ronda, are you seeing that as a trend in your industry? Are you looking for the healthier when given a choice? Are you picking the healthier choice more of the time?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:19:43] Yes. I know that a lot of our chefs are looking for health conscious choices for their menus. Not necessarily. Every single thing on the menu is going to be that way unless it’s that type of restaurant that’s, you know, of course, following that completely. But for the restaurants, I know that they do look for more health conscious. You know, you’re always going to have somebody that comes to a restaurant no matter what restaurant that is. Right. That might be at the table. Half the table might not care. Most of the table might not care, but there might even be just one person at that table that does care. So we try to fit and meet the need of everyone that’s attending and make sure that they have a good experience as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:23] Now, Rhonda, when you’re out there looking for vendors and folks like Jacqueline and Michelle are people that I’m sure would love to get their stuff on your radar. How do how would they go about doing that?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:20:42] Really? Like, you know, most of my networking is done at the food shows as I’ve spoken. Um, you know, and really just it’s, it’s the need, right? The need of, of what our chefs are looking for and the innovation and, and what makes them stand out. Just like these ladies are both talking about, you know, all of the things that they’re saying are things that I look for, you know, something different, something that maybe you can get somewhere else or, you know, just having ideas as well of what you can use these products in different applications, you know, not just, okay, this is a really great cashew butter, right? But okay, what application can I use this cashew butter in? And just different ideas, samples and things like that are are very helpful in looking at different products. So sometimes, you know, there’s bases and and different things that the chefs can use these things for that, you know, may not be something. My brain doesn’t go there. That’s not the part that I do. I’m not an expert on on these different types of things. But if you can show different applications and ways of use for them, that’s really helpful.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:52] And then so you’re walking kind of the aisles at one of these shows and you’re looking for brands that catch your eye or have ingredients or, you know, variety of purposes so that you can connect your own dots and go, okay, I can see where this would be useful, or hey, maybe I’ll learn more about this one, because Chef had mentioned this to me recently.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:22:13] Yes, absolutely. And then getting that information to bring back to my chefs or different category managers to see if it’s something that fits a restaurant profile or a whole casino. Possibly it could go to the whole nation or it could go go to one restaurant. It doesn’t matter how big or small the everyone thinks Caesars and they think the largest, you know, gaming, entertainment industry. And hey, we’re you know, I have to be able to have the volume for, you know, all of these properties and all of these restaurants that might not necessarily be the case. You can be a smaller vendor. That’s something, you know, just for a region or just for a restaurant. Um, you just never know, you know, what kind of platform, you know, you may have for that.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:56] And you’re actively looking for like women owned businesses. That’s part of what you’re charged with, right?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:23:02] Yes. Caesars is a very, very big supporter. All women owned businesses, diversity, sustainability, a lot of these things. So, um, you know, and some of the regions, it’s something that we really, really push for and, you know, and look for and any anywhere we can really bring in any type of diverse spend we really support and push for that.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:30] Now, Jacqueline, where do you go for advice and collaboration?

Jacqueline Smith: [00:23:38] Oh, heavens. I do a lot of research on the Internet, and I listen to a lot of podcasts that are about business, but a lot of my collaboration happens with my team. But when we’re really looking for new ways to innovate, we only have five flavors right now. And we just launched our fifth flavor just this month. And so we’re still in the infancy of our business. And so our business is still doing a lot of the the groundwork to really lay everything out. We recently went to a natural products expo in Anaheim. We went two years in a row and that’s been a really big thing, which is probably similar to what she’s talking about when she talks about going to these food shows. That’s a really great show to attend to meet with all sorts of people from all walks of life and get a lot of information about new and innovative ingredients that we could add to our products, different ways we could raise our protein content or lower our sugar levels or maybe go with an apple juice infused, you know, fruit instead of a sugar dried fruit. A lot of different things. Just you just stay really up on it when you attend these shows. The Ift show in Utah happens once a year, and that’s a really great show as well. Michelle.

Michelle Razavi: [00:25:08] I would say in addition to like trade shows like National Expo West is a fantastic place just to get your your gear spinning and and your brain outside of like the normal day to day of like, operating a company. I also love to just go to the field of like grocery stores and just look and see what other categories are doing for inspiration, what are beverages doing? What are chips doing, what are, you know, other topics doing. So that’s where I look to get inspiration. And then we’re very fortunate to have some amazing advisors that are in CPG as well. So some of them are active investors, most of them are. And so they’ll, you know, share with me what they’ve seen or some ideas for like interesting ingredients or collaborations. I was also recently selected as a Stacy’s Rise grant recipient. And so I’ve built a great relationship with my PepsiCo mentors and so still have a really strong relationship with them where they’ll send me, you know, industry reports and trade news that are coming across their desk from like an innovation standpoint. So I really try to stay as plugged in as I can, both like proactively through my network, but also just going out into the field and being a kid and and seeing what kind of lights me up and gets me excited and seeing how that can inspire me.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:31] Now, what are some of your goals? What do you how do you see this story progressing?

Michelle Razavi: [00:26:38] So, yeah, I can go first. For us, it’s growing, our team growing our distribution. Rhonda, I’d love to connect with you after this because this would be a fantastic dream account. We have began begun building our food service channel tremendously. So as I mentioned, we do smoothie bowls with our dessert cashew butters because they’re so fun and colorful as a smoothie bowl topping for confectionery and for pastries and chefs and stuff. So we’d love to continue building out our our food service channels just because it’s such a fun way to collaborate and then continue building out our distribution. So a dream for us. We’re doing a Costco roadshow in California and SoCal. I’d love to get our jar formats that are launching in August out into Costco and more retail because a lot of our customers have been asking for them since we launched the packets first and build out our team because my co-founder and I are just literally running everything full time with some contractors. But we need some extra folks to help us out to support our growth. So that’s what’s next for us. Jacqueline.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:27:45] So our goals are fairly lofty. We expect to ten X next year and then ten x again the following year and then we’ll probably hit some slowdown and maybe two x and then two x. And our goal at the end of all of this is to eventually sell our company. And I’m older, so I’m not a young entrepreneur. I’m an older entrepreneur. I’m 58 and I do want to retire at some point and let let my children either run the company or pass it on to somebody else. And we’re excited to go nationwide with this protein bar and let people eat a protein bar that’s absolutely delicious and really does make them feel good on the inside.

Lee Kantor: [00:28:31] Now, Jacqueline, you mentioned I don’t know if you were kidding or not, but you like your children to take over the company at some point is that.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:28:40] I have five children and they are working with me right now. My daughter is the one who did all of our design work for our bars and our boxes. And she does an amazing job. I mean, she started when she was 17 and she’s just done so well. And and I have other kids that work in the kitchen and we just we make them ourselves. We don’t co-pack. We do everything ourselves. So we are as entrepreneurial of a family as we could be. And it’s it’s a blast to work with everybody. My son in law’s in charge of my warehouse. We just have a family environment that’s really cohesive and conducive to creating the kind of energy that we want behind the bar so that it’s it’s not just about, you know, that end result. Bottom line. It’s about creating an environment that feels good to work in as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:32] Now, do you have any advice for other kind of family owned businesses, for folks that are considering doing that? A lot of people don’t understand kind of the the intricacies of balancing, you know, a business with a family and especially when you’re all doing it together.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:29:51] Yes. The advice I would give is to let go. Let go of the way you think it’s supposed to look and let it flow the way it’s going to look and and really make sure that you have everybody on the same page emotionally, that there’s going to be days when it’s it feels harder than it’s ever felt. And there’s going to be days when it feels amazing. But to not let those days when it’s hard get you down and to really just see see it as as a process of learning like, okay, this happened. So what can we do to prevent that from happening in the future? And always look at it as a way to learn rather than to beat yourself up or beat each other up, because that’s kind of easy in a family anyway. And it really does make a difference to just keep people on a positive note and let them see that the end result is going to be worth it for all of us. We just have to stay focused on enjoying the journey.

Lee Kantor: [00:30:51] Now, Michelle, you mentioned investors. Can you give a little bit of advice of how to attract and manage investors?

Michelle Razavi: [00:30:59] Yeah, I mean, I would say putting your name out there and posting on LinkedIn, sharing your story, investors are now looking for brands that are. Great at storytelling because when you think about it, you have to storytell to your consumers. You have to storytell to your retailers, you have to storytell to investors. So if you can tell a great story and get your consumers excited, you know, I’m getting more and more investors asking like, what is your social media look like? I have investors follow me. My existing and prospective investors follow me on social media. They they really do like to see, you know, the ethos and 360 brand of of like how you’re executing. So I would say like that’s I’ve been using a lot of social media candidly and then just tapping my network of you know if one person says no trying to ask them if they can connect me to someone else. And so I found investors through LinkedIn, through Twitter, through clubhouse, through Instagram. And I’m just learned that I’ve had to be very proactive, persistent. And, you know, there’s there’s value to someone who can pleasantly follow up, have a sales background. So I think that’s helped me, you know, navigate this very difficult journey because I don’t have candidly and like like family support. I don’t have a network.

Michelle Razavi: [00:32:23] I don’t have like a lot of access that a lot of entrepreneurs do have entering the space. And so I’ve I’ve been self-made from day one, and my co-founder and I, we self-funded our company with our personal savings. We didn’t have any parent family money to to help us get off the ground. And that’s something that both we’re proud of. And investors notice, like, okay, they know how to manage their money, they hustle, they are fighters. And I think that’s also what’s attracted investors knowing that who they’re investing in is someone who will fight to the very end for their company and is pretty relentless. So that’s what I would, you know, suggest for entrepreneurs looking for investors is get really clear on, you know, your story on your brand, on your value proposition, especially in food and beverage. It’s so competitive. So whatever you can do to stand out, whether it’s, you know, you as a team of why you’re the best founder to lead this company or your product or your go to market strategy or just the timing of the market. You know, investors, you just have to get into their psychology of like they get so much deal flow and they get so many brands pitching them. So however you can stand out is really the key.

Lee Kantor: [00:33:38] Now, were you always going after the consumer or are you going after distributors like and the marketing, I would imagine, would be different depending on the path or that you went.

Michelle Razavi: [00:33:51] Yeah. So in terms of our go to market strategy, you know, we were forced to go direct to consumer, you know, by just the sheer reality of being in a pandemic. So we first, you know, built a relationship with our consumers. We didn’t think about retail until we really got that validation from the market. And our first product, candidly out of the market, you know, wasn’t our current one. We had to fail and make mistakes. And I think the fact that we were open to doing it publicly endeared our community to us. They felt like they were along the journey building alongside us. And, you know, once we’ve tested and because we’re creating products that don’t use preservatives, that don’t use synthetic ingredients, sugar alcohols, fiber sirups, anything that upset the stomach, and that’s something no one’s ever done before. So we’ve had to really pressure test it in a lot of different ways from both operations and from marketing. And starting with consumers first is allowed us to really build that that confidence and that that traction. And then from there, then we’ve taken that to retailers buyers and build out our strategy to other channels.

Lee Kantor: [00:35:00] Jacqueline, did you go direct or did you go were you targeting stores?

Jacqueline Smith: [00:35:07] So we did it. We did both. So we did the direct. We were we were going to fitness shows and direct to consumer shows where people could get it in their mouth and taste it. And we were also meeting with the retailers, but just like, um, and I apologize, your name just completely went left my brain. Michelle. Michelle Just like Michelle, because of the pandemic, we were kind of forced to do a lot more online work because we couldn’t we didn’t have those in-person events for either the retailers or the consumers. There was just almost nothing. We did a couple of events that they did outdoors during the pandemic in Utah. That was nice and it was great that they did that. It kept our doors open. It kept it the products in people’s hands, and it helped drive online traffic to us during the pandemic. But we absolutely did both. And and I just want to tell you a quick story. When you were talking about investors, we did have an investor come to us and mine was so different than Michelle’s that I just have to share it. I think that what she’s doing is exactly what you should be doing. But for me, I live in such a different like thinking that I’m always about it will just show up if it’s supposed to. And I really believe that.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:36:23] And because of that, I was I was teaching on stage at an event in Utah a couple of years before I started this company. And I’d been through the, you know, his classes tons of times. And I had this thought I should go to his class this weekend. And I’m thinking, why should I go? This is ridiculous. I know every single thing that happens at these events. I spoke on the stage, but I trusted my gut and I went anyway. And while I was there at his event backstage, there was a gentleman eating one of my protein bars and I said, Do you like that bar? And he said, Yes, I like this bar better than any protein bar I’ve ever had in my life. And if I knew who owned this company, I would invest. And I said, Well, hi, I’m Jacqueline Smith. I’m the president of the company and his name is Norris Cole. He played for the Miami Heat and he was a two time NBA champion with the Miami Heat. He just got inducted into the Hall of Fame in Ohio where he played. And it’s just amazing to me how that introduction happened without any real push. I wasn’t trying. I was just listening. And I was aware of my surroundings. And he did invest in our company and it’s been great.

Lee Kantor: [00:37:48] Wow, That’s amazing story. Congratulations.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:37:51] Thank you.

Lee Kantor: [00:37:53] Now, Rhonda, what do you need more of at Caesars and how can we help you?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:38:02] I need more of everything. You know what? Right now, like I said, we’re health trends are huge, So we. We definitely, um, always look into that. Um, we’re looking at natural faces and different, you know, sources and just natural ingredients overall. Um, we’re also looking at vegan. The vegan market is huge right now, so looking at things like that. I also want to just give a little bit of advice too. So something like a power bar or, you know, you wouldn’t really think to come to Caesar’s and try to look for selling a power bar at Caesar’s restaurants or anything. But, you know, there’s not just restaurants within our casinos. We have a lot of different outlets, a lot of different, um, you know, just breakfast restaurants or little stop, you know, stop and go or, you know, we actually have what they call an ADR at Caesar’s, which is an employee dining room, that there’s always something where you can, you know, look to market your items no matter what they are. So just always think outside of the box and where we might be able to utilize your products as well, not necessarily just in a in a restaurant, but maybe one of our shops or our grab and goes or our offices. Everyone forgets that we actually have offices behind these beautiful casinos. You know, they’re out on the floor and everybody’s, you know, out there gambling or going to restaurants or seeing shows. And then, you know, there’s people that work in the background. So there’s a lot of different avenues. And just always, always think outside the box. It’s a it’s a big thing.

Lee Kantor: [00:39:53] And don’t self-select out before you even have a conversation. Right? It’s worth having a conversation.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:39:59] Absolutely. There’s never anything wrong with having a conversation.

Lee Kantor: [00:40:03] And.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:40:04] And we should have a conversation. Rhonda. I think that would be awesome.

Lee Kantor: [00:40:08] Now and there’s a ton of employees like how many employees? Caesar’s has thousands and thousands of employees. Just that aspect of the business could be lucrative for a lot of folks.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:40:18] Yeah, you have your front of the house, your back of the house, your restaurants, your, you know, your gaming floors. Just it’s there’s just countless opportunities for so many different avenues.

Lee Kantor: [00:40:30] So if somebody wants to learn more about Caesar’s or connect with you, what’s the best way to do that, Rhonda?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:40:35] Yeah, I don’t know if you can all see, but I did share my email on chat and you can actually find me on LinkedIn. It’s my real name, so always feel free to connect with me there, even if it’s a category that I don’t necessarily manage. I know all the category managers and how to get in contact with them, so I can definitely put you in the right direction to see if there’s anything you know that we can do for you guys.

Lee Kantor: [00:41:00] And that’s caesars.com would get them if they want to find the Caesars near them if they want to check that out.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:41:06] Yeah you can definitely go on Caesars on the internet or like I said go on LinkedIn and if you go on Caesars Entertainment on LinkedIn, they’ll you know obviously there will be a lot of different things that you can look at. But um, you know, obviously if you’re looking for something specific, you can just send me a message and, and we can connect.

Lee Kantor: [00:41:28] And. Michelle, what do you need and how can we help?

Michelle Razavi: [00:41:34] Ryan, can you say that one more time? You cut out a little bit.

Lee Kantor: [00:41:36] What do you need and how can we help?

Michelle Razavi: [00:41:39] I would love I mean, Rhonda, I got your email, so I will definitely be following up. But for anybody listening to this would love anyone support at our retailers at Lifetime Fitness. If you’re in New York, please go check us out this summer at Pop Up Grocer and our Smoothie Bowl or Mermaid Smoothie Bowl with Juice Press and yeah support your local woman owned businesses like Jacqueline and mine. We’re online as well so we have everything on Amazon Prime. So we’d love support just in getting the word out of our of our product and our company. And if anyone’s interested in doing food service or, you know, corporate purchases, we’re available for that and are fully able to support that.

Lee Kantor: [00:42:23] And what’s a website?

Michelle Razavi: [00:42:25] Our website is l.o.v. That’s l a v as in Victor i.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:42:32] Great. And Jacquelyn. How can we help you?

Jacqueline Smith: [00:42:36] So the best way to help me right now is to visit Walmart. In about two weeks. We are launching in 150 Walmart locations with three of our most popular flavors, and they will be in the Utah and Southern California areas. So we’re excited about that launch. You can also visit us on our website at E3 Energy cubes.com. You can preorder our peanut butter and jam strawberry Flavor, which is fantastic. We’re just getting ready to ship that out soon and or you can order any of our other flavors as well. And they’re all good and they’re all good for you. They’re all gut friendly and you can feel good about letting your kids eat them, eating them yourself, sharing them, saving them, whatever you want to do. And that’s what that’s what we’re doing.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:25] Well, thank you all so much for sharing your stories today. You’re all doing important work and we appreciate you. This is Lee Kantor.

Jacqueline Smith: [00:43:35] Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:35] You got it. You got it. This is Lee Kantor. We will see you all next time in Woman in Motion.

BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Go After Every Revenue Opportunity

August 9, 2023 by angishields

BRX Pro Tip: Hire More People Who Demonstrate Accountability

August 8, 2023 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Hire More People Who Demonstrate Accountability

00:00 /

BRX Pro Tip: Hire More People Who Demonstrate Accountability

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, today’s topic, personal accountability.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:09] Yeah. This is so important to me and it’s so important to your company. When you’re working with people, you have to have people that demonstrate accountability. Accountable people don’t make excuses. They don’t play the blame game. They take responsibility and they have that make-it-happen attitude. And they don’t wait around for someone to tell them what to do. They take action when action needs to be taken. And you have to have a culture that enables that action to be taken in a way that they don’t feel like their job is on the line or that’s not their job to do some of these things. So, that’s the leader’s job to make sure that the culture is right in order for people to feel safe in order to take that accountability. But you also want to attract and hire people who, as their default position, is personal accountability.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:00] And in order to foster this kind of culture, you have to be able to share a clear vision of what is expected. Your people have to understand the outcome you desire, and on both sides of the ledger that the things you expect and most importantly, what you will not tolerate. There has to be a true north. There has to be what is acceptable, what is desired, and what is unacceptable. And if somebody honestly tries something and makes a mistake, you can’t shame the mistake. You can’t tease them about the mistake in a way that makes them afraid to take more risks down the line. You have to role model looking at a mistake as a learning opportunity, not a failure. That’s so important because people are afraid to take action because they’re afraid they’re going to make a mistake, and they’re going to afraid they’re going to get embarrassed or fired for it. So, create a safe culture that allows people to, you know, when their heart’s in the right place, and they’re trying to do the right thing, if they make a mistake, you got to let them know that that’s okay. And finding that right best fit team member is critical to your success. So, always remember you want to hire slowly and fire quickly.

Stone Payton: [00:02:15] Well, and I have a book recommendation on this topic. It’s called The QBQ!. And QBQ stands for the Question Behind the Question. The author is John Miller, a personal friend of mine, a colleague of mine some years back. But I highly recommend getting that book. It’s a quick, easy read. It is chockfull of operational examples of personal accountability, the price you pay when your organization doesn’t have it. It speaks to returning the learning to the organization and cultivating that culture, that environment of personal accountability. But I mean, the fact is, if you can build a culture of personal accountability, you can produce much better results in a lot less time. So, check out that book, The QBQ! By John Miller.

Joe Cianciolo with Front Porch Advisers

August 7, 2023 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Joe Cianciolo with Front Porch Advisers

00:00 /

In this special call in episode, Sharon Cline is joined by guest host Joe Cianciolo. They dive into the value of practical advice and how Joe’s work has impacted businesses. They also chat about the significance of finding the right people to complement your strengths in both business and relationships. Also in the studio are Anna Kawar and Rachel Dudash, who share their own experiences and insights.

Sharon and her guests discuss the importance of understanding and meeting the needs of your clients and customers. They emphasize the need to build trust, be authentic, and make well-informed decisions. This episode is packed with practical advice and insights for personal and professional growth.

Joe Cianciolo, Human Capital Strategist with Front Porch Advisers, is a thinker, questioner, planner, goal setter, problem solver, family man, and all-around believer in people.

As a teenager in small town Ohio, he learned early that reaching higher levels of success requires becoming, building and leading from a healthy place of self-awareness.

Joe has helped create missions, achievable strategy, social media content for brands, as well as developing nationwide outreach and local community building platforms. Through it all, he’s discovered that no matter the job, he finds success by leaning on who he is at his natural best.

Each of the amazing opportunities Joe has allows him to understand and build his own human capital. Now Joe gets to share his skills and tools to help others do the same.

Follow Front Porch Advisers on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram

Anna Kawar, National Director of Quality Improvement and Impact, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, is a recent transplant to Georgia and originally grew up overseas in Ireland and the Middle East. She has dedicated her career to supporting non-profits from diverse sectors in producing measureable outcomes for the people they serve.

She is passionate about continuous quality improvement, compassionate leadership, and ultimately, bettering the American social sector.

Follow Boys and Girls Club of America on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Rachel Dudash is a newly married, Kennesaw State graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business communication.

She knew her passion was animals early in life and strived to peruse them in every way possible.

She continued her studies with CATCH Dog Training Academy and has been studying dog behavior for 2 years.

From working at a dog daycare to an animal hospital, she feels right at home with Atlanta Dog Trainer.

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is Fearless Formula with Sharon Cline.

[00:00:15] Welcome to Fearless Formula Friday on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. Today is a very special show. I’m so excited because this will be our very first ever call in show and our special guest, I guess guest host, because you are hosting the show too, is Joe Cianciolo of Front Porch Advisors, and he has been on the show in the past. And it’s been those are like one of my favorite shows ever is when we get to talk about the different ways that our personalities lend to positives and some challenges that Joe can give you tips on how to overcome, right, Joe?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:00:56] Sure, I do my best. I do love it. And this is fun to be back here.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:00] Yay. Well, I would love to make this a regular thing. I just think that there are a lot of people out there who have these questions that maybe they have these challenges and they don’t really have the skill set or even know where to turn to to get someone to give them sort of the the, I don’t know, concise answer because you can get a lot of information out there on the Internet. How do you deal with a difficult person or how do you deal with the fact that I freeze or whatever it is, but to have someone give practical in the moment advice I think is really valuable. And I love too, that what you do, Joe, is so quantifiable because you can there is actual dollar amount differences from before you’ve worked with a person and then after. And I just love that because it’s almost like a challenge to get people to understand that this really does help business. You know, you think about it and you’re sure your personality will help in some way benefit, but when you actually can see a number, well, that’s the dream. Okay.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:02:01] Well, yes, I’m quantifying more than just numbers, but understanding sort of the the way in which your rhythms work in your life and the balance of enjoying what you do and being asked to do what you do well and being able to rely on the people around you to to provide the rest because some of them are better at that than you are. Is is amazing. In fact, I had a client today that that was kind of the takeaway was I think we’re finally finding a groove within our team where we are really good at thinking through all the details and they’re really good at dreaming up the future. And now I feel like we can do that without stepping on each other and it’s great. And he said, I realize now that a rewarding work environment is way more important to me than I knew before because I thought I was chasing money only. And yes, money is important when you’re in a job, but so too is being happy to be there. So.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:58] I love that. Also, I wanted to say that Anna Kawar of Boys and Girls Clubs of America is in the studio as well. She has been on my show a couple of times. She was the first person that I interviewed for Fearless Formula, and it was such a great interview. Set the bar so high, Joe, you’re there. You’re there, too, in the bar.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:03:12] She was on the first one with me.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:14] Oh, that’s right.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:03:15] If you recall.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:16] That’s so right. I forgot. Oh, it was glorious. It was a great show. I felt like what I really loved is that it was real time work together explaining what you do in a in a way that even Anna now gets to benefit from because she’s part of your program, which is awesome.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:03:34] Well, and that was that was us being bold. And today is another step for us being bold and realizing that if we don’t put ourselves out there and try something new, what, you know, we don’t know. So that day was Anna was a very, very gracious I don’t know. What do you call when she guinea pig?

Sharon Cline: [00:03:52] A subject guinea pig.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:03:54] I mean, you have to be sometimes in order to to to do what I do or to work with me, you have to be willing to dive deep. You have to be willing to be vulnerable. Yes. And that’s why we do it on our front porch. That’s why it’s Front porch Advisors is a very comforting environment where it is just us. It’s kind of like our porch is designed to hug you and then the trees are in front of you. It’s really nice. And that day showed me what was possible with somebody who was not a client who could ask a question, and we were able to have a whole show about it. Gotcha. Which was great. So I’m curious to see what else, what else can we do? How can we help people? Even the littlest bit, to maybe get them unstuck or help them realize that they keep making the same decisions and the pattern is the same and the outcomes are the same. And maybe they could change one thing and have a whole different.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:48] Do you feel like most this This is something I thought about because I was awake during the night. Sorry, I’m just admitting this now. I was awake during the night and I was thinking about this show and I was wondering how hard is it to convince people that they’re who they think that they are as a leader or a strategist, or the different ways that they lead through their company is actually not their natural default way. And that’s because I think people believe like, I’m the boss, I’m going to power through.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:05:16] Well, it’s often you often hear people say meet people where they are. And I think the way that I do it is I first allow people to understand kind of what they think is going on. And and I actually believe it. There’s nothing wrong with that. But then what I start to look for is I start to look for that one little nugget, a statement, a phrase, their nonverbal cues I look for, I response, I look for all of that. Usually it’s a relaxation in the face or one sentence that they sound very different. And once that happens, then I say, Is it possible that when you said that we tapped into this and then I get a chance to explain to them all that all of them, every set of wires, every pattern has greatness to it and has a purpose. And every single one also is awful if it’s under stress. So there’s no one that’s better than the other. And once you once I can do that, they all realize, Oh, there isn’t one that I have to aspire to. It’s let’s figure out which one is most comfortable, which one’s going to lighten me up, which one do I naturally resort to when I have to or when the chips are down? Or, you know, what’s the ones That just really makes me excited. And that’s where when we had originally talked, we had talked about the quiz and one of the quiz was like, if the house was on fire, what’s your first reaction? And the goal is to find that reaction that makes you feel like, Oh yeah, that’s totally me. Oh, you mean other people don’t do that? Like, No, of course not. Let’s figure out which one you do best and I’ll tell you which one I do best. And then we share that around and that that usually softens people to then realize, Oh, tell me more.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:56] Well, I like to is that you’re talking about stress like everyone is under stress. And I’m sure. Okay. Also, I would like to introduce Rachel Dudash, who is with Atlanta Dog Trainer. She was with me today. And I asked her if she wanted to be on the show. And she has seen me at some of my worst moments because she’s my daughter, knows me probably better than most. So anyhow, I was going to say, like the moments that I am under stress, I become a different person altogether. And I don’t love that about myself because oftentimes it’s when I’m if I’m under a significant stress where my personality changes, I actually need to be as grounded because there’s something big happening and I need to be as grounded in myself as I can be, but I’m not.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:07:38] Well, the problem is we put a lot of expectation and pressure on ourselves to be all things for in that situation. And when you use the term strategist, that’s what I naturally gravitate towards. And once I had that framework, once I had all those lenses that let me know, Oh, that’s why the harder. The thing is, and the more pressure I am under time, the better I am. If I’m fretting over something, it’s probably minor because that is a trigger for my defense system, which is analysis, paralysis. And that analysis paralysis can usually perseverate over something that’s really meaningless. But when the chips are down, I’m actually really good there. Whereas some people, it’s like, you know, let me step in today. There were people at IPL that went and helped out the shop that had storm damage and the the owner said, Who are you to Dan? And he’s like, Well, I heard that you needed help, so I’m here to help. You know, that’s what he does when when something is really down, he just shows up and starts doing or he brings like 15 people because he knows people. And so when when people understand you don’t I don’t have to be the one that makes all the calls, I can say, hey, let’s make sure that they have all the time, money, resources that they need, whereas somebody else is like, I’m going to provide lunch because that’s their natural care mechanism, Whereas somebody else is like, Oh, there’s a whole different way that we could do this. What if we completely redesigned the entire. It just depends on what’s needed in that moment. My job is to first help people figure out what that looks like, and then we start practicing it to say, How do you make it most effective for the situation at hand? Because some people who are outside the box thinkers don’t always apply that to the right spot. And that’s what we do.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:23] What I like to is, is actually Anna is the kind of it’s okay if I speak for you, the kind of person that that says, I was like, I’m going to do this call in show. And she’s like And she’s like, How are you going to do it? And I’m like, I don’t know. So I just told her my basic idea. But she’s so good at thinking about the most effective way, and she’s like, You’ve got two different options. And I was like, What are they? And then she explained it to me and I’m like, I don’t even know why I even think of that. So I love that it takes a village. It takes a village to make things work. But like I next time we do the call in show, I’ll be so prepared because of someone like Anna who can think different than me and I value it. I appreciate it. I actually need it.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:10:02] Well, and I want I mean, we’re a very small business, obviously, and this town is full of small business and a bunch of entrepreneurs want to be entrepreneurs, side hustlers and all that. And that culture has bred a misconception that you can do and be all things. And what we want to say is, no, let’s lead from where you are naturally best. And then even if you can’t hire people full time to come with you, you need to know what you’re asking them for and you need to know who those people are. So the kind of people that I need are the people who are outside the box because I’m the one that will have a spreadsheet for everything. I’m the one that makes sure that we say every mistake we’ve ever made. I have a catalog in my brain and how not to do that again. And so if I can help even a solo entrepreneur or even want to call it to realize, okay, stop trying to spend your whole day doing racking your brain for every piece, let’s start with the ones that you can do, and then we’ll intentionally go and find those who bring the other pieces to it. And I don’t know. That’s why it’s best when people ask questions, because I can’t tell you the answer until I know what you really are bringing.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:10] I wanted to ask you just as a side question. There she goes. I said, my brain, this is my brain. Please. So when you’re talking about like someone who’s dating, I think about this a lot because there are people where you sort of see them as a couple and you’re like, interesting. You would never put them together or whatever. And so do you find in your line of work that you can see the tendencies of one person and the tendencies of another person and that they would work well together or not work well together?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:11:40] Absolutely. And it’s because a lot of communication actually boils communication and expectations boils down in a relationship that’s kind of key. And when I see patterns and tendencies, I see, oh my gosh, the first thing that we need to look at is your your closest relationships. And people who are wired the same tend to relate to each other very well. They don’t even have to communicate as much because they kind of already see how each other thinks. However, in a relationship, there’s a blind spot there because you both are going to have the same blind spot, whereas you could date somebody who is completely polar opposite to you, completely different wiring. And that creates in and of itself the potential for disaster or if healthy on both sides can can solve bigger problems. And that that is a very common thing for me, especially in expectations wiring because people who are out or motivated need somebody on the outside. And when two of those people get together and often get married, which I know some very close to my family, neither of them are the ones that set the expectation they’re waiting for the other and that can cause a strain. Now, I do have, interestingly enough, a set of clients that are a husband and wife couple, and they are they do struggle with the expectations. And so they actually come to me. To help them set those expectations.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:59] So if you had to outer motivated people. So like, that’s me, I’m an obliger. I need to know that you’re counting on me to do something. I will do it. I will not let you down, but I will let myself down all the time because I’m in charge of me and I can make that decision if I want to or not. So I think it’s interesting. If you had to outwardly validated people or motivated people, can they motivate each other? You know what I mean? Like, can they.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:13:26] They need somebody on the outside to help. That’s why I like I said about that, that couple. Yeah. That I work with, they come to me just every once in a while to kind of make sure that some of that is planned out and then they aren’t expected to do it all for themselves. Like if, for example, a lot of times the Obligers will try to do it too hard because they’re thinking that they’re they’re helping the other. And so what they do is then they come to me and they’re like, These are the things that we’ve been saying we’re doing. We’re not doing them. I’m like, All right, you need to get this done by this time. This time this is everything you brought to me. Let me hold you accountable. You just know that I’m I’m going to check in at each of these points, and you both will be fine. And they don’t need me much. I’m not a part of the relationship other than the fact that I’m helping them in an area that they now know is not strong for them. And that’s fine. Like there’s nothing wrong with that.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:17] But those are the key words right there is because if there’s nothing wrong with that, takes all that judgment out of it.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:14:24] It also doesn’t take away from the fact that a relationship can work. But you have to fully like if you are the same patterns, but you have to do is be very, very understanding so that you yourself can stay grounded in that and not thrust that off onto the other person. And that is very, very easy to do and hard.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:44] Well, we have our very first caller. This is Tricia and she has a question for you. Joe.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:14:51] Hi, Tricia.

Tricia: [00:14:52] Hey, Joe. How are you?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:14:52] I’m good. How are you?

Tricia: [00:14:54] Wonderful. Thank you for asking. So I’m a realtor and I deal with a lot of emotions. I was wondering, how do I protect my own energy so that I’m not as affected by other people’s energy?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:15:07] Hmm. That is a really, really good question. First, in your industry, there are it’s nothing but people and there’s a lot of expectation of sort of filling a dynamic for the kind of person that you have to be for your clients. What I recommend is that you have to fully understand what it is that you bring to the real estate table. I think I think one of the it’s interesting because my mom actually got her real estate license, which is really, really strange. Back in the day, I never thought she would because she is the opposite of what the realtors in my town grew up with. She was not cutthroat. She was very much strategic in her thinking. She was very bold, but she was not willing to compromise on, you know, how sometimes I mean, there can be a lot of competition in. And what she did was she really kind of just sort of settled herself into that identity. And then those customers kind of shared that. And that’s that’s the practice that she built. All of her clients came to her because that’s what she brought. So instead of trying to be loud or trying to, you know, be very entertaining, I mean, that was the thing. I of course, I would want to ask you more questions like what is what is it about real estate that really excites you? What’s what’s your favorite part of the job?

Tricia: [00:16:32] That’s a great question. There’s a few, actually that really excite me. Obviously. Well, for me, first time homebuyers, they’re typically younger. They’re excited. And with that being said, I need to educate them more. And I do love educating people on the different transactions, the different needs, their wants. Yeah. So definitely first time homebuyers are my favorite.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:17:01] Is it because they’re asking you for your advice or is it because you feel like it’s a way to care for them?

Tricia: [00:17:11] You know, I haven’t really thought about that. Well, a little bit of both. Yeah. I definitely want to give them my input. I’m a little more blunt, a little more honest. But then again, I want to educate. That’s the biggest thing for me is just education, educating people on their tools that we have. Their needs specifically, just different things that they don’t think about because they’re not in this field.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:17:36] Well, and that’s I like that because what you’re what you’re talking about in terms of so for me, I’m a strategist, which means that I, I love to give my opinion. I’m an advisor, but it only works when they ask it of me. And that’s kind of where I, you know, get I kind of puff up my chest and get really excited and say, Oh, let me help you with your spreadsheet. And so for you, with a new homebuyer, if you start looking at what they receive best in terms of your the way that you communicate with them, look for those verbal nonverbal cues like I was talking about. If you see them light up because they’re like, Oh, this is so overwhelming. He said, Don’t worry, I got you. If you see them sort of relaxed, then that’s where you’re going to know what it is that you bring to them more than knowledge. And so that’s the thing. You may be an expert in your field, but you want to start to become very aware of what they need, not necessarily in a home or even within the industry, but in that moment. Because like we talked about, stress is everybody experiences stress and looking for a house as a young person or a new homebuyer is very stressful. And so some of them are going to be looking for do they need you to be Well, first we have to figure out which one you are. But do they need somebody that’s going to be really aggressive or do they need somebody that’s going to say, hey, you know what, I’m willing to take a little extra time because I really care about making sure you have all the knowledge. Once you make it more about, I don’t know, the proverbial them and what they’re receiving, then all of a sudden they will continue to stay loyal to you just because of the way that you’re making them feel, not even anything to do with the transaction.

Tricia: [00:19:15] Very true.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:17] Yeah, I think that’s amazing when you think about the fact that even though you’re providing them this service to buy this house, what they’re downloading is the energy of how you’re making them feel in the process. So it’s not even, yes, I got this house with Tricia because someone who’s not a good salesperson could probably sell you a house or not a good realtor, very effective, can still get you a house. But the experience being so like, I guess, joyful and peaceful and grounded, that is something that they would remember. Is that right?

Tricia: [00:19:47] Oh, yeah, I would remember that.

Tricia: [00:19:49] But I will say that this process is stressful just in general. It’s the biggest expense they’ll ever make. And money changes people. It just. It just does. Well, I need to find out what their personality is. Are they more factual or are they more, you know, like an engineer is different than a sales person or whatever the case may be. I need to find out their personality and how they receive the information.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:20:14] Absolutely. That’s one of the first things that I do with all of my clients is, is, hey, we have to study the client first, and then we look at all of your clients to see who are the ones that you enjoy working with the most so that we can understand how those patterns come out naturally. What you want to be able to do is love getting up and doing what you do within your job. A lot of people define themselves by their job and I say, No, what is it that you bring to the job? Because that’s what’s going to keep you excited. Otherwise you’re going to get stuck in a stress loop of, Oh my gosh, I got to make this work. There’s another tool set that I have. This is going to happen a lot if we do these shows is I have another tool set where we look at sort of people’s driving motivators behind what is most important to them. And yes, money is a big deal. It tends to be people’s it gets the most of people’s attention. But once you realize that there’s more to driving their life than just money, is the house just a financial burden for them? Does it solve a geography problem for them? Does it allow them closer access to the people that make them excited once they can? I mean, once you understand it, you can start to see what it is that that house is really solving for them. And at that point, if money isn’t their top driver, then you can help them make a better decision on what they’re looking for, where they’re looking for, and what that long term commitment is going to be. Because when you’re buying a house, you’re buying more than just that moment. And so I would use that tool as well with your your clients to say, okay, let’s let’s put them in order of priority. And once that’s the case, I can help you better.

Tricia: [00:21:52] That is very true. I do ask them what their specific needs are or their priorities. If they need a big backyard for a dog or they need it fenced or location for commuting to work, and have they driven that road during rush hour traffic? Like there’s so many different things that we need to find out to better serve them.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:22:12] Yeah, and it’s funny because we’ve all been programed by watching anybody who’s watched a show on like HGTV or something to how you’re supposed to look for a house. And we’ve been preprogramed to answer those questions that you’re saying. And I’m saying we got to figure out and this is not normal for a lot of people, but you put them into that future scenario of what’s the stress trigger for you? Is it is it the garage situation? Is it the fact that what is ideal for you is a lot of trees and there’s no trees here? Or is it that you have been putting off for a long time that you want to go hiking on weekends? But this is not the right ideal location for you to easily access that? Are you the type of person that’s going to get annoyed by the people in traffic? If that’s the case, let’s look let’s look at that so that you know exactly what you’re buying before. And that is something that, you know, in real estate you’re selling the house. We know that. And it’s a pretty big transaction. But when you show them that you actually care about how they’re going to live in it for longer and more than the traditional questions, then they start to ask you, oh, well, do you know anything like blah, blah, blah. And that’s where you get to bring that extra that you probably enjoy. And you’ve probably been cataloging for a while.

Tricia: [00:23:26] I actually do enjoy it. I truly do enjoy it.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:23:29] And that’s what we want. We want you to spend the majority of your time with your clients doing what you enjoy about it, and only the parts that you don’t enjoy. They are still important, but they don’t need to take as much time and focus from you. And if they start to pull you back, they’re going to you’re going to lose some of that natural influence with them. And as I tell I mean, Anna, we were talking about this earlier when people embrace their natural tendencies and become grounded in it, it becomes gravitational. And people all of a sudden just want to be around you and they want to use your services just because it’s easier. They don’t feel like they’re having to solve you. If you can be comfortable in your skin, then they already just know it and they don’t have too many other questions.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:14] So you mean it’s like an energy that they can pick up on? Is that what you mean?

Tricia: [00:24:17] Absolutely. Would it be like.

Speaker5: [00:24:18] Law of Attraction? That is.

Tricia: [00:24:20] Fascinating.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:24:20] Yeah, it can be. Yeah. And and the thing is, especially in real estate, because I actually did get a real estate license for a hot minute. I never sold anything, but it’s because I had this weird preconceived notion of like, okay, if you just follow the checklist that the brokers are all telling you and all this kind of stuff. And the thing was, is that was not me at all. So my the thing that I bring to any job I’ve ever had is why I have the current job that I have, which is all these components of my natural tendencies for good. I get to use about 70 to 80% of my time and that I enjoy. In fact, it makes me want to gather more like when I’m when I’m working out, I’m actually listening to podcasts to continue to find more data. Why? Because I just think it’s fascinating and it gives me energy. So when that happens, the people can feel that, but they can also feel when you’re trying too hard. And I’m sure in your industry you’ve come across other agents who are very intense and you can tell that it’s just not real, but they’re trying their hardest. And I feel bad because unfortunately they could be amazing if they stopped being a shell of what they think is supposed to be the realtor and be what they are in real estate.

Tricia: [00:25:32] Exactly. It can come over as being overbearing or aggressive.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:25:37] And that’s not really who they are. It’s just who they think they need to be. And that to me, that’s also a sign of stress. So.

Tricia: [00:25:45] Very true. Oh, my.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:25:45] Gosh. Tricia, I’d love to have more conversations with you.

Tricia: [00:25:47] I know.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:48] This is so fun. Amen. Thank you, Tricia, so much for calling because this is you’re our first call. And, you know, we’re kind of coming at Joe with with like, you never know what kind of question is going to come out. So this was really fun to see. You have all this information in your head there, Joe, And it just kind of all was perfect for Tricia’s answer.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:05] Yeah, And it’s not something that you can study to use to manipulate people. It’s one of those things where you become super curious about them and it automatically builds trust and influence.

Tricia: [00:26:18] Definitely you’re genuine and you’re building that rapport.

Tricia: [00:26:20] Absolutely perfect.

Tricia: [00:26:22] Thank you so.

Tricia: [00:26:23] Much.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:23] Thank you. We appreciate.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:24] You. Tricia, thank you so much. We’re going to do another call in show at some point, and I’ll let you know when that happens. And I would love to have you call again.

Tricia: [00:26:32] Wonderful.

Tricia: [00:26:33] Y’all take care.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:33] Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:36] How did that feel?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:37] It was good.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:38] Good. Because I love it.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:39] Because it’s small. Like you saw me. And this is not a video show. But what happens is, is people we start going and it’s like, I have all these tools that I want to give them, so I have to get used to not less is more, right?

Speaker5: [00:26:55] I dial it back.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:56] Well, but there are some people that have sort of a natural understanding of what you’re talking about. And then there are some people who don’t. But it sounded like she understood. Tricia understood pretty well the different dynamics that go into either being too much or too aggressive or too insistent on having it their way. Like I can imagine a real tour, not really listening to what someone else is saying, what they really want.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:27:20] Well, the stereotype in the real estate world is that you have to be busy all the time and that you’re on call all the time, which that’s how that industry works. But you can get lost in that. And that’s what when she was telling me, like, I want to know about the backyard, I’m like, I’ve heard that question before. We have. And they’re not. They’re definitely important questions, but they’re they’re on the top level. And what we want is what are the 2 or 3 things that this house is going to solve their pain. And then you can say, oh, okay, that house is great, but this is not the one based on what you’re telling me. I think you might want something like this and then you show it to them and you explain to them why. And they’re like, I would have never even thought of that. What kind of person wants a real estate agent that does that? A lot of people.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:04] I love that you’re talking about solving their pain because a lot of people don’t even put that verbiage associated with like, I need to have a backyard or something like that, you know? I like that you’re talking about relieving a burden, a pain. You’re solving a problem, and then having to be able to listen to what they’re saying and then translate it to what you think that they really would want. But what they’re saying is something different. But you know what they really want. And then having the skills to say it in a way they receive it. Jesus. Well, I just said Jesus on the air.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:28:35] That was one of the things that, you know, I wish I could see her face to face because I would be looking for her facial response to see what was clicking with her. And that’s the only downside of the radio is I’m listening only is she is an individual. She’s Tricia. But there’s like a gazillion real estate agents. But she is the only Tricia, whatever her name might be. And she only brings her own wiring, her own experience, all those things to.

Speaker5: [00:29:02] It, a uniqueness.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:29:03] And she doesn’t need to be any more than that. She just needs to be very comfortable being that. And at that point then and, and the thing I told her about her clients, if she knows that for her, then she’ll understand what her own motivation is there, too, because it’s it’s in business. All of us are thinking, how do we make money? How do we make money? Money is my fourth of five drivers. It is important and I have to make time for it. But if my decisions are driven by money or transaction, I’m already off my game and it takes some of that power away.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:35] I get that. And I think what’s interesting is money is like my fourth or fifth driver as well, but it’s like it’s what all business is pretty much motivated by. So you’re dealing with people whose goals are to make profit all the time. And so one of the things I love about Fearless Formula is I get to ask questions about how do you feel about that? Because if we’re talking profit and things like that, I’m like, Oh, interesting. I don’t know. But like, tell me about how you feel about it.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:30:03] Well, it’s interesting because what you said at the beginning, I if I can combine my purpose, which is my number one. Yes. And the money can come at an allowing me to do my purpose, that I actually have been more successful doing it that way than the other way around. So instead of pushing right, I’m doing this is what I bring. And if I’m not, I’m not I’m not great if I’m not using my purpose. Right.

Sharon Cline: [00:30:27] Well, we have another caller. This is Marie and Marie. You are on the air with Joe.

Marie: [00:30:34] Hi. Hi.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:30:36] I’m very excited and nervous. What do you got?

Marie: [00:30:40] All right.

Marie: [00:30:41] Well, I am currently a store manager at a salon, and I am actually looking to hire a couple people to work for me. So I’m very curious as to what kind of things I should be considering. What are some key aspects I need to look for in terms of what would really benefit me and and the best kind of candidate for the for the job.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:31:06] Oh, I love strategic hiring. We’ve been we have been doing a lot of that lately because it is so specific to you. If you’re the manager, we need to know what kind of a manager you are. So when you’re looking for people, you need to kind of understand. Do you have a management style that is very comfortable for you?

Marie: [00:31:28] Yes.

Marie: [00:31:30] I so I like to be very, very hands on. I’m very educational.

Marie: [00:31:36] That’s oriented. Everything is like, you know, I am only as strong as my weakest employee. So I like making sure that we are all on the same page and we’ve got good incentives. And, you know, I want I want them to be just as as confident and strong as I am. So we’re all like, you know, I don’t think there’s like a hierarchy or anything like that in terms of success. I want everyone to be just as successful. It’s a plateau. Like there’s room for everybody here, you know what I mean?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:32:08] Okay, so you like harmony and and drive, which is good. So what you want to look for when you’re interviewing people is you need to understand when have they been in a situation where they were working for somebody that was all about making sure everybody felt in harmony. And you need to figure out whether or not that resonates with them. A lot of times in an interview, people it’s funny, there’s you can find lists of questions to do in an interview, and that’s not what I do at all. I the resume is always what people want it to be. What you want to know is how can they interact with you if you’re going to be managing and leading them. You need to know are they the type of people that need to do list and then they need the outer accountability that you can then check on them and make sure they’re doing it? Or are they the type of person that needs to be left alone? Like, I got this, just trust me. And then you need to know which one of those is comfortable for you. And since you’re in a salon, I don’t know what specific positions you’re looking for, but when you’re hiring somebody, you if you like that harmony and you want them to see that there’s potential for them to do well there, you need to kind of understand what the job looks like three weeks to six months from now for them. Is it satisfying? Like, are they the type of people that do really well with day to day tasks or are they dreamers that are outside the box saying, Oh, what if we could do it this way one day? Which one drives you crazy?

Marie: [00:33:35] Right. Right. Well, I you know, it’s. There’s a there’s a certain kind of person that we need people like we need people, people. We need the kind of people that are, you know, open to ask questions that are open to interact with customers and clients that aren’t, you know, aren’t very chatty, but people that can bring other people out of their own shell and be willing to, you know, go out of their way to interact with somebody that they’ve never, you know, never met before. And to be that outgoing person and to yeah, you’re absolutely right to take, you know, think outside of the box. You know, we’ve got shelves of products that, you know, people are like, okay, well, what if we organize them this way? Maybe more people will be interested as opposed to like, okay, I’ll just dust around these, you know, every single day and not think about it, you know what I mean?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:34:35] And I can hear it like I have 40 things going through my head, but one, when people go to the salon, they need somebody. Often, if I’m hearing this correctly, they want somebody that can care for them and listen to them. And so when you’re interviewing someone, you want to know, are they too chatty in the interview? Are they too opinionated in the interview? If so, you have to figure out whether or not that fits with what kind of customers you have, which is really important because then you’re giving this new person that comes in to work for you an opportunity to care. And that’s part of their job. And when you tell people who are naturally wired to care that that’s part of their job, they’re going to light up. Then if you do like the outside the box thinkers, there’s another wire. There’s either dreamers or believers. One’s more excitement and one’s more ideas outside the box. It depends on who your current staff is. But my suggestion is that you want to make sure that it covers the entire range of of, of all the personalities so that when you have a customer come in who needs somebody, that you see a customer that doesn’t necessarily have a whole lot of self confidence and self-belief if you need to put them with a Sharon Because Sharon is a natural believer, right? Sharon, the host of this show because she cares so much and she is so excited when she sees somebody new that she could possibly pull that excitement out of. And so there are assessments that people can take online for free. But you have to understand which ones excite you and then which one you need in the seat before before you hire them.

Marie: [00:36:10] That’s a really good point because there are certain kind of person that, you know, maybe they they have more of a creative personality. And then there are people who have more of a creative mind and they’re two different things, right?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:36:22] Yes. Oh, my gosh. Thank you. That is phenomenal that you know that. And I am a strategist, which means I do I the counter to me is the dreamer who’s completely wild, off the cuff in the clouds. I don’t get that. So if you put me in that seat, it would stress me out. But if you put someone in the seat that’s like, Oh, I’ve been doing this for 40 years, I have got everything mapped out in my head. I know exactly what you need that’s going to make me feel more trusting. So you want to make sure that your customers are all going to be able to have an opportunity to fit with that one person, whether it be a stylist or whatever, to to satisfy that need. That automatically builds influence, trust and comfort right then and there.

Marie: [00:37:06] Absolutely. No, I agree because when your client has confidence, then they’re confident buyer and then they have the, you know, the trust to come back to know that, okay, this person has my best interest at heart. And that’s really what we’re trying to accomplish is like, hey, you know, we want to me as a, you know, an interviewer, I want to make sure like I can create a, you know, a fake scenario ahead and ahead of time and, you know, lay it out. So, okay, so this person, you know, has never been to the salon before. Like, what’s the first thing you you know, you want to do when they walk in? Do you want to introduce yourself? Do you want to ask them questions? Do you want to show them around? Like what? What’s your best way to, you know, create that foundation of a relationship? Because, you know, every kind of relationship is, you know, it’s all based on that first, first few moments that really sets the tone for everything. So it’s you know, it’ll be interesting to see what kinds of answers we’ve got.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:38:07] Yes. Can I give you one other piece of advice?

Marie: [00:38:09] Yes.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:38:10] Please make sure that they understand that there’s no right answer there, because the problem is, is in an interview, they’re going to want to give you the answer that they think you want to hear. And what you’re saying is, oh, we have all kinds of customers that come in here. And what we’re looking for is to make sure that we allow our staff to fully understand that who they are is celebrated by us and our customers. And so each customer is going to need something. So now that I tell you that, now tell me which one you would do, because then you take that sort of expectation off of them to have to be perfect.

Marie: [00:38:43] Right, Exactly. Yeah. I don’t want people to come in and automatically feel defeated like they’re going to get something wrong or that I’m going to be like, you know, about something because that’s not necessarily true. So I actually really love that. Thank you.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:38:56] Of course.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:38:57] Oh, my gosh. We could go for hours, but we won’t.

Marie: [00:39:02] That’s the B standing next to me when I go through this. That sounds amazing.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:39:06] That’s one of my favorite things. I love to sit in on interviews, but there are ways where we sit here and we we help you kind of map that out. That’s why that’s one of our offerings for the business. But it’s so interesting when you can disarm the interviewee. Most people don’t do that. So when you have somebody come in and you realize what we’re looking for is we want to make sure that we understand what a real opportunity for you is and then we can tell you what the opportunity here is. And then it’s not emotional as to whether or not they don’t fit. It’s like, oh my gosh, you’re awesome. And when we have a spot for that, we will call you. But right now what we need is this. And what we don’t want to do is force fit you to work with this set of customers that’s going to drive you crazy. So then it’s not that personal, like you weren’t good enough. It’s no, that’s just not the right opportunity right now.

Marie: [00:39:56] No, that’s actually so true because when I was looking for a job myself, you know, one of my employers actually outright said like, hey, you know, this is our, this is what, this is the box. We’re hoping to have someone fit here and you know, just because you’re the wrong shape doesn’t mean you’re, you know, the wrong shape for another box. So, like, don’t get disheartened. You know, everybody has their own talents and skills. So it’s just a matter of, you know, finding that perfect match. It’s kind of like dating in a way, you know?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:40:27] Well, and if you like, in educating people, what you end up being able to do is you can do that Even within the interview, you’re like, oh my gosh, you you need an opportunity that’s going to allow you to shine like this all the time, or at least the majority of the time. So as you continue looking, make sure that you interview them to see that that’s the right opportunity, because the worst thing is to get hired someone somewhere and realize in two weeks that that was not at all what they were looking for. And so you can you can impart that to anybody you interview if they’re receptive. And if they’re not, you’re not going to want to hire them anyway. But if they are, you get to be the educator that you love to be, even if you can’t hire them. And that will also continue to build that trust where people will always say, Wow, that was really enjoyable. Even though I didn’t get the job, I would go back and look again if it became available, right?

Sharon Cline: [00:41:15] Like that was really kind of that employer to say, Listen, just because you don’t fit this box does not mean that you are not amazing somewhere else. Like, I don’t know, many bosses or hiring people who would be so kind. I mean, oftentimes it’s just. No, we went we went with someone else.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:41:30] Well, there’s yeah, there’s always that standard response of, no, this isn’t the right fit and mine is. No, I want to see that you light up like you did when we had that part of the interview, because I usually when we get to the levels of interview that I do, I usually get them to tell me their worst work scenarios, the worst, most stressful things, the people that drove them the most crazy versus the times where we’re looking for them to light up. And once I find that, I say, okay, no, you deserve to be in a situation where you can shine. And I don’t have that for you right now, but I want to make sure you do. And if I can make any recommendations to other people in the industry, I’m happy to do that. And even doing that, not only does it help that person, but it gives you credibility in the industry because people are like, why are you doing that to competition? No, it’s we all deserve to have opportunities for people that they can do well in.

Marie: [00:42:20] Exactly. Yeah, exactly. That’s what I mean. Like there is room for everybody on this planet to be successful here. It’s just a matter of finding your, you know, your absolute strength that you can just display for the world and get that get that credibility and that validation and get paid basically for for, you know, all those skills that you developed over time. And, you know, I want when I’m hiring somebody, I’m, you know, I’m a little nervous to, you know, decipher between person to person, as you know, which would be best which one wouldn’t be. Because I know there’s a lot of different personalities out there. So, you know, I guess I, I guess it’s just one of those you got to see as you go type situations because you never know.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:43:11] The more you know yourself and understand how that works for you, the easier it will be. So you first have to understand how that plays out for you. And I will say that your voice has changed from the time you started to the time you’re that we’re sort of getting to the end of this part. And because I feel like your confidence is going up, your excitement is going up, and the reality behind it is more fun than a daunting task.

Sharon Cline: [00:43:35] Aww, Joe. Look what you just did. It’s true.

Marie: [00:43:38] Validating that person is, you know, it really just it makes people feel like they, you know, they’re doing something right. And even if it, you know, say this path wasn’t your path, but, hey, like you’re you’re just, you know, every all knowledge is good.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:43:53] Amen. Hey.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:43:54] Thank you so much.

Sharon Cline: [00:43:56] Marie, thank you so much for calling in. I really appreciate it. And Joe, that was really great advice and I love that you could tell that with Marie she was able to have a sense of maybe I don’t even know if it’s control, but maybe discernment of what it would be like, what to look for, because I’ve never hired anybody. I wouldn’t know what to look for. But if I had some skills and some thoughts behind it, then it just like you said, it doesn’t seem so scary. It seems more fun.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:18] She’s more comfortable and curious.

Marie: [00:44:20] I have a whole little list of notes here that I took from the conversation, so I’m I’m so excited to implement them.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:26] Yay. I can’t wait to hear it. Tell us about it. Call back and tell us.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:29] Yeah, let us know. We’ll do another show and I’ll message you about it and then you can be back on and see Am on it.

Marie: [00:44:35] Thank you.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:35] Guys. You’re welcome. Thank you, Marie. Bye bye. How did that feel, Joe? That was fun.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:41] It was fun. Again.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:42] I love seeing you right next to me. Right across from me.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:45] Because he’s talking about Anna.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:47] That’s okay. What thoughts do you have for Anna? I’m hoping we have one more call, but it may not pan out. So let’s talk amongst ourselves. You, Rachel. I’d like to hear your your information.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:57] What have you gathered from everything thatBecause we’ve had two calls with a lot of information in a short amount of time.

Sharon Cline: [00:45:03] Yeah, Rachel,

Rachel Dudash: [00:45:03] Absolutely.

Rachel Dudash: [00:45:04] I think just overall, like uniqueness plays such a big part in, like, I don’t know, feeling confident in yourself and knowing like, everyone is so unique and you don’t have to be one thing or another. And I think for me personally, like something that kind of hits home is like in the dog training industry. Like there is a stereotype of having to be this very almost I don’t want to say bossy because it’s not like a bossy position like that has a negative connotation. But if you think of someone very strong and big and huge and like no one can alpha, no one can see me right now except for you guys, but I am a five foot three smaller woman and I have this very light voice. And so I think a lot of people tend to like, underestimate me in that way and kind of put me in a box before they even talk to me or get to know me. And so it has made me question my own self and like comparatively to other people, like, oh my goodness, I see someone else doing this way. Should I change to be like that? But that doesn’t feel natural to me. So when you’re talking about being natural, I have to remind myself, okay, but my strength is also this, and that’s something that this person might not have and might not be natural to them. So I think we all got to understand our weaknesses, one which does take a lot of looking inward, and that’s where a lot of shame kind of comes into play because I think we want to tend to ignore that part of ourselves. Like, you know, I’m not this way or No, I don’t do that. Or you don’t even get to the point where you even look. I tend to look away and I think a lot of people do that. You have thoughts? I can see them.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:46:52] I do. I do.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:53] Go ahead. Bring what are your thoughts.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:46:55] When you talk about being an alpha and you talk about animals.

Rachel Dudash: [00:46:57] Absolutely.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:46:58] Animals. They don’t have the same communication skills that we do. They feel. Yes. So an animal can tell when you’re nervous, an animal can tell when you’re comfortable, that natural comfort you can’t fake You either are or you’re not. And so quiet confidence, whatever people want to call that is. It’s one of those things when you accept who you are and are very comfortable, that doesn’t mean you have to be loud about it. It just means you have to be really grounded in it. That’s why I say it’s gravitational. You probably experienced that with dogs.

Rachel Dudash: [00:47:29] So I actually have made a motto for myself. And because I wanted to, I truly wanted to look into why did I feel this way? Or like, how can I kind of make myself feel a little bit more powerful in a way. But my motto is, I am fair, but I’m kind and and I am also strong. So I have all these three qualities that kind of balance. You know, I’m strong, but I’m fair. I’m not going to, you know, make this horrible experience because it benefits me or vice versa. And then I’m kind. I never want to lose that part of myself that is empathetic. And I don’t want to lose that part of myself that is patient and patience is huge.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:48:20] Well, and when you look at the statistics for the people who want statistics behind it, caretakers who are kind and caring by nature, they tend to be reserved a little bit in terms of they’re not the first to speak out. They tend to think that their ideas aren’t as important as others speak for over 40% of the population. And when you look at that from a customer base, you’re going to come into contact with more caretakers than you are anybody else. And when you are that that as I said earlier, when you meet somebody who has the same wiring as you, it’s a natural fit in communication. There’s not a lot of extra that has to go in. The problem is, is sometimes when you have a caretaker customer who’s stressed out, you may misunderstand that and think that there’s something they’re not. And so when you look at it from the curiosity of like, Oh, what if they’re just stressed out? I got you. I am, I am kind, I am fair and I’m strong and I kind of want you to put it on a tattoo right here.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:49:17] Because you can ask yourself every decision that you make. Was it fair? Was it kind? Was it strong? And the answer is got to be yes for you. And people will respect that because it’s very simple. Not easy. Simple.

Rachel Dudash: [00:49:30] It’s not easy.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:49:31] It’s simple.

Rachel Dudash: [00:49:31] Yeah.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:49:32] And that and people respect that. But it also you have to remember that all the animals are your they’re your thermometer, I guess because they feel barometer. They can sense that tension. They can sense stress. That’s why I was never good with dogs, because I’m too uptight. There’s all these things that could go wrong and dogs are like, what? They just want to play. And and and that’s why I think you could take a lot from that. It helped me understand my kids a little when we took care of horses because one is naturally just a caretaker and willing to just go with the flow and the horse was moving right with it. And the other one’s like uptight, like me, like.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:50:15] If I hold the bowl. They’re not they’re not letting me. Put the bowl down. Not natural.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:50:19] And as a result like I have to, then that gives me the opportunity to practice. And for you, if you find that comfort and confidence in that, then you will be strong without having to be perceived as strong. People will just feel it.

Rachel Dudash: [00:50:32] Absolutely. I think the more that I talk to people and the more I get, they get to know me. It’s almost like I just don’t even have a title anymore. I’m just me and I.

Sharon Cline: [00:50:45] Don’t put his hands in the air. I’m just.

Rachel Dudash: [00:50:47] Me. And you did.

Sharon Cline: [00:50:48] A fist bump or something.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:50:50] Well, titles get in the way. Expectations. It comes to expectations, both inner and outer. Are you inner driven or outer driven?

Rachel Dudash: [00:50:58] Um. What a great question. I, I guess I’ve never thought about it before.

Sharon Cline: [00:51:05] So if you make yourself obligated to do something to someone else, are you more like, yes, I’m going to do that, or do you have your own sense of.

Rachel Dudash: [00:51:12] So I would say I’m outer driven because I feel almost like a not like a pressure. But I, I have a standard for myself that I want to accomplish, like a task or like I want to make this a certain thing for someone because they they need that. And I kind of want to I want to be that for them. And if I can’t be, I’ll go to someone else and ask them to help.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:51:35] But then there are I believe this is weird out there. I believe that animals all have different expectations. Wirings too.

Rachel Dudash: [00:51:44] Absolutely.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:51:45] I think some are very much inner driven and they’re not very good, but they need it to make sense. Like me, I’m a questioner. It needs to make sense to me. So if you give the those dogs that are very much not obliging, a very strict set of boundaries where they understand and it’s the same all the time, they need the routine, the ritual safety. Yeah, yeah, that’s what makes sense to them. Whereas other dogs are just like, whatever, okay. You know, and they’re the natural. Like, I wonder. Now this makes me curious. I wonder with therapy dogs, if it’s the outer accountable that they are, they need those people to rely on them and they’re naturally good at that. They just have to be trained how to use it.

Rachel Dudash: [00:52:23] Well, absolutely.

Sharon Cline: [00:52:25] Wow, that’s so fascinating. I never really thought about that because I met a therapy dog this past weekend. I was out and it was a little dachshund, and I was like, Can I touch your little doggy? Had a vest on, The little dog did. And he said, the owner said, Let me sit down, because if I’m standing, this dog knows that that they’re on. But if I’m sitting, then I don’t have to worry. And I thought, how interesting is this? This little doggy whole goal was to make sure that this man was well and could tell him when a seizure was coming on. And we give him about a minute’s notice. And I thought, that’s this dog’s little purpose in life is to make every day is to make sure that this man is okay. And I thought, well, that’s so special.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:53:07] But I find that fascinating because when you’re dealing with the pet owners and you realize what kind of person the pet owner is versus the pet, then you can use those strategies to say, okay, you already know how to train, but then when it’s time for them to take the dog home, it’s like, okay, do they need it to be made sense? Do they need you to send them home with the list and all the things? Do they need you to check in on them six months from now? Did you keep doing this? Are these things once you know that, it’ll just make it exactly what they need?

Rachel Dudash: [00:53:38] And I think people have their own expectations that the animals aren’t aware of. And so I have to tell people, these are your expectations and we have to bring that to the animals, but they’re not going to naturally know or want to do what you want.

Rachel Dudash: [00:54:05] It’s like someone asking you, Hey, sit down outside of Disney World for me. And they’re like, Why? Well, no reason. And it’s like they have to have a reason. You have to have a motivator. Animals need to be motivated. And I think people forget and I’ll go to the vet’s office and people are screaming at their dogs to sit. And I’m like, Do you even know that they’re stressed? There’s no learning window. And the way that you have an expectation for them to do something, this is not on their radar, but it’s actually unfair to them and it’s not going to get you what you want or need. And so I have to break it down like that to people. And I just kind of give them a warning before we get into dog training. Like these are your own expectations. If there’s no reason for them to want to do it, they’re not going to do it. And so it’s kind of fun to.

Sharon Cline: [00:54:50] I think you’re training people.

Rachel Dudash: [00:54:52] I am. You are.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:54:53] Actually. And that’s the thing. I have another client who works in the animal industry and training people is exactly the entire business. They think it’s training the animal, but it’s not. I mean, you have there is work to do to help, just like there are things that teachers do for kids in schools and whatnot. But what it really boils down to is do you know yourself well enough to not let other people’s stress throw you off? Because that’s the biggest thing. And then once you are aware of your own, do you start becoming curious about them so that you can say, Oh, here’s the client that needs this. This isn’t that. Here’s the client who needs to be excited about the fact that they can they need someone to believe in them. That’s what your mom’s really good at, is they like me. I need somebody that believes in my ability to figure it out. Like not somebody that’s going to yell at me and tell me everything I’m doing wrong. Absolutely. That’s what I do. I like to tell people what they’re doing. And so what I need is very different. And so if you can start to see that, you’re like, Oh, this will be it becomes like a game of who are you really?

Joe Cianciolo: [00:55:50] You know?

Rachel Dudash: [00:55:51] And I have to be pretty much on people all the time. And I come at them in a way like, you know, I’m trying to help you. So there’s no shame. There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing, but I’m going to tweak it to be better because I can see something you can’t see. And so I’m not going to make you feel bad about it. It’s just something you don’t really know. And there’s a lot of subconscious that happens in that kind of world, even for me. And so when someone tells me I’m doing something wrong, I’m like, No, I’m not.

Sharon Cline: [00:56:24] No.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:56:25] But what if I am? Like, Yeah.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:56:29] I find that all very, very, very fascinating. And I think.

Sharon Cline: [00:56:34] That would be an interesting show in itself. Just to even talk about, you know, how energy is perceived in translated and the expectation that energy has with it or energy that expectation has with it. It’d be really interesting. I hadn’t actually ever thought about it.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:56:48] Well, and like, I mean, even young business people are I liken them to being in the young infant adolescent stage of life where they’re trying to figure things out. And if we don’t have grace for them, if we don’t give them any leeway and we don’t show them any understanding that if we think they have to have like this is my favorite when it comes to interviewing and strategic hiring, it’s like, oh, you need to have 3 to 5 years of experience. Your your resume needs to look like this. And then in the interview, you got to tell us all the right answers. I’m like, Well, that’s a surefire way to get people to be very stressed out coming in. I want to know that. There’s going to be an opportunity for you here six years from now. Because if I’m that invested in my company, I want to know that you might be I’m not expecting you to, but I’m just wondering, what would it be like if you were and what would we need to do to make it so that you’re still excited about being here after a year or two years? And in today’s world, people will cut and run in an instant because we’re under so much stress. So we say, what if? What if we become the business owners, the hirers, the employees that say, no, there’s an opportunity for me to really enjoy this, and I want to make sure that I’m here for a while. What do I need from you? What do I bring to you? What do you need from me? And how do we make sure that we can be understanding? It doesn’t mean that we can be all things for all people, but we are understanding. And then I can see the stress levels and you can then not be as triggered by somebody else’s stress.

Rachel Dudash: [00:58:17] And then also like, what do you need from yourself? I think you also need to think about Joe.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:58:24] Yes, because you do have I mean, you have it’s really easy in time to continue to practice how to work with customers, which we’ve been talking about on these calls. But do you do that for you? Are you are you kind and fair and strong for yourself?

Rachel Dudash: [00:58:40] Absolutely. Yeah. And I think I think it’s worth taking a look inward for. Absolutely. Everyone should definitely.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:58:49] She’s on the team.

Sharon Cline: [00:58:50] Is she on the team? I’m hired. Are you hired?

Rachel Dudash: [00:58:53] Actually, I’m Joe Cianciolo, too.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:59:00] We need to encourage people that that is actually something worth our time.

Sharon Cline: [00:59:04] Which is what Anna is doing, which is kind of fascinating because, Anna, I don’t want to speak for you again, but I am, I guess. But like you, have you had to go through the hiring process in your job with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. And that was an interesting dynamic to kind of go through. And it was fascinating the types of people that you would talk about and like this person has this strength and this person has that strength and now you have a team around you. And I love that you’re working with Joe that can help you figure out the different parts of that team, how it how they can all work together to make like the perfect team.

Joe Cianciolo: [00:59:38] Oh, we had a fun chat about that this morning.

Sharon Cline: [00:59:40] Yeah.

Anna Kawar: [00:59:40] Oh, I’m learning a lot about a lot of the things that we’re talking about here. And it’s yeah, it’s been a great journey, but I think understanding my weaknesses and strengths has been insightful because I think sometimes we have a surface level understanding of them. But then when you get a little bit deeper, it can be very humbling and also vulnerable, but also inspiring because then you can think about how to you can see them as opportunities. And I think Joe and I have talked a lot about I tend to be I’m learning a lot about how I’ve tried to be all the things.

Sharon Cline: [01:00:25] All.

Anna Kawar: [01:00:25] The things I’m very hard on myself, and I have a lot of perfectionist tendencies, and I’ve worked on that a lot in the last few years, but I still have a ways to go when it comes to when it comes to accepting those gaps as opportunities and then inviting other people in to help me with them. And that’s a very vulnerable place.

Sharon Cline: [01:00:46] Because you have felt like you’ve had to be everything. So is that what you mean? So like in asking someone to come in is actually admitting that you’re not everything and that you have a vulnerability there that you need someone to fill. So then the question is, will they care enough about you to fill it? Yeah. Or their job.

Anna Kawar: [01:01:04] Yeah. Or will you be judged for not being able to do that thing?

Joe Cianciolo: [01:01:09] But when you see and this is without divulging anything, when you go to somebody asking them to do what is natural to them, they immediately take all the chains off and they light up and you’re like And the person said, I got you. Yeah, because you’re asking them to do what’s so natural to them, so simple to them. It comes out of them and they people love that. Yeah. I mean, instead of saying, Hey, I need you to help me dream up this idea that’s going to take, you know, solve world hunger, you give that to me and I will, I’ll shut down because I have way too many questions. But if you ask me something that requires like, let’s gather a bunch of data, poke a bunch of holes, and let’s see if we can, you know, quantify all this. I’m like, I got you. Let me get a spreadsheet.

Sharon Cline: [01:01:54] And then they don’t judge you right? Then they don’t judge you for it.

Anna Kawar: [01:01:57] Yeah. And I think I think there’s a I think there’s a big lesson that I keep trying to remind myself, which is people want to help and they want the opportunity to help and they want to feel valuable. And I and it’s and I love bringing my team along. And I think sometimes they’re annoyed by how collaborative I want everything to be, but that there’s a difference between that and specific. Glee, calling on people for specific strengths that they have. And I’ve had a couple of really great conversations with my team members in the last couple of weeks where I’ve said, Oh, oh, you are really good at this, okay, here’s how we can improve the way we work together and communicate and talk, even just the way you ask me questions, the way I ask you questions so that we can really leverage that thing you love to do. And that’s been just a more it’s been fun. It’s a it’s a fun.

Sharon Cline: [01:02:56] That’s a big word right there. Yeah. Fun. Because what we’re talking about can feel kind of heavy, you know, in doing this introspection and then being willing to be feel ashamed of like the natural tendencies. We have tendencies we have to protect ourselves or to to not show that there’s any kind of weakness. But I love that what you’re saying is it’s actually fun to uncover those things because then you can work around them and so it reframes it from being something to be ashamed of, but instead is just like a little nugget of knowledge. It doesn’t have any emotion attached to it, which takes all the judgment off.

Anna Kawar: [01:03:30] And it also makes me feel like I have more time to do other things that I would much rather do.

Anna Kawar: [01:03:36] Which is the key, right?

Rachel Dudash: [01:03:38] And I also think it’s okay to not know. And like you can tell yourself like it’s okay that I don’t know this. Maybe I’m not meant to know everything, right.

Sharon Cline: [01:03:48] Having the acceptance of that.

Rachel Dudash: [01:03:49] Yeah.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:03:50] Well, and I always lead by telling people right off the bat what the weakness is. When I tell them, I’m like, I’m about to sound judgmental. I’m not. It’s just how I sound. So if I. If you hear me say that, it’s because my questions are better when they’re strategic, not personal. And sometimes I don’t mean to say it that way, So I have to reframe it. I lead with that, and people are like, okay. And I said, no, because it would be easier if all of us understood where we might like, Oh, you know what? I just bounced too many ideas, didn’t I? Okay, yeah. Okay, let’s pick one. And then you’ve already solved what they’re frustrated by. And business owners, team leaders have that problem all the time is if they don’t know that, then they run those same team meetings over and over and over, and people have the same frustration, and eventually they just stop trying to even communicate it back. They just think, Oh, I just have to deal with it.

Anna Kawar: [01:04:42] I just have to sit here.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:04:43] Yeah, no, it’s what would happen if we became open to that feedback. What would what would it be like if we changed the dynamic of that? And I had a client today, a whole company client, where they have they have received feedback this year in a way that we’ve never done it before. We have an entire it’s very well laid out so that they can’t be emotional. It has to be it has to be balanced with the organization structure. We have great tools for it. And I said this one, this one employee was very, very frustrated years ago and today said, I’m actually much happier about feedback because I’m okay with it, knowing that there’s so much reason behind it. I was like, Yes, that loyalty for that employee to be there is so different now than it was before, and the feedback is going to be much better to me. More appropriate.

Sharon Cline: [01:05:34] It feels better, right? So it’s so interesting to me because we’re talking about feeling, you know, and I think so much of what I think about when I’m talking to business owners is, is like there’s a lot of facts, you know, how did you come up with your LLC, You know, how did you come up with your business plan? Where do you want to see yourself in five years? But it doesn’t really have as much of the feeling behind it. But I love that that’s really so important because that’s like our barometer of our happiness is like, Well, what was today? Like? Am I driving home with the radio off because I’m trying to process everything you know, or am I happy? Am I feeling fulfilled? And because that’s it, it’s like the fulfillment part. It’s not all. I mean, I know there are money driven people and that’s fine, but it’s like not all about that. At the end of the day, we.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:06:16] Just want them to be authentically driven by that and then not be afraid of.

Anna Kawar: [01:06:20] It. And I mean, there’s science and research that backs up that the most successful companies allow space for people to be that much more authentic, innovative, creative and to to really to innovate as a company, you have to allow people’s brains the space and safety and inspiration to think of ideas, but then also feel supported in executing them. And so it is I mean, we talk we talk about our kids in Boys and Girls clubs like learning doesn’t happen if kids don’t feel emotionally safe. And I think it’s the same for humans. You you can’t really you can think you’re succeeding, but really you’re running in circles versus are you moving forward and able to take in feedback and process it in a safe way and come up with ideas and try things and fail and learn? Be okay to fail. Your business isn’t going anywhere if you don’t make space for that human component of just. The natural instincts we have for learning and wanting to wanting to share and wanting to take things in and.

Sharon Cline: [01:07:29] And want to be valued. I like that you said valued.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:07:31] We have a tool for that. Do we have a tool for that, Joe? Of course there’s skills.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:07:36] There’s emotional awareness and there’s others awareness. And the top most respected people. When you say make space, it’s because they understand that all of those are necessary to keep people productive, happy and innovating or just executing. Because that’s the other thing is a business owners will come in here trying to figure out how do we keep growing? How do we keep growing? What happens if the solution is actually just to execute really well and make sure that the drivers or your your indicators, your health indicators are in the proper order and the money is enough and the people are what keep you motivated. The purpose is strong, whichever one it is, Is it the ability to to not. My kids always say this. You work all the time. I said no, I get to work. I love my job, but I also have a balance and I choose that balance. And I could be like other people and go to a 9 to 5. But that’s not the world that I define success by. So playing a round of golf in the in the in the yard before taking the kids to school this morning is fun for me. That’s what makes life worth living. And so I also love my job.

Rachel Dudash: [01:08:44] So I’m clapping for Joe because.

Sharon Cline: [01:08:46] That’s that’s a golf clap, by the way. That was a golf clapping.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:08:50] That’s absolutely true. But we have to be bold.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:08:53] We have to be understanding and we have to be willing to say we don’t have to do it alone.

Sharon Cline: [01:08:58] I love it because I feel like you helped. Well, two people out there in the stratosphere today.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:04] Sorry if there was a third one.

Sharon Cline: [01:09:05] It didn’t it didn’t work. But that’s actually kind of like that. We had to that we could a little bit deconstruct a bit and spend some time really analyzing what the best solutions are. And I would love to have you come back, Joe, and and have some other calls come in. And I’m learning so much, too, even about myself, which is so fun because I know that we’re helping other people. But I, like I download all this too, and think, how can I implement these things in my life and maybe make a better fearless formula for myself? So it’s all about me.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:35] That’s awesome.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:35] No, you can’t give what you don’t possess. So if you don’t know it for yourself, how can you help others? So we have to help ourselves first.

Rachel Dudash: [01:09:42] Absolutely.

Sharon Cline: [01:09:43] Well, Joe, anyone that’s listening now and is interested in following up with you, how can they get in touch with you?

Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:48] I am Joe from Porch advisors.com. That’s advisors with an E at the end.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:54] I know.

Sharon Cline: [01:09:55] Ers. Yes, no worries. Okay. So they can contact you there.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:58] They can contact me there.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:59] Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [01:10:00] Excellent. Well, thank you, Anna. Boys and Girls Clubs and Rachel Jordache of Atlanta, dog trainer. And thank you, Joe, of Front Porch Advisors for being on the show. And let’s do this again, like in a month.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:10:12] Yes.

Joe Cianciolo: [01:10:12] Thank you Sharon.

Sharon Cline: [01:10:13] You’re welcome. My pleasure. And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Klein reminding you with knowledge and understanding, heck yeah, we can all have our own fearless formula, have a great day.

Joan Mannis with Old Cartersville Tours, Tami Caspersen with iThink Financial and Olympic Freestyle Wrestler Jordan Mitchell

August 7, 2023 by angishields

Charitable Georgia

Joan Mannis with Old Cartersville Tours, Tami Caspersen with iThink Financial and Olympic Freestyle Wrestler Jordan Mitchell

00:00 /

In this episode of Charitable Georgia, Brian welcomes Joan Mannis, Tami Caspersen, and Jordan Mitchell. Joan shares her background and entrepreneurial journey, discussing her diverse experiences and her passion for bringing a unique tour experience to Cartersville. Tami and Jordan also join the conversation, sharing their own entrepreneurial stories and emphasizing the importance of following one’s dreams.

Joan Mannis is a native of Bartow County, but has lived in other cities during her career in sales and marketing.

She spent the last two years in Savannah associated with Old Savannah Tours and recently returned to Cartersville and opened Old Cartersville Tours.

Old Cartersville Tours is the premier touring company in Cartersville and Bartow County, GA. The owner was previously affiliated with Old Savannah Tours, the oldest touring company in Savannah, GA.

Our goal is to make your experience in our beautiful city so enjoyable that you can’t wait to come back.

Tami Caspersen is the Community Events Manager at iThink Financial. She attended IUPU at Ft. Wayne for a business degree and cheerleading. She soon realized her passion for helping people as she mentored younger girls in cheerleading.

Tami went to California to become a certified personal trainer and aerobics instructor. She was the youngest manager of an all-women’s health club and then became a corporate fitness trainer for two large companies, Dana Corporation and Coke-a-Cola.

Tami has two amazing young adult children Jeremiah age 22. Jeremiah is serving with the US Army 160^th Airborne Special Forces division as a drone Piolet and my daughter Ciara Grace is in her Jr. year at Georgia Southern studying Kinesiology.

Tami has had a few great careers over her life and working for the iTHINK financial credit union is one of her favorites. She has worked for iTHINK for 18 of the 54 years that they have been in business, and enjoys helping individuals and her community.

Tami is very involved in her church, and she’s served on the board of Sweetwater Mission, Teacher of the Year selection board for Pickens County, Past Ambassador for the Cobb Chamber, helped raise donations for Etowah Marching band and Color guard program and was the recipient of the: In The Spirit award.

Jordan Mitchell, Jamaican World Team Member and Olympic Freestyle Wrestler, graduated from Cass High School in Cartersville, Georgia in 2016.

He entered the sport of wrestling in 6th grade at Cass Middle School where his story began.

Going through the high school circuit, Jordan placed 5th at State senior year, and from there he began coaching and competing at the collegiate and international level.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:09] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits. Dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:46] Good, fabulous Friday morning. It’s another fabulous Friday. We’ve got three more fabulous guests. And this is your first time listening to Charitable Georgia. This is all about positive things happening in the community. So, Sharon, welcome back again this morning.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:57] Thank you. So happy to be here.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:59] I guess Stone just wants to let you just do the show the rest of the time.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:02] I’m taking over everything.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:02] There you go. There you go. So, Sharon, you know, you we bring stories on of all kinds of positive things happen on here. Right? So you’re going to hear three more amazing stories this morning. So our first guest this morning is Joan Mannis from Old Cartersville Tours. Joan, thanks for being here this morning.

Joan Mannis: [00:01:16] Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:18] So you shared with me your story not too long ago. And you to me, you have a story of overcoming perseverance and following your dreams all at the same time. So if you don’t mind, give us your background.

Joan Mannis: [00:01:29] I’m not easily discouraged, as you can tell. And I’m not old. My body has just been on earth for a while. That’s the way I like to look at it anyway. So yes, I started old Cartersville tours about two months ago in Cartersville. I’ve tried to retire 2 or 3 times. It just doesn’t take it’s like a vaccine that doesn’t take retirement, doesn’t take for me. I cut my teeth in the business in Savannah. I did not go down there to work in the tourist business. I went down there to retire. And I had a friend that well, actually a neighbor, she would come out every day and we wore costumes there when we were touring on the Trolleys, and she said that she worked on one of the trolleys. And I’m like, you know, I’m kind of getting bored of doing everything I want to do and go on the beach 2 or 3 times a week. I mean, you can get tired of that, too. I said, I think I’d like to do this. And I hired on with Old Savannah tours in the historic district there and started touring, had to put my own tours together. They give you a historic guide, but they don’t give you a word for word tours. So you got to kind of dig down in that. And so that’s what I did and put my tours together. And then I do believe in divine guidance, and it has been really evident in my whole life. So one day I’m on the tour and I’m sitting there and I’m just having a good time on the tour. No, no plans. Whether I stayed in Savannah, it was a bucket list item and one day and it just came to me, You know what? Cartersville has so much history. It really deserves something like this. Two months later, I was in Cartersville putting my tour together there.

Brian Pruett: [00:03:02] Well, you’re no. You’re no stranger to Cartersville because you’re from there, right?

Joan Mannis: [00:03:05] I’m from Bartow County, originally, went to public schools there, went away to college, never really as an adult, came back. I’ve lived in New York and Manhattan. I’ve lived in Connecticut. I’ve lived in in D.C., in Virginia, worked for a California company for years, went back and forth there. My whole careers have been in sales and marketing. I was in telecommunications way back when people just started buying their phone systems. I didn’t have to get them from Mobil and got into voice mail then. So it’s always been in sales. This is my third venture personally for a business and my son started a business, so we’re kind of an entrepreneurial family. We’ve started for Total and they’ve all been successful. It just doesn’t mean you’re going to stay with one forever. I’ve had a nursery in a daycare. I’ve had an event facility where we did parties and weddings. I did that for a while and and been in real estate. So. So sales is my background. I try to give a good tour there. My family lives all around Cartersville area. I have two grandsons and I’m hoping to leave the business to them eventually. They’re not old enough to drive yet, but eventually, hopefully they will and they can take the business over.

Brian Pruett: [00:04:17] So you also share with me that you you overcame cancer as well.

Joan Mannis: [00:04:20] I’ve had I’ve had stage four twice and I’ve had it I’ve had three occurrences of malignant melanoma. And I was never a sun worshiper, really. I mean, in the south you get a certain amount. And one day about spending almost 13 years ago now, I had a bump come up on the top of my head. It was just like a little mosquito bite or it was just a little pink bump. I was already going to the dermatologist. And so he says, Well, is there anything else today? And I said, Yeah, I got this little pink bump, but it doesn’t, you know, my sister looked at it. She said it didn’t look like anything. He looked at it and he said it didn’t look like anything he said. But I always do. A biopsy came back, malignant melanoma. He said, you’ve got to have surgery right away. I had surgery. I wouldn’t take any kind of liquid treatment. 13 years ago, there wasn’t much. And they took part of my scalp out. And I mean, it was pretty serious. It spread to my lymph nodes and I just felt like I was they just more or less didn’t give me much hope. I sold my business. I gave all my good jewelry to my daughter in law. She won’t give it back.

Brian Pruett: [00:05:24] Oh, no.

Joan Mannis: [00:05:25] But then I was okay. I just kind of I thought, well, I’m not dying yet. I might as well live. My life went on about about four, about every four and a half years. It comes back four and a half years later, a bump right on the scar where they took my scalp out before. And by that time I just said, Well, this has got to be it. I just quit. Going to the doctor. I’m kind of stubborn that way. I ended up four years later having tumors everywhere had spread all through my body. And I went to the doctor. My son went with me and he offered this immunotherapy and it was pretty new. You know, then that’s been four years ago. And I said, No, I don’t think I’m going to take it. I’ve really had some extra time. My son goes, Mom, God has kept you alive until technology has caught up with you. Now you must take it. And you do things for your family, you know that you wouldn’t do. And I took it. And after the treatment, which put me in the hospital, almost kill me. After that, you know what? Every tumor was gone, and that’s been four years ago. So I just appreciate every day it makes you look at life differently when you have a brush with death, when you come close to death, you have a whole new perspective on life. And so I’ve just lived it, you know, really taking chances because I think we have to be gamblers in this life. You can’t play it safe and reach your full potential. So it’s made me not hold on to material things nearly as much and try to help other people and just look, you know, look forward. We got only so many trips around the sun. You know.

Brian Pruett: [00:06:58] I feel like we’ve been playing Kenny Rogers song right now.

Joan Mannis: [00:07:00] Yeah. And you never know when those when that last one’s going to be there. So I just try to live my life differently and be a good person and treat people right. And it has changed my perspective totally.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:12] Well, we could stop with her right there because that’s amazing. But I know you’re not supposed to ask ladies this. So there’s three of them in the room. So if you want to hit me, go ahead. But would you share your age?

Joan Mannis: [00:07:22] I’m about well, and I’ll tell you this, I’m going to make you guess in another year. Not this year, but next year I will have a birthday with a big zero in it.

Speaker5: [00:07:32] Mhm.

Joan Mannis: [00:07:32] Okay. So anybody care to guess? I don’t mind telling you. I’d rather look great for my age. 70, 20.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:38] No, 20.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:40] You’re so smart. He’s my friend.

Joan Mannis: [00:07:42] Not 70. 80.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:43] Yes, 80. No way.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:44] All right.

Joan Mannis: [00:07:45] So next year.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:46] The reason I asked her to do that and share that is because, I mean, like you said, she’ll be 80 next year, but she started her own business, right? Oh, yeah. And it’s never too old.

Joan Mannis: [00:07:55] You never give up your dreams. Always follow your dreams and your heart. And I think you do have divine guidance. And if you feel like God is leading you to something, you better do it because he’s going to get you there one way or the other.

Tami Caspersen: [00:08:07] I want to be like you when I grow up.

Joan Mannis: [00:08:09] Yeah, he’ll get you there today or he’ll get you there whenever. But he’s going to get you there because we all have a plan for our lives. Yes. And we need to reach that potential and listen to our, you know, to the spirit that’s leading us.

Tami Caspersen: [00:08:22] Amen, sister.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:22] So obviously, it’s in the name old Cartersville tours. But let’s talk about that a little bit. So share what you guys do on a daily basis and what people can learn.

Joan Mannis: [00:08:30] Well, I have a regular what I call a public tour, and now we’re doing it on Fridays 11 and one on Fridays. We go from the easternmost point is the Tillis Mineral Museum all the way through the historic district. If you know anything about Cartersville and then out on the west side, we go to the Etowah Indian Mounds. It is an hour overview. I talk about all these places. We don’t stop and let people off. I have I have a touring bus now one and I’m adding to my fleet, hopefully another one by the end of the year. I want to have five in the fleet totally, because I’m starting to do some personal things. Some like charters now with weddings and just took a party, you know, Jay Frazier and his down to Atlanta for dinner and of course, proms, wedding receptions and all that. So we are available for Charter as well as a public tour. I really came up to do the historic tours and we don’t have nearly as many visitors, of course, in Cartersville as we do in Savannah. However, everybody that I’ve taken on the tour that’s from Cartersville, the Chamber, the Visitors Bureau, they all say they learned something that they didn’t know because I really do a lot of research and study and try to give a rich tour. And I want people to think that they’ve got their money’s worth and that they know something about Cartersville that they didn’t didn’t know. There’s so much history there. Mining history is incredible. Their Civil War history, black history. I mean, the old homes, some of them survived the Civil War. It’s just a tremendous amount of history there. I want to get into doing more specific tours. I’ve talked with David Archer, who’s a historian in town, and he agreed to be a tour on on the Bus, what he does. And then I’ve been trying to get to Judge Benham. I know he’s not in great health, but he would do a wonderful Black history tour. And so I wanted to start doing more specific tours like that and get people in.

Brian Pruett: [00:10:22] So share something that somebody may not know about.

Joan Mannis: [00:10:25] Cartersville Well, of course, everybody can look up when it was founded in 1850 and it was the people, the Indian Mounds people think they associate with the Cherokee and it was the Cherokee Nation last. But the Cherokee didn’t build the mounds. The mounds date back to 1000 to 1500 ad. And one of the interesting things I found out about the Cherokee tribe, every every North American Indian tribe has the same blood type no matter what, no matter if it’s Apache, if it’s Cherokee. Everyone has the same blood type. Every one of them has O blood type and the A and the B and the AB didn’t come in until the Europeans started coming in. But all the all all of them have the same blood type. There was originally a thousands now there’s 380,000 Cherokee surviving. It’s the largest surviving tribe. Also, there was a love story going on there. William Sherman. General Sherman was the head of the union troops. They had a bloody battle in Chattanooga, marched right down through Bartow County and rested in Kingston, a little town between Cartersville and Rome. He received his orders there to burn his way to the sea. They burned down. Most of Bartow County, went from Bartow County, burned Macon headed to Savannah. Savannah people knew that burned Atlanta, as you know, to the ground, and they didn’t want their city burned because there was all these wonderful old homes there. So they went outside of town and they gave him the city.

Joan Mannis: [00:11:54] That’s why Savannah’s historic. And they didn’t burn Charleston and because they heard he was coming. Let’s see if there’s anything else interesting. Well, you know, Cartersville is very haunted. And I’m working with the Pumphouse players now to put a haunted ghost tour together for October. We’re going to be doing them in October. The depot there is one of the most haunted places. One of the ladies that worked there for years said they had this huge desk in there and somebody had bought it prior to her. She said it must have weighed 500 pounds. There was no way even 2 or 3 men could have moved it. And she said occasionally they would go in and that desk would be moved. Nobody was in there. And then she actually saw, I guess you’d say, a ghost or an image. One day it was a young man. She said he was dressed like an Amish person. And he says, Can we go in there? And she said, yes. Well, she got ready to lock up and she looked around and she couldn’t find him anywhere. And she said she walked outside and it was already like 6:00 in the evening and the sun had gone down on the other side of the depot. And she said when she walked out the door, this enormous light just hit her right in the face and she never saw the guy again. So there’s a lot of ghost stories in Cartersville.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:04] Oh, hopefully Casper is on one of those stories. That’s right. So Sharon might be interested in this. You talk about what you’re doing with the wine tours.

Joan Mannis: [00:13:12] Yeah, I’m doing wine tours now. Three wineries.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:15] Yeah, I do like wine, but I didn’t know I was known for that. All right, go ahead.

Joan Mannis: [00:13:20] August 19th. It’s all sold out already. I have one on August 26th, and I’m billing that one as the as the bad mom’s wine tour.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:28] There you go, Sharon.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:29] All right, perfect. You did that just for me. Okay.

Joan Mannis: [00:13:32] Mothers have been in, you know, all summer, kind of closed up with their children. So we’re doing a bad moms wine tour. We do the big door in Canton and then up to ball ground to Feather’s edge, and then over to Jasper to Sharps Mountain Vineyard and it’s going to be such fun. I have souvenir mugs and we’re going to wear tiaras and bows around our neck and play games on the bus. And so that’s the next one that’s available is the 26th. But I’ll have at least two a month, and that’s beginning to really take off. Now. People are into that and expect.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:03] A lot of pictures.

Joan Mannis: [00:14:04] From that one. Oh, yeah. Before we do the three. Okay.

Tami Caspersen: [00:14:07] What stays on the bus? Stays on the bus?

Brian Pruett: [00:14:10] Yes.

Joan Mannis: [00:14:11] I’m not sure we’ll do photographs after we’ve done all three.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:13] So you’ve started networking specifically with the Cardinal Business Club.

Joan Mannis: [00:14:17] Love that club.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:17] Great. So share a little bit. I mean, like you said, you’ve only two months into this, but share a little bit about what positive has happened to you in the two months of the networking.

Joan Mannis: [00:14:26] Well, you get to know the other other gamblers and risk takers in the area because, you know, many of them have started their own business. And, you know, when you start your own business, you step out on faith. I mean, we all do. When you start a business, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You have you have faith that it’s going to take off. But you really have to you have to take a chance. You know, you just you don’t you don’t have any guarantees. And I tell people, you know, sometimes people are working for companies and they think, man, I’d like to do this on my own or I have an idea for something. I mean, do it, you know, just going. And my son was in the well, he was he was one of these kids that I paid for tuition and he wouldn’t go to college. Well, he’d go part time, you know. And so he wasn’t real serious about it. I paid enough tuition for him to be a Philadelphia lawyer now, but he’s not. So he was getting DUIs and he was just going nowhere with his life. And so I knew I had to take a hard line with him. And I told him, I said, when this semester is over, your clothes will be out on the sidewalk and everything you own will be, Mom, what am I supposed to do? I said, You know, I don’t care because I’ve tried everything. I’m not going to see you at 25 years old, 26 years old, and you’re going to look back and say, why didn’t you make me do something? I said, I’m making you do it now. And so he he had already lost his life. So he called a friend and he didn’t have any place to go.

Joan Mannis: [00:15:48] And he went to the recruiting offices. And one of my cousins was a marine and he said, Oh, you want to go in? The Marines. They’re the best. Well, he ended up joining the Marines and he was actually in Desert Storm. He joined the Marines and it made a man out of him. I’m telling you, I’m all for draft because a lot of these kids get out of high school. They don’t know what they want to do. And it made a man out of him. He got out. He went to school. He was a news cameraman for Channel two in Atlanta for a while. And then he and then he said, you know what, Mom? I don’t want to work for somebody else the rest of my life. I want to do something. Well, what do you want to do? Well, he is a father’s side of the family, Had some old scrubby land out in Mississippi. Wasn’t worth anything in the middle of nowhere. But you know what? It had a wonderful natural spring on it. He did his studies. He did his work for about two years. He started a water bottling company. He kept that spring. He got his got his bar code. He went to the state. He got it approved. They had the osmosis machine, he had the bottling equipment. And he worked out there for really a couple of years to get it started and really built up his distributorship. And after that, they decided they wanted to start a family. He married during that time and they wanted to come back to the Atlanta area. She worked for Equifax, so they had to come back to the Atlanta area. He ended up selling it and he retired at 38.

Brian Pruett: [00:17:11] Wow.

Joan Mannis: [00:17:12] Because he you know, he really stepped out and realized his dream. And so that’s you know, we’ve started four companies together. So I just tell people, follow your dreams. They say if you follow what you love and you follow your dreams, the money will come. Don’t follow the money, you know, because you might be miserable. We’ve all known people that went in to be a doctor or I knew people that went to be a teacher. First day they got in the classroom. They hated it. So, you know, follow your dreams. If you don’t love it, don’t do it.

Brian Pruett: [00:17:41] Well, I don’t have to ask my next question, which was give an advice for somebody who wants to start a business because you just did it. Absolutely. All right. So why other than the fact that you’re from Cartersville, Bartow County originally and you and you like doing this kind of stuff, why is it important for you to be part of the community?

Joan Mannis: [00:17:54] Well, I think because we if you’re part of the community, like you see people, even the business club, and then when they get up and tell what they do, you can more align with them and, you know, be a supporter of what they’re trying to do. I mean, I always want to support the nonprofits, the people who work with children and families and babies. You always want to support that. And I said when I got into that, 10% of my profits will always go toward charity. And I’m not making much money yet because I just started. But 10% of my profits will always go toward charities.

Brian Pruett: [00:18:28] Well, you’ve been supporting the last couple of months for the trivia, so I appreciate you coming out and doing that. Well, thank you. And you like having fun, obviously. Oh, yeah. So you get good food and have fun. We’ll get Sharon out to serve you one of these nights.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:38] Yeah, well, I mean, you actually have a lot of, like, really hard questions that you ask in the trivia, so I’m a little nervous about that. That’s why you.

Brian Pruett: [00:18:47] Play with the team.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:48] Oh, listen.

Joan Mannis: [00:18:49] To the music.

Brian Pruett: [00:18:49] She. She just. She caught on.

Joan Mannis: [00:18:51] He gives you he gives you clues when he’s playing a song. That’s the only way we got anything.

Brian Pruett: [00:18:56] There you go. There you go. She just gave away my secret. There you go.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:59] Oh, gosh. Okay. Well, thank you. I love you so much. Yes.

Brian Pruett: [00:19:03] All right, Joan, thanks for sharing a little bit of your story. We’re going to move over now to Tami Caspersen. I said it right.

Tami Caspersen: [00:19:08] Right.

Brian Pruett: [00:19:09] You did awesome. There you go. Twice in one day. Great job. So I think financial, correct?

Tami Caspersen: [00:19:15] Yes, sir.

Brian Pruett: [00:19:15] So we’ll get to that in just a second. But you to me are right now a story of perseverance because you currently are battling cancer. Correct. So if you don’t mind, just share a little bit of your story.

Tami Caspersen: [00:19:26] Sure. Not something that I ever thought I would see myself walking through. My mom went through breast cancer. My younger sister went through breast cancer. So my breast specialist said to me, Tammy, it skipped over you. Well, obviously, she was gravely wrong. So 20, 20, we all know what happened in 2020, the pandemic. And it was March of 2020. And I was like, hmm, something doesn’t feel quite right. I couldn’t get in to see my primary care physician, couldn’t get a mammogram, couldn’t see anybody, couldn’t see my oncologist, couldn’t see my breast specialist. So I honest to goodness believe God gave me a back ache. So I was like, oh, my gosh, what is this? I’ve got to get to urgent care, or Urgent care was open by appointment. So I went in March of 2020, and while I was, I was like, Oh, my back is hurting. I think it could be this. I think it could be that. And she’s like, Oh, you know, she checked me all out. And I said, Well, why I’m here. Can you check something else? And she said, Sure. And she was like, Oh, yes, ma’am, I’m getting you a mammogram emergency, an emergency mammogram. So we went and did that and my doctor called me in. I had four girlfriends out in the hallway and he said, And I love my doctor. He’s a wonderful man. My primary care physician, Dr.

Tami Caspersen: [00:20:43] El Dr. El Toro. And give you a shout out. He literally held my hand and cried and said, it’s stage four breast cancer and we need to start treatment ASAP. So I was like, okay. I didn’t shed a tear. My girlfriends took me out for a Mexican and a margarita said, Do you need a margarita? I was like, I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had a margarita, but I’ll have one. So he suggested one of the best oncologists in Cherokee County, which will remain nameless. I went there. My sister came down from North Carolina and it was the first chemo treatment. It was eight hours. They were in an open bull room. So you could see everybody and everybody’s business. There was a chair next to me that was very comfortable, but they made my sister sit on a metal chair for eight hours. Then I chatted with my oncologist and I was like, So, you know, just moving forward. I mean, I said from the beginning, Jesus, this is going to be you and me and whoever else decides to join this journey. And I had peace from the very, very beginning. And so I went to meet with my oncologist after the first treatment. And I said, you know, looking forward. And she literally put her hand in my face and said, we’re not there yet. And I said, you’re fired.

Brian Pruett: [00:21:59] Wow.

Tami Caspersen: [00:22:00] So just so happened that this is such a crazy story. My best friend I have two best friends that don’t know each other, but they know one person that has a really good friend. And she had walked through breast cancer twice. They’re like, You’ve got to go meet. I call her my little angel. Her name is Heather. And so they said, You’ve got to meet Heather. She was preparing for family to come in for a funeral and dropped what she was doing to come meet with me. And she’s like, We got to get you to Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Newnan, Georgia. Now, since has become City of Hope. So we got to get you down there literally the next day. Now, you got to remember, this is Covid. I didn’t get a tour of the facility. She told me where to go, who to see how to register for what hotel to stay in. And I have not looked back. So my first chemo treatment was two days before my birthday in May, May of 2020 at the other location that I fired. And then my second one was three weeks later down in Newnan in June. So I can’t say enough about City of Hope, Formerly Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Everything is under one umbrella. Your oncologist. Radiologist is there. Your radiologist is there. Your oncologist is there. Your pastoral care, your natural path, your nutritionist, your chiropractor. Everything is under one roof. So while I’m there, I get in about 36, 3600 steps just in one day going to doctor’s appointments. So of course, I lost all my hair.

Tami Caspersen: [00:23:30] The hair you see on my head today is my real hair, which I’m very thankful to have hair and eyelashes. So I go down every three weeks. I go down on Sunday night. I have a scholarship so I can stay at a lovely hotel for $22.50. I just go down on Sunday night so I can relax, get a good night’s sleep, have a great dinner. I have amazing girlfriends that go with me. We spend the night and then the next day starts with having your port access, having your blood taken, and then off to all your appointments and your infusion. So I. I know that. Perseverance. Positive attitude. My doctors, not only the medication, the nutritional supplements, and overall, my Lord and savior is the reason why I’m still standing and can do what I do. Because most people with my diagnosis goes on long term disability and I work full time serving our community through the, I think, financial credit union. So I am very thankful for my company who supports me. I’m very thankful for my friends. And I will tell you that if anyone’s walking that journey. It’s not going to be your closest friends that are going to stick by your side. Because they can’t. They they will love you. It will be people who come out of the woodwork that will stick by your side and be there for you. And that was the best advice someone gave me. And I will continue because they love you so much. And so don’t ever be.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:04] Offended if your best, best, best friends don’t show up because they’re there just in the background. And I have one young lady that’s become my dearest friend. I did not think I would cry, Brian.

Brian Pruett: [00:25:22] All right. This is what the show does. I love this. I mean, go ahead.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:26] And I cannot tell you how many times that sweet girl has taken me to CTCA in three years and she expects nothing in return. So a shout out for killing. I love you, sweet girl. And matter of fact, we leave Sunday night treatments Monday and I’ll.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:47] Go to work on Tuesday.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:49] So God is good. Everything in my life is.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:53] Stable.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:54] And.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:55] And.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:55] As you well know on this journey.

Tami Caspersen: [00:25:57] Stable is a win. We all.

Tami Caspersen: [00:26:00] Want no evidence.

Tami Caspersen: [00:26:00] Of disease, but we will take stable. As long as you’re stable, you’re golden.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:06] See, that’s why I like this show. Actually, I love this show.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:09] Oh, you love it? Yeah. I can see why. Brian, you.

Tami Caspersen: [00:26:12] Don’t have any Kleenexes.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:13] In this room. I’ll be right back. Hang on. All right.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:15] So we’ll blame Stone for that. He’s not here.

Tami Caspersen: [00:26:18] It’s all good.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:18] It’s all good. So I also like the fact you didn’t. Have you read my mind? Because I was going to ask you to give some advice to somebody might be listening going through and you already did it. So both of y’all are mind readers. You have to read my mind too, by the way. So let’s just talk a little bit more about the persevering part, because a lot of people, I think, get to the point that you are at and just give up.

Tami Caspersen: [00:26:43] Oh, you can’t. And here’s the thing. I have too much work to do. I go to work. The credit union gives me my paycheck, but I go to work every day for the Lord. Every day he gives me the opportunity to pray for somebody every three weeks that I go to Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Now, City of Hope, God points out somebody specifically for me to pray for. Because, Brian, the sad part is when someone is handed a diagnosis, as you mentioned earlier, that. It is not a death sentence. Stage four is no longer a death sentence. I have people in my circle that have had stage four breast cancer 15 years, 20 years, 25 years. It’s all about your attitude. It’s all about doing what your doctors say. And it’s also researching for your own working with your nutritional supplement, your natural path, but also researching some holistic modalities. And I do a lot of holistic things. Unfortunately, those cost a lot of money and those come out of your pocket. But you have to stay focused, know your purpose, know what drives you. And not only does the, I think financial credit union drive me because of all the community events that we’re able to do, and a lot of them are my passion. But my son is 22 years old and he serves in the US Army.

Tami Caspersen: [00:28:05] He’s stationed over at Fort Campbell, Kentucky with the 1/60 Airborne Special Forces. He’s a drone pilot and doing amazing. I have a 20 year old daughter who is down at Statesboro at Georgia Southern studying kinesiology. She was studying nursing, switched to kinesiology. It was like mom, you know, being in some of the holistic situations, she could see herself doing some of those working in like a holistic facility. So you just don’t know the trajectory of your own journey and how that can affect affect your children’s journey, your family’s journey, your friend’s journey, people you come in contact with. When I’m sitting down talking to somebody about their finances, it gets very intimate because you might find out that, you know, they’ve had a very sick child or a sick wife or a sick husband or there’s been a divorce or a death. And you have to get down to the nitty gritty of of why how have you gotten into this financial debacle? And all the stories aren’t just because they like to shop. So it gets very intimate. And I’m kind of an open book. So when they’re telling me their story, I’m able to tell my story and makes them feel a little bit more comfortable on sharing with me so we can get to the root of what they need.

Tami Caspersen: [00:29:18] And that’s how we look at it. I think Financial Credit Union, we can talk about car loans and home equity lines of credit and our great rates on our checking account. And But what do you need? How can I help you if I just throw a plethora of products at you? You’re probably going to go somewhere else. But if I take the time to sit down with you and listen to your story, I’m going to know how we can help you, whether whether I’m at CTCA or at the credit union. Sometimes people will break down and cry over their story. And, you know, I’ll say I’m going to pray for you. And I think people are so used to hearing people say, I’m going to pray for you, that means you’re going to do it later. And I reach over and I’ll go, I’m going to pray for you right now. And they go, Oh, right now, here where we are, in the cafeteria, in my office, if that’s okay. Because you know what? We all are human beings. I can make a note. Two days later, I’m going, Oh, shoot, I should have prayed for Brian. I should have done it right then and there. So I go to work every day for the Lord.

Brian Pruett: [00:30:18] Well, there’s two things that I want to touch on that you shared we’ll get to, I think, here in a minute. But what you just said about praying, we were at a networking group in Emerson last week and Becky Hart, who’ll be on the show not too long, but her husband was there and somebody had asked for prayer and he stopped the networking group and said, look, when somebody asks for prayer, you do it. Now, I like how you mentioned that because. Exactly. It’s it’s I mean, I’m guilty of this saying, you know, I’m going to pray for you and then it’s later. Yes. And sometimes you forget you have all, well, intentions, too. But I like that. The other thing I like what you shared about is how your closest friends, they don’t know what to say. They don’t want to do. And you got people coming out of the woodwork. Yes. I networked with a young lady who was going through a very hard time at the moment, and she’s got a passion just like everybody that’s sitting in this room about helping others. And, you know, it’s to me it’s not much. But for her it was much. And I was just texting her, seeing how she was doing. I was trying to connect with people because she’s looking for a new job and all this other kind of stuff. And it’s just amazing to see. I mean, you see it every week at CBC. It is a community. It’s not just networking. And I love the fact that you can you know, it all becomes, as Bob Brooks likes to say, the family, you know, friends and family. And anyway, I just I just love those two things you just shared because you don’t think about those things. You wanted to add something.

Joan Mannis: [00:31:39] I did want to add something we have overcome. You’ve heard our stories. We are not superhuman. People know and people who might be listening to us going through something, they’re like, Well, yeah, but you know, they’ve got something I don’t have. You don’t know what you have until your back is up against the wall. You don’t know how strong you can be. And trust me, I’ve had pity parties. I mean, you know, when you first hear diagnosis, you’re not like, Well, I can overcome this. You’re like, Why me? I mean, you do question it. So having a pity party is okay. Just don’t invite too many people. That’s right. And don’t have too long a party. But. It is true. I mean, it is something that shakes you to your core. And so people that might be feeling that right now, you can’t overcome it. You can just dig down deeper than you ever thought. But you’ve got to have faith. You got to have you got to know there’s a God and that he’s taking care of you and that sometimes the only way you can get through.

Tami Caspersen: [00:32:30] And.

Tami Caspersen: [00:32:30] When and when your friends and when your friends and family reach out to you, you know, they the one thing they might be able to do is make you a meal. Even if you don’t like what they’re making, even if you don’t think you need to be humble yourself. It’s pride. Humble yourself and say thank you, Brian, for bringing that meal. That might be the only thing they can do. Maybe they can go grocery shopping for you. Maybe your friends in the beginning can take you to every single appointment because it’s not real yet. But when you sit down in that chair and your ports accessed and you start getting infused with the medicine, that’s when it becomes really real. You know, when you walk through the halls of City of Hope and it’s just a patient and a caregiver, that becomes very real. So it takes a special person to be able to go with you and walk into that situation. Because I’m going to be honest, I was talking to my naturopath the other day and the nutritional supplements are imperative. And I said to him, I said, Dr. Coleman, I could walk down the halls of City of Hope and I can point out people that haven’t met with you yet because you think you can. I said, I know I can because if they’ve met with you and they believe they can be, well, they would look more like me. But what happens is there are some people that don’t want to be well, and you know why? Because you get lots of attention and you get petted. And how are you? How are you feeling? Okay, You know what? I like attention. I don’t want that kind of attention. I want to be the one on the other side where I can walk and give you hope. Give you hope and encourage you and say if you want to be well. You can be well, however long well looks like on your journey. Because every journey is different.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:14] Man, this is good stuff. Are you taking notes? Yeah, I.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:17] Got my phone out. Typing. Typing here and there.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:19] Yeah. Talk about the humbling part. I have a good, very good friend, and he’s former business partner, but still a very good friend who lost his mother this past Friday. And every time he and I go out to lunch, he’s always paying. And so I returned the favor yesterday and he was about ready to pay. And I was like, No, I told you, I’m taking you to lunch. And it’s just something that I could do because we were able to talk and he was able to to unload some things that he hasn’t been able to unload since his mom died. So, yes, again, some great advice. So. All right. Let’s talk about some I think.

Tami Caspersen: [00:34:48] Okay. Let’s talk about the, I think, financial credit union. Well, funny thing, I’ve been with the credit union for 18 years. Out of the 54 years they’ve been in business. So we started out as the IBM credit union, as an IBM International Business Machines. So we started out in Boca Raton, Florida, just for the IBMers. And then we decided to start branching out into other technical companies. And then we brought in other companies and city and government principalities. And basically we go out into the community and offer credit union membership benefits in your fringe benefit package so those employees can have that. Then we branched off from that aspect to going into the community. So 18 months before 2020 hit, we had decided it was time to rebrand. We were spending more time talking about what who IBM is or, you know, because they’re still around and people don’t even realize that IBM is still around and who they were and how we were affiliated. And we’re like, Oh my gosh, we’re spending so much time out in the community telling them who IBM is. So it became apparent that it was time to rebrand. So we pulled our members and said, you know, what do you think our name should be? And so it came back, I think, and we were like, Why? I think. And they said, Because you make us think about our finances.

Tami Caspersen: [00:36:04] Well, we started diving into the name I think, and realized that IBM has a think campaign for their sales team to think outside the box for their customers. So it’s just kind of like a little nod back to them as well. So we became the, I think, financial credit union. We were going to do this big kickoff and promotion march of 2020. So we’re still catching up with getting our name out there, that we are still the same credit union, we still have the same core values. We’re still here about the community. We’re still here about helping people. So 18 years ago I was working for a company climbing the corporate ladder. My children were two and five, as I mentioned now 20 and 22. And I was traveling five states. I had 20 account managers underneath me, and I was climbing that corporate ladder to the next position. And a girl in my Bible study was like, Just come interview with my credit union. And I was like, What is a credit union? I didn’t even know what a credit union was. And I was like, She kept bugging me. I was like, Fine, I’ll interview with your credit union. So I went to go to the interview and I was like, okay, this was interesting. They called me back, said, Come in, take one of those personality tests, you know, And and so I went in and took one of the personality tests.

Tami Caspersen: [00:37:17] Can I tell you, I have test anxiety. I hate tests, too. I can do my homework, but I get nervous about tests. So there was a couple silly questions on there. And I went to the branch manager and I handed her my paperwork because I took every single minute I could have because it was timed. And they ask you these silly questions. And I looked at her and I said, Beth, if this has anything to do with me being hired, it was nice to meet you. I doubt that you’ll be asking me back. Next thing i knew, I was getting a call from h.R. The VP wanted to interview me over the phone and then they were sending someone from HR to interview me in person, and he actually brought the paperwork. So I’m sitting down thinking I’m having another interview. He’s like, oh, no, no, you’re hired. We brought the paperwork. I had not even told my past my employer yet that I was even looking, let alone leaving. So here we are 18 years later. I’ve seen lots of changes with the, I think, financial credit union, which is all, all all good stuff. And since we have gone community, I am now the community. The manager of Community Development, I guess you could say. So we go out into the community and there’s so many things that I want to let you know that we’re doing, and it’s a plethora of information.

Tami Caspersen: [00:38:28] So our brain says, Brian, go all the way up to Pickens County and Jasper. If you come down through Jasper, you’re going to go over to Roswell, Alpharetta, and then come on into Marietta, Georgia. And then, oh, I skipped over Windy Hill and Powers Ferry and then come on into Kennesaw. So we’ve got three branches in Cobb County, and then you’re going to go on down to the south side of town over by a South Lake mall in Morrow, Georgia, on Mount Zion Road, and then downtown in the hub of Atlanta in the Sam Nunn Federal Building. We have a branch inside the Sam Nunn building to take care of the federal employees and then all the way down to the South Lake Mall. So we have a big footprint. And then we’re also serving all. Communities within. Where we are, where our brains are located, and then we’re branching out to because of you, you know, we’re now branching out into Cartersville and up in Jasper are branching up into Gilmer County. So things are moving quickly. Just to give you a couple little things that are just near and dear to my heart, I have a precious friend, Tracy Shymansky, at church, and she started Children Without Beds.

Tami Caspersen: [00:39:38] And we take basically Sunday school to underprivileged children on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. And it’s Sunday School on steroids. Lots of great music. They get snacks. They have they win door prizes. And if their families show up, they get a food box. And you would be amazed. You might have an eight year old little girl or a six year old little girl bringing a two and three year old because she’s taking care of her siblings. So Tracy’s story is she was at I’m going to summarize for her. I’m probably not going to do as good a job as she did, but she was delivering furniture to one of the sides of a family that had to move in because I think their house had burned down. And two of the little girls from the street outreach program came up to her and said, Oh, Miss Tracy, do you have beds for us? And she was like, Well, no, honey, these are beds for the family that they they lost everything. And they said, We don’t have beds. And Tracy as an adult was like, what do you what do you mean you don’t have beds? No, no, no. Come, come, come, come. See our house, our apartment. We don’t have beds. And Tracy walked in and saw that the whole entire family was sleeping on the floor. And from that day, children without beds was created.

Brian Pruett: [00:40:47] So I need to bring her on the show.

Tami Caspersen: [00:40:49] You need to bring Tracy on the show. You would love her. And so from there, up in Jasper fell in love with one of the coordinators at Highland Rivers Men’s Recovery. There’s about 20 men. They have, I think, 22 beds. And they take men in that are needing to go through a recovery program and found out that they were sleeping on teeny, tiny little mattresses. And I was just talking to the the group and they said, you know, really, you know, once the men phase up, they can go back and start working and find a job. But but then they come back to the facility. And so I went in and I was like, well, what’s one of your wish lists? And she said, Oh, my gosh, we need new mattresses so bad. And I was like, okay. I made a mental note, went in and did a budgeting seminar because we’re all about education, teaching people about budgeting. We all think we know about budgeting, and we teach them how understanding what their credit score really means and teaching them how to not be a victim of identity theft and fraud. And so I asked the guys, I said, what’s what’s what’s your what are your needs here, guys? And they all got really quiet. And I said, Seriously, what what is your dream list? And so a couple of them raised their hand and one guy was like, Guys, she’s asking us, what’s our wish list? I said, We need new mattresses.

Tami Caspersen: [00:41:59] Is that too much to ask? I said, No, this is you’re dreaming. Another guy said, You know, we don’t have access to our phones or computers or TV, and the only guitar that we have is on its last leg. And we have a couple guys that can play the guitar. Our grill has died. And the one guy, he was the sweetest man ever, and he turned around and looked at me and he said, Miss Tammy, we need holy Bibles. And he just remembered sitting in his grandma’s house. He just remembered her Bible said, Holy Bible. And I thought that was the sweetest thing. And I said, okay. Reached out to Tracy. We got those men, 20 brand new mattresses. I had a church donate holy Bibles to them, and the church came around, bought them not a used guitar, bought them a brand new guitar. And the Home Depot up in Jasper donated a grill for them. So you know it’s it’s the I think financial credit union is me listening to the stories and then me gathering the community to come around and support these people. Some of the people in the community didn’t even know that Highland Rivers men’s facility was there. That led me to the women’s facility, which is a disclosed place in Marietta. And these women can bring up to three children with them when they’re going through drug and alcohol rehab.

Tami Caspersen: [00:43:19] And the same thing when they phase up. I go in and talk to them about budgeting and getting a credit card or getting a checking account and explaining to them how to work that credit card and not have the credit card work them and how to use a checking account smartly and found out that these ladies and their children need beds. So you’re talking about twin beds. You’re talking about mattresses for bunk beds. You’re talking about little beds for cribs. And with Tracy’s help, with children without beds, we provided 80 beds for that facility and we delivered them and set them up in one day. That took a lot of work. So passionate about children not sleeping on the floor, obviously. And I’m passionate about men and women that are in recovery that that need a good night’s sleep. And the nurse up at the men’s facility said that night the men were sleeping so well. The next morning she went in and had to wake them up. And one guy, she had all of the 20 men write us these wonderful letters. And the one man said he had just gotten out of jail. And he said, Man, I came to the rehab center and I laid my head down. And he was I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I was having a nightmare.

Tami Caspersen: [00:44:29] The bed reminded him of jail. Wow. He goes, And then the next day you all showed up with a new beds. So Children without Beds is doing a lot of good work with us. We also support Reinhardt University. They have a two runs a year. One of the strolls is for children in Pickens County, I should say teenagers in Pickens County that need a scholarship. That’s what that money goes for. The other run that’s in Canton goes for Cherokee County students that are wanting to go to Reinhardt University so that the Rotary in Jasper does a plethora of wonderful, wonderful things. We work with also Pickens County Family Connections is called Walk a Mile in their Shoes. And this is children that really can’t even afford new shoes to go to school. And so we have shoes donated. The money that we raise goes to help pay for shoes for the children. We also have a it’s funny, we have a golf tournament in Jasper, which is called the Snowball Golf tournament. It’s put on by the chamber and that supports the children in leadership in the high school. And we call it the snowball because in March you can have snow in Jasper and it has snowed in Jasper before. And then, of course, in Marietta. We work with or I should say Cobb County, we work with the Powell Club and we do their five K every year and we support the Powell Club on other initiatives as well.

Tami Caspersen: [00:45:55] The first year we did the Powell Club, it helped pay for a boxing ring for these young men and women that were interested in boxing. So these are kids that are underprivileged that might not be able to afford summer camp or might not be able to afford to go to a boxing program or a tennis program. The Powell Club, which stands for the Police Athletic League, helps these kids get that summer experience and find out what their passion is. So we’re we’re very passionate about helping with the Powell Club. And in Marietta, real close to our branch on Roswell Road, we have the most precious little church. It’s called Providence Baptist Church. And, you know, this congregation is tiny. And I’m going to say the average age. Sister Mason, forgive me if I say this wrong. And pastor, But I’m going to say the average age is 68 ish. Okay, We’ll say 65. And 20% of the 65 year olds are doing the work. They feed the homeless, they clothe the homeless. They have a laundry facility. They have a shower facility. And this is all free. So we partner with them in clothing and feeding the homeless. We partner in their back to school. Bash. But to see this teeny, tiny little congregation doing such good work in the city of Marietta and serving the homeless, and they go out and they feed the homeless, I think it’s about once a month.

Tami Caspersen: [00:47:25] And they also have a food pantry that is unbelievably amazing to me that these people take their time. To take care of the less fortunate. And some of the stories they will tell you is just amazing. Then when we go over to. And at the credit union, we have our own foundation. So our foundation through the credit union, where our members can contribute money to the foundation. I can contribute as an employee to the foundation. If you’re just looking for a place to give money. You can give to our foundation. And what our foundation does is they do we call it Jingle Bell at the branches and we go around to the Headstart schools that are within a certain mile radius of our branches. And those Headstart schools that we contact are the ones that are those children are receiving free headstart because those children are in need and we provide a little holiday party with them. Some of the schools are allowed to have Santa. Some of them are not allowed to have Santa come. They get their picture taken. They get a little party and they Brian, they get three wrapped gifts to open during their holiday, whatever holiday is that they celebrate. And these are three wrapped gifts, not from the dollar store.

Tami Caspersen: [00:48:44] These are three wrapped gifts that our members have donated. And then I have a team that we go out and we personally do the shopping. And this is Walmart, Target, Kohl’s. They’re getting really nice gifts at the holidays. And then when school hits, we do the same thing for those Headstart children. We have our own school ready days and we go into those Headstart schools and they get an adorable backpack stuffed full of school supplies that children get to come in and have their own shopping experience. So they pick out their own backpack. They pick out their own pencil pouch. They go over, they get a $35 gift card, visa gift card to go spend however they might need. We provide snacks for them. Usually we get somebody to donate toothbrushes and toothpaste. Sometimes we get a local salon. They’ll do free haircuts for the kids. So our foundation in itself does a lot for the children in our area as well. A couple other little things that I wanted to mention that. We do. And I know my credit union is like, okay, what’s Tammy up to now? What is she getting involved in now and why are we doing this in the greater, greater Fulton greater North Fulton area? I guess I should say is we have partnered with a organization and they have a couple different runs throughout the year and they have the alien run running of the leprechauns and running of the turkeys, and that supports the friends of the Roswell Police and it supports getting people off the street for human trafficking.

Tami Caspersen: [00:50:15] That’s huge for us. And it’s interesting because every one of our branches has a passion and we take that passion from the branch manager to the people in the room. Like whatever our stories are, listening to our employees stories and find out what are they already doing in the community and we can partner with them because we have the funds to do that. And then, like you said, live your passion. If you’re living out your passion, you’re never going to work a day in your life. So you can go to the credit union and go to work. But then you know that your credit union, I think financial credit union’s going to support you in whatever your passion is, whether it’s helping people get out of sex trafficking, giving back to the police department to do what they can do, providing beds for men and women in drug and alcohol rehab. That is huge for us. So we try to partner with other organizations like the Rotary, like Acworth Business Association, Kennesaw Business Association, Kiwanis, the Marietta Business Association, all of the chambers that we’re involved in, we try to partner with them to see what are they already doing because we don’t want to have to reinvent the wheel.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:21] And now B’s Charitable Pursuits and resources.

Tami Caspersen: [00:51:24] Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And we appreciate you as well. So we also do some things with must ministries. We’ve done some fun things with them. And the extension in Marietta, we’re going to start doing more things with them and the extension we’re just getting ready to I’ve reached out to them about a need for beds. They’ve had a flood, so we’re going to talk to them about beds. We’re working with Habitat for Humanity and providing a home. And these people are going to walk into a house and it’s going to be fully furnished and they have no idea. On the south side of town, we worked with another facility, another group, and it’s all women contractors and they pick a woman in need and it’s all women that go work on the house. I thought that was really cool.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:11] That’s awesome. Yeah, there’s a lot of people I want to get on the show, so you got to connect me with some folks. We can get them on the show.

Tami Caspersen: [00:52:16] I’ll help you. That’s what I like doing, connecting people, getting the word out about not only what we’re doing in the community, but what other people are doing in the community. And it just becomes your passion. And when you have a great passion, life is good. Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:29] So you came and was a part two weeks ago, almost a week and a half ago, the all in, all out ministries that Jordan was in. We’ll talk about him in just a second. Amazing. And Sharon came. And for those of you who don’t know, haven’t listened, all in all, ministries is one of those. He’s trying to get the facility to help men and recovery from addiction and everything. And I don’t think I’ve talked to you or Jordan since we did it, but we raised $10,300 for that organization.

Tami Caspersen: [00:52:54] Fantastic.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:55] Thank you for being a part of that. So absolutely. You know, you’re doing something right. We made him cry four times that night and then made him cry the day after when I called and told him the total. So, oh, my gosh.

Tami Caspersen: [00:53:04] You were talking about being intentional about praying in the Jonesboro area. We’re involved in the Jonesboro ministries and it’s called Prayer and Clean Event. And they go in certain areas of the neighborhoods and they clean up. They’re literally picking up trash. And when they get to the end of the street, they pray for that community and they go over another block and they clean and they pray and they see the people are like, who are these people coming into our community, cleaning up? You know, Like, it’s not like they couldn’t have walked out and cleaned themselves. But they have an organization that clean and prayer walk. I thought that was really awesome, really cool.

Brian Pruett: [00:53:39] So something else you guys do that I think you touched on. But if somebody signs up, they get you can give a portion back to a nonprofit, right?

Tami Caspersen: [00:53:44] Yes. So what we have right now is anyone that’s interested or looking for another financial institution, The I think financial credit union is a place, place, a great place to do your banking. I’m an employee. I do my banking there. My kids are both members of the credit union. You can join for free. We’ll make a $5 deposit for you so you don’t have to make a deposit. Our referral program is if you refer family members, friends, your kiddos, your coworkers, you’re going to get $50 per person every month. It’s been $50 for a while, but every so often our CEO will jump in there and maybe bump that up a smidgen so you can keep that money. Or if you’d like to donate that back to your favorite charity, we can make that happen. So my goal is as we go out and we continue to do more events that whether it’s a golf tournament event for a charity, like I said, we do lots of charitable golf tournaments with like Georgia Mountain Hospice, trying to get those golfers to see, yes, you’ve paid your money to golf, but by. Joining the credit union. We’re going to have something that can fit your need. You refer your child or your spouse or a coworker. You can opt to give that $50 back to that organization that day. So. We would present them a big check at the end of the day, whether it’s $500 or 5000. I’d like us to see. I’d like to see that really get kicked off and get that promoted and let them understand the significance of that. It’s free money. People are leaving on the table.

Brian Pruett: [00:55:06] Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, I’ve got three events coming up that we’re going to talk about you guys being involved in. So perfect. So real quick, for somebody who may not know, can you just share the difference between a credit union and a bank?

Tami Caspersen: [00:55:17] I sure can. Thank you for asking that question because you know what? That was in my notes to do that. So this is what I say. This is the 100 and 101 of credit union and banking. Banking is for profit. Credit unions are not for profit. So basically what that means to you is traditionally a bank is going to be higher on the interest rates on things. You’re going to invest in your money markets, your IRAs, your any your certificates of deposit. Our checking account right now earns 7% on one penny, up to $3,000. So whether you’ve got $500 in there or 3000, it’s going to earn 7%. Anything over 3000 is going to earn a smidgen. So if you have a significant other, get them to open an account. You can have six grand earning 7%. So traditionally higher interest rates on things, you’re going to invest in traditionally lower interest rates on things you’re going to purchase your car loan, your home loan, your home equity line of credit, your credit cards, your credit card balance transfers, things of that nature. Also, I think it’s very important for you all to know is that our board of directors are all volunteers. They do not get paid. So. Again, the money that they would be being paid, we can pass back to you where you don’t have to make an initial deposit to open your free account. We pay that for you. We can afford to give you $50 for a referral and get you started. Because you know what? If we can help you, you’re going to pass the information on to someone else that we can help. So that’s that’s basic Credit Union 101.

Brian Pruett: [00:56:46] So if somebody who’s traveling, how difficult is it for them to go to an ATM and get some money?

Tami Caspersen: [00:56:51] Well, it’s not difficult because with our online banking and our mobile app, basically with the mobile app, you’ve got you’ve got me and the credit union in your hand. So you can go online, you can transfer money to your kids, you can move money, you can pay your car loan and your car payment right online. If you would need to go into a branch, you’re going to go into or go onto the website, you’re going to type into the search bar. You’re going to put in shared service centers, or you can put in ATMs. You’re going to put in the zip code where you’re traveling to or where you are at the moment, whether you’re traveling for a job or for fun, it’s going to bring up all the surcharge free ATMs and all of the shared service centers that you could actually walk in the front door and take care of business there. You can make a deposit, cash, a check. You can even pay on your car loan at a shared service center.

Brian Pruett: [00:57:41] Awesome. Well, you’ve already shared your passion with the community, so I have to ask that question. But you also do networking. I met you through actually Tiffany, right from when we met at Paulding. And you guys came to the ABA Jolt. Yes. So can you share a positive story of networking?

Tami Caspersen: [00:57:54] Oh, my gosh, There are so many. I’m going to say, when there was a job fair. In Jasper and up in Pickens County. And so we’re like, you know, let’s just let’s go to the job fair. It can’t hurt because, you know, we’re always looking for great people at the credit union. And like I said, I’ve been there 18 years. So we have very longevity at the credit union as well. And so we’re like, let’s just go to the job fair. Let’s do some networking. Let’s see what comes in. Well, it was kind of a slow start to the people coming to look for jobs. So I decided, you know, I’m not getting paid just to sit here. So I started networking with the people in the room. That’s how I found Highland Rivers men. Wow. And from there, I just. I fell in love with the ladies at the table. I fell in love with the passion that they had. They had drug, drug and alcohol, substance abuse in their own families. That’s why they went to work there just to see their faces and to see that someone came to their table and was asking questions about their foundation, you know, about their organization. Nobody else was getting it from the table. They were all just doing their own thing. And so that’s how I met them. That’s how I found out the need. That’s how we were able to meet the need. And that just I’ve never been one to sit behind my table at an event because you know what? Everyone else that’s there has a story. And sometimes it just takes one person to go to a table to get the other people to go to the table. And I’ll go around and I let them know upfront that I’m a vendor, but I also let them know that I might have something that they may need and we might be able to network really well together. So that’s one of my good stories.

Brian Pruett: [00:59:34] Awesome. Well, don’t go anywhere. We’re not done. Thank you. I want to move over to Jordan Mitchell. Jordan, thanks for being here this morning.

Jordan Mitchell: [00:59:41] Thank you. It’s a pleasure.

Brian Pruett: [00:59:42] So for those of you who came out to the locker room chat, you heard a little bit of Jordan’s story. But Jordan, you are from Bartow County, a graduate, graduated from life, and you are an Olympic style wrestler working your way to the Olympics. So if you don’t mind, you again, you’re following your dreams, but share your story, if you don’t mind.

Jordan Mitchell: [00:59:58] Yeah. So I am a straight from Bartow County, you know, completely raised in the town I. You know, from since the beginning. I was at Cloverleaf Elementary School, which I don’t know if that elementary school exists anymore. Then I transferred to Kingston Elementary School. Town, you know, in between Rome and Cartersville and went to Cass Middle. That’s where I began my wrestling journey. And the thing about my about my life is like. Everything is always played out. I was always going to be a wrestler. Everything is always the way. It’s all gone down. It’s all just been orchestrated. And I do believe in a higher power. I do believe in God. I do believe Jesus is a, you know, God in the flesh. And obviously, I wasn’t like as I didn’t have a very close relationship growing up because I was a child. I’ve gotten more as I’ve matured, I’ve gotten closer and I started. I start to see his work in my life more as I get older. So yeah, everything’s always, you know, played out, started wrestling in middle school, wasn’t good start, you know, went on to high school, still wasn’t good. And I only the best I ever did in high school was fifth at state. You know my dreams, my whole journey from when I started wrestling in middle school to high school. I wanted to be a state champ and go wrestle in college. You know, Division one, college, be an engineer, be an engineer in college.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:01:28] And. Um, yeah. And from there, wrestling for the Olympics. And this was actually for the US. You know, I wanted to wrestle for the Olympics, for the US, make the US world team. So both my parents on one side, both my parents are Jamaican and I’m first generation here in the States. So my story, I would say it begins when I start. It begins a lot. You know, when I started wrestling. And when I get to high school, once I graduate high school, I get that state right, that when I say when I say that, that’s what I wanted. Like when I was a kid and I was training and that’s what was that that was my dream was to be a state champ so I could go to college. Because back then the way I saw it was if I can be a state champ, I can get a scholarship to go to college, the Division one college, be an engineer. My life will be you know, it’ll be golden. It’ll be the best thing. When I didn’t achieve that goal, it broke me like, you know. This is a whole nother topic, but like how how we pray and things like that. Like the purpose of prayer. I used to pray all the time before matches and be like, God, I just pray that I can win this match. You know, I worked so hard. I deserve to win this match. Clearly, that’s not the way you should go about it.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:02:45] But I was a kid at the time, you know, And when I lost, it tore me apart. And I was like, you know what? Forget this. Like, I can I can do this on my own, you know? And so. I. I talk a lot about God in my in my path and my journey at State that year, my senior year when I was graduating, I got fifth and I actually turned. I actually was like, in a way, I feel like I turned my back to God and I actually walked away from the sport of wrestling. So from you know, I went to a national tournament after state and I was actually talking to the Air Force Academy coach, wrestling coach. And I told him I was like, yeah, I’m trying to get, you know, I want to go to Air Force Academy. I had a 3.5 GPA. That’s why I graduated high school with And at that at that at that national tournament, the wrestling the Air Force Academy coach was there watching my match and I choked and I went zero and two and I got destroyed because in my mind, I was like, you know what? If I can just become an all-American place at this national tournament, maybe I can get a scholarship, went, did terrible choked, and that was that. And then I had one more redemption. I felt like at the biggest, biggest national tournament in the country called Fargo Cadet and Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:04:07] And there I went. I won two matches, lost two matches. That was it. And then that was the last that was the breaking point. I was like, wow, I’m looks like I’m not going to college or I’m not wrestling in college. That’s it. So I actually walked away from the sport, didn’t watch wrestling, wasn’t a part of it. You know, it was actually real painful for me to even, like, watch it because guys, everyone that I had grown up with training with at these other schools, club programs or whatever, they went on to do what I wanted to do. They were in college winning matches, getting scholarships, and I sat there and I was just back I was in Cartersville working a warehouse job, you know, going to Georgia Highlands and just basically flunking my classes because I was like, I didn’t really want to be there. And then. On the flip side, everyone else was doing what I wanted to do. And so the year was about a year and a half after, you know, after graduating, my life was pretty much I wouldn’t say. Chaotic, but it was like all over the place. I wasn’t really I wasn’t really on a path. I was just working my I’ll be transparent. My GPA at Highlands was a 1.6. I was out every night coming back home at 3 a.m. just, you know, just being out and about because I was just like I was not I wasn’t doing anything I wanted to do.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:05:30] And I, I like to call this. I can go warn the detail. What, you know, in that in that I call that my dead period. I can go more in detail, but I like to call this my burning bush moment. You know, like Moses, when he ran to the burning bush and heard the voice, heard God’s voice. I remember I came home one night, it was 3 a.m. and I remember I just started basically just letting everything out. I remember I was sitting there listening to music and I just remember saying like, Look, God, I hate my life right now. Like, I’m not doing anything I want to do. I don’t want to be in school. I hate working ten hours a day overnight shift. I hate this, you know, And I was sitting I’m like, I’m watching everybody do things I want to do, etcetera. I’m in debt. And I remember I heard this was one of the few times I’ve ever heard the voice. Verbal voice of the Lord. And when this happens, it’s like I remember just the atmosphere in the room I was in. It got nice and calm. It was steady. It was like it was just it was just there. And I remember he said to me or the voice said to me, he’s like, Are you done with your pity party yet? Because there’s still more work to be done.

Tami Caspersen: [01:06:50] I love that.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:06:51] And this is listening to your story, Tammy. This is where I like. When I listen to people’s stories, I always listen for like when you decide like, this is what you’re going to do. Yes. And it’s just you and Jesus. It’s you and God. And you decide like, All right, this it’s just you and me. We’re doing this. Everything else after that just kind of plays out. And so I decided when I heard that voice that you don’t need a pity party because it’s still, still more work to be done. I was like, Yeah, I’m done. So I don’t know. I don’t know what it is. I know I don’t know what it looks like, but, you know, let’s it’s just you and me, literally. I was like, It’s just you and me. And we’re going to we’re going to figure this out, you know? And that’s when I started realizing, like, step by step. First step is I got to get my grades up because I’m going to have to transfer to compete somewhere. And I can’t transfer if I don’t have my grades up. Second thing, got to get out of debt, you know, because I was like at the time, I was like $4,000 in debt because I had a student credit card and I was just, you know, not being smart with it. So I have to get my grades up so I can transfer. Get out of debt. And then I have to start figuring out figuring out training. You know, I have to I was not living a lifestyle of an athlete, so. You know, as time went on, it started paying off my debt, got out of debt. There’s some crazy stories about that, about how like just how God really does puts things into play where pays off debts, like there are finances out there for you guys that are in store, you know, blessings that are in store that will help you get get things done.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:08:26] You know, so was able to pay off debt. And from start to figure out training. And it’s interesting because I started coaching when I started doing was I started coaching at local high schools, local middle schools. And as I was wrestling with the guys, wrestling with the kids, that’s when I realized I was No. 1819 at the time. And I realized I was like, I still have I still have it in me. Like I still clearly now looking back, it’s like obviously it hasn’t to me. I was only 19. I wasn’t like old, you know, or, you know, like worn out or retired. But I was like, I still have it in me. Like, I can still get this done. And I like to think about that as like, it’s what brought me back to the sport was actually helping out or giving back. Exactly know helping out the kids. Because what really drove me in the beginning, what really drove me to start coaching, was helping out these kids achieve the goals that I never did. You know, like I’ve not to brag or anything, but I’ve now it’s like I’ve helped out many kids, go on to college, get scholarships, win state, become national champs, All-Americans, things like that. Those are things I never got. I never did, you know, coming up. And now it’s like I’ve gotten better at coaching and I’m able to help and give back more. And that’s what brought me back to the sport.

Brian Pruett: [01:09:52] Well, if you think about it in sports, just to but the people who make the best coaches are people who either never played the game or sat the bench and looked or the ones who think they weren’t the best, you know, and didn’t accomplish those things. So you’re right in that category.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:10:08] Absolutely. But yeah, and so I started. So this is the part of the journey where it’s like, all right, I decided I’ve got to get I’ve got to start figuring out training. And then I start I got to start competing. This is where the beginning of the process, you know, And as time gone on, time has time has gone on. I started realizing the process of development. You know, what it takes to, you know, jump levels and get better. As an athlete, I started I had to figure out training. I started training at local colleges. You know, I was training at Rinehart, was training at Life University. I would go up to UTC in Chattanooga, you know, and this is the funny thing again, God really does put things in your life for certain time periods, you know, certain just plays things out. Like I was training at Rinehart first and eventually I guess the way my life shifted, I started training at life, you know, like just how things just at the time I was, he, he worked it out to where I was in the best room that I needed to be in, you know, possible at that time period. So I’m training. I start competing on my own, literally, when I mean, I was competing on my own. I’m competing. It’s just me driving anywhere in the South east. Five hours to go to North Carolina to compete, go to Tennessee to compete, Florida to compete wherever. And it’s just me and God and some tournaments I win, other tournaments I lose.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:11:38] But this is where I started getting it’s like it’s almost like God was my coach. He gave me a level of discernment to be able to not be so emotionally involved in my results. And I was able to, you know, understand like, okay, I lost because of this. I need to look at what I need to do here, you know, and improve on this area. And then it was just like rinse and repeat. As I was doing that in this part of my life, I was still getting my grades up, still working, you know, still working warehouse warehouse jobs and and back in 2019, I actually get in contact with his name is Daniel Dennis. He is a 2016 Olympian. He actually started coaching me personally, and this is where this was in UTC at Chattanooga. And so he’s coaching me, you know, like he’s helping me jump levels. And by then my grades are I’ve gotten my grades up to where I’m able to transfer. Spring of 2020 comes around. I actually transfer to UTC in Chattanooga. It’s a Division one college with engineering because engineering was my was. My. Was my was my. It was. It was. It was my breaking point. Either it was either I’m going to do engineering and wrestle or I’m just going to wrestle. And so they had engineering. But unfortunately, by the time I got there, if if you guys understand how College Division one sports works, you have a running clock, you know, eligibility.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:13:17] And by the time I got there, unfortunately, I was out of eligibility. But this is the strange, this is the interesting part. So I reached that crossroads. And I always knew, like when I got accepted into the school, I had this, I had this. It’s like this, this feeling where you have to, like, run an errand and you’re procrastinating, but you just know you have to do it. I always had this feeling and it was like it might be too good to be true. Like I spent the last five years working for this moment, training, traveling on my own, you know, without a coach, you know, hopping around, just doing whatever, trying to figure this out on my own. And I’m finally going to transfer and do engineering. You know, I got out of debt and is this this might be too good to be true? And lo and behold, it was. But I reached a crossroads where it was all right. So I had gotten my grades up and it was either I transferred to Georgia Tech or KSU to do engineering and not wrestle or. I had already built a family and an establishment of life university because I was I was a volunteer assistant coach there. And I trained I transferred there and changed my major and continue wrestling. And I was like, you know what? I was talking to my aunt. She gave me some words of wisdom and she told me she was like, I told her how I was like, you know, I just felt like it was just too good to be true.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:14:45] And she said to me, she’s like, Oh, that was the Holy Spirit telling you, preparing you for that, for that crossroad. Like, you know, sometimes God will let you know, like, Hey, there’s a big choice coming up in the future. Near future, I’m preparing you. So, you know, make that decision. And I told her, I was like, Well, I don’t know. I was like, Well. It is audio engineering and go make money or I wrestle and be broke for a little bit longer and, you know, just do what I want to do. And she said, Well, that’s entirely up to you, but here’s one word. Here’s one thing to know. If you wake up every single day miserable, chances are you made the wrong choice. Yes. If you wake up every day content and you know at peace and just and you keep moving forward, most likely you made the right choice. And looking back, I had already had I had already lived years my my young adult life working without without sport wrestling warehouse jobs, being in school without it. And I was like, you know what? Yeah, I’m going to change my major in wrestling. I already made this decision years ago. So around that time, yeah, around that time I had actually gotten in contact with the Jamaican coach. He is, his name is Kevin Wallen.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:16:00] He was actually a Jamaican athlete and coach at the time. And he told me, I told him what I was. I told him what I was going on. I was like, Hey, right now I’m actually not in college right now. I’m actually just training, working, traveling around. And he told me what I needed to do. He was like, That’s pretty cool. This is what you need to do. You need to get this, this and this. Get your citizenship and your passport. And that was all he told me. And he disappeared. And from there to 2021, after quarantine or the initial part of quarantine, Jamaican wrestling, the Jamaican Wrestling Federation, completely wiped their board clean and got new people involved. And then one of the coaches, one of the one of the current board members reached out to me and he was like, Hey, someone passed me along. Your name, are you still interested? And blah, blah, blah, and do you have your documents and stuff? And I was like, Yeah, actually I started the process. He’s like, All right, if you’re serious, this is what you need to do. And by now I was already at Life University as a freshman, quote unquote, freshman for my first year of athletic athletics. And yeah, so I told him I was like, Yeah, I’m at Life University now. I’m going to keep getting better at wrestling. Just, you know, stick to the process, you know? And from here, this is where I’m at.

Brian Pruett: [01:17:27] So those of you who are listening can’t see. We’re talking about Olympic style wrestling, not the WWE. Correct. But when you look at him, he’s I don’t know, he’s not very big, but it’s just it’s what weight class do you wrestle.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:17:40] So college I wrestle 141 141 pounds and then international for freestyle it’s 140 3.3 which is 65 kilos kilograms.

Brian Pruett: [01:17:50] Okay. And so when I think about the Olympics in Jamaica, I think of Cool Runnings. And when I said that to you, you said you are the cool runnings of the Summer Olympics.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:17:57] Pretty much.

Brian Pruett: [01:17:57] Yes. Yeah. So, okay, so let’s, let’s do this. So, um, you and I sat down and talked. You are trying to currently get to next year’s Olympics, correct? Yes, sir. You’ve already participated in several international tournaments. Yes, sir. Uh, what was the last one? You just. You just were at, So ju.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:18:19] I was in El Salvador at the Central American Caribbean Games July 3rd. That’s where I was at just previously.

Brian Pruett: [01:18:27] How’d you do?

Jordan Mitchell: [01:18:28] I took fifth. Fifth at the tournament. It was. You know, it was good.

Brian Pruett: [01:18:32] Hey, top five is always good.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:18:34] Yeah, it’s tough. But, yeah, it was. It was a good experience.

Brian Pruett: [01:18:37] So what’s next as far as getting to the Olympics? What do you have to do to to finish getting there?

Jordan Mitchell: [01:18:43] So the way it works, there is a Olympic qualifying tournament, the Pan American Olympic qualifying tournament, and that is and that is next March in Mexico. So I have to make the finals. You know, I have to get bronze, gold or silver to be to be able to qualify my weight. So the way it works is each country, there’s five weight classes and you have to you have to place at the requirement at a qualifying term. There’s multiple qualifying tournaments around the world. You know, there’s one Asian qualifier, the Pan American qualifier, the European qualifier, South American qualifier, you know, African. And then there’s a couple other ones, last chance qualifiers. And you pretty much just have to medal. And once you medal, you qualify the weight for that country. So I’m the only guy at my weight so I, I medal. I pretty much qualify my weight which I’ll I’ll qualify myself for that country.

Brian Pruett: [01:19:42] Awesome. So and these tournaments that you go to and I’m guessing even the Olympics, you have to pay for these for yourself right. There’s no they don’t pay for you to go to these. So you and I were talking about trying to figure out a way businesses or people want to help sponsor you, right?

Jordan Mitchell: [01:19:58] Absolutely.

Brian Pruett: [01:19:59] Um, have you guys, you know, sat down and talked a little bit about it, But if there’s a way to do that, how can people do that?

Jordan Mitchell: [01:20:04] So I’m actually so what you can do is I’m actually set up I’ve actually I’ve set up a virtual business card if you want to follow me. And my virtual business card leads directly to my. Venmo, my cash app, things like that for donations. I’m still actually and if you want to contact me, my contact information is on there. Also straight to my Instagram or Facebook or my messenger or my text. If you want to contact me directly to figure out a sponsor, you can work something out sponsorship wise. Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [01:20:42] Well, we’ll share that information here in just a second. So for those who don’t know the difference, talk about the difference between Olympic style wrestling and it’s Roman Greco, Right? There are two different kinds, Correct? Can you share the difference?

Jordan Mitchell: [01:20:56] So freestyle, so Olympic style. The two Olympic styles are freestyle and Greco-Roman. Greco-roman is the world’s oldest sport. You know, it’s just basically upper body wrestling. You can’t touch below the legs. The goal, the goal of any wrestling is to pin your opponent, put both shoulders to the mat and Greco. You try to do that with just, you know, upper body wrestling, anything above the waist. Freestyle is basically anything goes. You can grab the legs, headlocks ankles, anything, you know. But again, the end the end goal is to pin your opponent’s shoulders to the mat and you can also win by points, you know, So.

Brian Pruett: [01:21:36] All right. You also shared with me that when you’re done with wrestling, you have a pretty cool dream of doing that when you’re done as well. So you want to continue working with the next generation and coaching. And so I want to ask everybody else in here, did you guys know that Life University has an IT degree? I did not know that.

Tami Caspersen: [01:21:53] I did not know that until I spoke to him at the event.

Brian Pruett: [01:21:55] So Jordan that’s what he graduated with life with. And but you also are going back to get a master’s, which I did not know they had this or this degree either. Share what you’re going to be doing.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:22:04] So I’ll be getting a master’s in positive psychology and then coaching psychology.

Tami Caspersen: [01:22:09] Wow, I love it.

Brian Pruett: [01:22:10] And then you want to do what with that?

Jordan Mitchell: [01:22:12] So later on, I do plan on being a high school, high school coach, most likely somewhere down the line. Yeah. You know, just being that one high school coach that’s probably a health teacher or a history teacher and just, you know, developing the next generation.

Brian Pruett: [01:22:27] You said you had aspirations to go in MMA as well, correct? Absolutely. Yeah. There you go. All right. So awesome. Jordan, thank you for for sharing that. So I’ve got two other questions before we wrap this up. I usually like to ask these while you guys are talking, but since I forgot to ask you first, I decided to wait till the end. Joan If somebody wants to get a hold of you and learn about the tours, come do a tour. How can they do that?

Joan Mannis: [01:22:49] I have a website, Old Cartersville tours.com. That’s probably the best way. I’m on Facebook, I’m on, I’m on Instagram. And so they can follow me that way. Okay, I need followers.

Brian Pruett: [01:23:03] There you go. All right, Tammy, if people want to talk to you more about the credit union, how can they get Ahold of you guys?

Tami Caspersen: [01:23:09] They can reach out to us on our website. They want to reach out to me personally. They can reach out to me at t caspersen and that’s tca’s p r s e n at i think i.org. They can also reach out to me by my cell phone, which is (770) 681-6859. And we’re just here to help people. As my father said, I think you were born from a briefcase. So I learned community service. I learned dedication and work ethic from my dad and the small town that I shared with you that I grew up in. So I’m here to help however I can.

Brian Pruett: [01:23:43] Awesome. All right, Jordan, share if people want to follow you. If people want to help you get your dream, share your Instagram share, How can people get Ahold of you on what they can? How can they follow you?

Jordan Mitchell: [01:23:53] So right now, if you want, you can send me a text message at (678) 677-5250. Or you can just reach out to me on my social media, which is Instagram. It’s just prince underscore Jordan j a h d a n.

Brian Pruett: [01:24:11] Awesome. All right. Last question that I’d like to ask before we wrap this up. You guys have shared a lot awesome stories already, but I’d like for you guys to share one piece of positive nugget, a quote or a word that people can take today, the rest of 2023 and beyond with. So, Joan, what do you got?

Joan Mannis: [01:24:31] Make a long bucket list. Now and at the end of your life, have a short one.

Brian Pruett: [01:24:38] Mm. Nice. Yeah.

Joan Mannis: [01:24:40] Do your bucket list.

Brian Pruett: [01:24:42] Tammy.

Tami Caspersen: [01:24:43] I like to teach people.

Tami Caspersen: [01:24:44] When I go out to do educational seminars, I like to say I’m here to help you say no for a little while so you can say yes for the rest of your life.

Brian Pruett: [01:24:54] Awesome, Jordan.

Jordan Mitchell: [01:24:57] So I want to say. I think so. Understand time. Things take time and have patience. And I say that because. Whenever you’re trying to whenever. And I think I think the principles of life are pretty much universal, whether it’s athletics or business or, you know, building anything. Figure out, you know, there’s a step by step process, figure out what the step by step process is, you know, and it’s basically just rinse and repeat. You know, so if something if you’re trying to develop something, figure out what it is you’re doing. Fix that and then improve. Test it. And then it’s just rinse and repeat from there. So. Yeah, just understand, things don’t come quickly, especially things that have longevity and consistency. They don’t come fast. So give yourself time and have patience.

Brian Pruett: [01:25:53] It’s God’s timing, not ours, that’s for sure. Exactly. All right. So again, the thank you is a lost art these days. So, Jonah, I want to thank you for not only coming on and sharing your story this morning, but what you’ve added to the community of Bartow with old Cartersville City tours and your story of being an overcomer and following your dreams. Tammy, thank you for everything that you’re doing in the community and sharing your story as well and just being the story of hope for others. Absolutely. And Jordan, thank you for what you’re doing. I mean, you guys, you’re following a passion, your dream, and these next generation athletes can look up to you and being a good role model. So thank you for that. Everybody out there listening. Let’s remember, remember, let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.

BRX Pro Tip: Invest in Your Team

August 7, 2023 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Invest in Your Team

00:00 /

BRX Pro Tip: Invest in Your Team

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, you’ve said it a number of times, I’ve heard it a number of times, I believe wholeheartedly in the concept – invest in your team. But say more about that from your vantage point.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:19] Well, if you want a team of people who deliver exceptional service, then you have to be a leader who can articulate your vision, explain with clarity what you expect and what you will not tolerate. And that’s what it takes in order to deliver exceptional service, and that’s what you owe to your team, and that’s what your team owes to the mission that you’re all on. And to do that, you have to help your people get what they want.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] That’s at the bottom line of all this. In order for you to be able to deliver the exceptional service that you imagine, you have to help your team members get what they really, really want. You have to be able to understand their desired outcome and deliver it to them, and help them understand that by working with you, and for you, and on this mission that they are going to get what they really, really want.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:13] That means, you know, some of the things to try, give them credit publicly. You know, let them know that they’re doing a good job and that they’re special. And figure out ways that you can help make their life easier and better. And if you do some of these things relentlessly, you have a good shot to attract the right people to your team, and that makes it a lot easier when the right people are coming to you and want to be part of the team. And then, when you have the right people, that they will perform admirably, and get the job done in the manner that you would like it to be done. They feel like that they’re winning. They feel like they’re doing work that’s important, that’s meaningful. And then, your customers are happy and your customers keep coming back.