Intro: [00:00:07] 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: [00:00:45] Good, fabulous Friday. It’s another fabulous Friday morning. First of all, I hope everybody was safe that had the storms last night. It was like the whirlwind that came through the door like Cheryl this morning. So I had to pick on you. You know that. You know, it wouldn’t be it wouldn’t be a day without that. So this is your first time listening to Charitable Georgia. This is all about positive things happening in the community. So welcome to the show. Also, I want to mention and say congratulations to my mother. Happy last day of work. She is retiring today, so I need her.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:01:17] I need her today, actually. So I’m glad.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:19] So you better get there today.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:01:20] Get there today. Exactly.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:22] So, yeah, she’s got a lot of mixed emotions, but she has decided that she now wants to have her own time, so. All right. Like I said, we’ve got three fabulous guests this morning. And our first guest this morning is Cheryl Hyde from Hyde, Hyde and Hyde. Thanks for being here, Cheryl.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:01:37] Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:38] So you and I have known each other for quite a while.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:01:42] Yeah. 12, 13 years.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:44] Something like that. You have a passion. I mean, you have a passion for a lot of things. Dogs, kids, folks, hedgehogs, all that stuff. But if you don’t mind sharing your backstory because it gets into why you’re doing what you’re doing and your passion.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:01:58] Okay, about. Nine years ago, I was married to the most amazing person in the world. Of course, everybody thinks that their spouse was the most amazing and he came down with esophageal cancer and got very, very sick very quickly. And we managed to survive for two years. And then he passed away. It was a very hard it was very difficult. There was never. A day. That was not difficult. But there were some little diamonds in there every once in a while that were special. But the the hardest thing we went through was from November 21st until two years later, December 16th. It never stopped being hard. On the 16th, he did pass away. And then he I went to the funeral home. And the funeral home was the easiest part of what we did because when I got there, we had already planned everything. We had already chosen the songs and the people who were going to sing, and we’d already chosen the the lovely casket. He actually got in the casket to see how he looked. Oh, wow. Yeah, we had so much fun. He was a fun guy anyway. And but we had done everything, so all we had to do was pick what date we were going to bury him and what date we were going to do the service. And it was really easy. And I’m grateful that that was easy because I can’t imagine having to walk in there and make decisions by myself when he’s, you know, back in the other room. So I’m grateful that he was there. And so that’s how I kind of got started in the funeral part. So I do pre-planning for funerals, and most of my clients are going to be from the Bartow Paulding Polk.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:03:43] Floyd County. I’m thinking, what are my counties? Cherokee and Cobb County. People. Those are basically going to be my my clients. And I love to help them make the decisions of what they want and what they don’t want, and they can even pay for it that far ahead. If if it’s going to be three decades from now, you get the price of today. So I enjoy doing that. And people usually come in. They’re all scared and worried and afraid they’re going to cry. And I’m afraid I’m going to say what I’m going to say on the radio. Here we go. So Brian always says he puts the fun in fundraising. And I’ve always said that I put the fun in funerals, but we can make it fun if you’re doing it beforehand, not not last minute. So we do that. And then the other thing that I do is Medicare. And the reason I got involved in Medicare navigation was just filling out the forms for him for disability were a nightmare. All of the paperwork and everything is disgusting. It’s horrible, it’s difficult. And if you don’t aren’t even a little educated, you cannot fill all that form out by yourself. They give you an hour and a half to fill it out. I took an hour and 27 minutes and I got it done on time and thank goodness. Or else it just goes away and you have to start over. So I did learn all about the the government stuff that you get to fill out. And so I found that navigating Medicare was exactly the same thing. And so I’ve enjoyed it. I love doing that and love helping people find what they need to get things done.

Brian Pruett: [00:05:07] So and I think this is all important because, I mean, you’re obviously dealing with seniors for the most part most of the time, and I mentioned this a few episodes ago, and that’s one, I think, demographic that gets overlooked a lot and forgotten about. So walk us through a process you mentioned a little bit and how you what you guys did. But walk us through a process when you’re talking to somebody on the preplanning part, what does that look like?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:05:33] Well, first, I usually end up just getting to know them a little bit if I don’t already know them and kind of learn what they love, what they what their family feels like and what their family. How will people get along and and what it’s going to mean when mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, whoever it is, pass away. And so I like to have a good concept for what their their feel of their family is. So before I open the computer, before I do anything else, I learn a lot about the people. They say it should only take an hour to do these, but I really like to stretch them out a little bit more if the people are okay with that just because to learn what they do. But then when they get when we get to the point where we’re like, okay, let’s figure this out, I open the computer, I ask them a thousand questions, and sometimes that leads to more stories. You know me. I love everybody’s story. That’s what I want to hear is everybody’s story. So it leads to more information. But basically, when they’re done, they can choose to pay for it, not pay for it, whatever. They can finance it, that sort of thing. But they they generally are very happy when they leave because all we did was find out what they love and people love to talk about what they love.

Brian Pruett: [00:06:39] So are you doing everything from the service to the picking out the casket to the whole the whole thing, the whole thing?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:06:45] We can do it all. We do not do the cemetery. You’re going to pick your own cemetery because people are kind of particular about that and you’re going to pick your own headstone and things like that. That does not happen with us, but I’ll be happy to take you there and walk you through it.

Brian Pruett: [00:06:59] With what about is it a certain funeral home or do you?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:07:02] We are a certain funeral home. We’re Acworth, we’re in Georgia. Cremation and Georgia Funeral Care is the name of the company I work for anyway there in Acworth. And we’re opening a new one in Cartersville. So we’ll have two offices or funeral homes or whatever they are.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:19] So have you ever sat down with somebody who planned their own funeral, someone not their families, but their own?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:07:24] Absolutely. That’s that’s what I do. I’ve planned mine. So, yeah, I’ve sat with lots of people who plan their own. Most of them plan their own.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:33] Yeah, It’s we actually sat down with mom a few weeks or I guess a couple of months ago and started that process too. So just because of learning from you that that’s something you need to start. So yeah. All right. Let’s talk about the Medicare piece, because you said something to me about and I didn’t realize this, but you see all these commercials, right? Call Medicare and Medicare. Medicare. And you said. Right. It says it’s.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:07:53] Free.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:54] But you said they’re not really supposed to be doing that.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:07:56] They’re not supposed to do that. You’re not supposed to call people directly. You’re not supposed to run ads to have people call you and lie to them on the television. You’re not supposed to do that.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:05] And can you explain why?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:08:07] Well, first of all, it’s wrong to lie to people. It’s the wrong thing to do. I mean, I think you get that concept. But but it’s also illegal. It is it is against the law for people to be calling other people. So how do they.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:20] Get away with those commercials with all the big time actors like JJ from.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:08:24] Jj Walker.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:25] Jj Walker.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:08:26] Joe Namath. It’s right there. My biggest competitors. But if you if if you really want to know that answer, you’re going to have to call me and talk to me because I’m not going to tell the whole world who is paying for those commercials. But you can probably figure it out for yourself.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:39] Gotcha, Gotcha. Do you also do Medicare stuff as well?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:08:45] Medicaid? No, I do not. Medicaid do not do. It’s okay. People mix it up all the time. But no, it is a different entity.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:51] Completely can do you can you do you mind sharing the difference for those who might not know?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:08:55] Medicare is for people who are 65 and older or have a disability before then. So I have one client whom I love that your mom helps me with who is he was born in 61. That makes him 50 something. He makes him less than 65, but he’d had a stroke and so he can be on on Medicare earlier. But Medicaid is a it’s based on your income. If your income is below a certain level, you can be on Medicaid.

Brian Pruett: [00:09:27] So and are there can you be do both.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:09:30] You can and that’s a little complicated. You really don’t want to know the details, I promise you. But it is it is it’s a it’s called a dual enrollment. So you can be in both. Yes.

Brian Pruett: [00:09:39] So another thing that you think are passionate about is helping other people, because you and I are part of a Cartersville business club. Carter comes and RJ will.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:09:48] Be there soon.

Brian Pruett: [00:09:48] Right. Right. But you, like me, helped start that club, what, two years now? So first of all, share a benefit of why networking is so positive. And then why is that another passion of yours?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:10:05] Wow. Again, I love to hear everybody’s story. I don’t know why where that came from, but I want to know your story. I want to know where you’re from, what’s your history is who your family is, that sort of thing. I’m nosy, but. But the networking world, there’s nothing that makes me feel better than when I can help RJ, who I’ve never met before today. Or Carter or you. Or my dear friend Stone. You know, that makes me happy just to be able to help other people. But it also helps the person I’m connecting you with and that the person you’re connecting you with is usually the person who’s going, I don’t know what to do. And I love to help people figure things out. And so networking is. Also Wednesday morning. Wednesdays are my favorite day of the week because of Cartersville Business Club. I’m exhausted afterwards, but. But it’s my favorite day. But I really just. I just think that our job is to help each other. I think that’s what we were all put here. We were put here to have fellowship with other people, and that’s easy to do. So why not do it?

Brian Pruett: [00:11:04] So that’s probably the same answer you’d give me if I asked you why it’s important for you to be a part of the community, correct?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:11:08] That would be exactly the same. It’s your job you’re supposed to.

Brian Pruett: [00:11:12] Cheryl also has a very good talent. Stone So if you ever need somebody and you get lost, just have her whistle whistle. Everybody will.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:11:19] Everybody will come back or run away because their ears hurt.

Brian Pruett: [00:11:22] Yes. I’ve never been able to do that, nor have I been able to hear anybody who’s as loud as she is. So it’s pretty it’s pretty cool. A raised boys. Yes. So I have to ask this because I’ve never asked you this. And why the hedgehog?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:11:36] Well, it has to do with the hedgehog theory in the book. Good. Good to Great. Good is the enemy of great? Yes, that’s the one. Yes. Anyway, but the hedgehog does one thing and he does it really, really well. It’s what he’s passionate about. It’s staying alive. And he can ball up into a ball and then his prey doesn’t eat him because a, he looks like a ball and B, he’s got sort of prickly things. They don’t want to put that in their mouth. So they choose another subject. So. So you translate that to business, find out what you’re really good at, find out what you’re really passionate at, and be sure it’s something that you can make money doing. And then that is your that’s your world. So hedgehog theory. So I love hedgehogs.

Brian Pruett: [00:12:17] There you go. All right. So tell us about your pup. I have to know about your pup, Sasha. Yes.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:12:21] Sasha’s great. She’s about two years old, a year and a half, and she’s a German shepherd. And they found her on the side of the road. And she’s a full blooded German shepherd. I mean, this dog would have been $5,000 and somebody just abandoned her and her brother on the side of the road. And so my friend has the brother. I have Sasha. And I really don’t think I could live without her. And I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t think about when I said, yes, she could come live with me. I didn’t think about the fact that now I’m setting myself up for another loss. But we’ll enjoy it.

Brian Pruett: [00:12:54] While she’s got talents, too. She likes blowing your horn. Yes. She had to take your car.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:12:58] I had to take the fuze out of the car so I don’t have a horn anymore.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:02] She also locked the car right? A couple of times.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:13:04] And she learned how to open the back end and can get out in the middle of Main Street on Cartersville.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:09] Yeah. So if you ever see a German Shepherd running on Main Street, it’s probably mine. Yeah. All right. So let’s go back to the pre planning and Medicare stuff. You give somebody some some advice on just I mean, you’ve shared already some stuff, but if you could give one person just some positive advice on this, you know, obviously not being scared doing the first step, what would you tell somebody.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:13:33] In Medicare world or in both? Both Medicare world? Talk to somebody who knows what they’re doing. Doesn’t have to be me. I sure hope it is. But if it’s not me, that’s okay. There’s a lot of people out there who who have studied it and know what it is. Even if you don’t use them, even if they don’t click the buttons and get the credit for helping you. You don’t want to do this by yourself. I’ve had too many people mess it up and usually it’s because of what they see on TV on those commercials that somebody pays for anyway. And then on the funeral part, we don’t have to meet at the funeral home. Let’s meet at your house. Let’s meet at your kitchen table. I mean, it’s let’s make you comfortable. I’m pretty much comfortable anywhere I go, so I don’t. I don’t care.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:17] So if you meet with Stone, you’re going to meet around the. The beer.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:14:20] Okay. That’s cool. Oh, yeah.

Speaker4: [00:14:21] It’ll be the field office there at Reformation.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:14:24] At Reformation. Okay, cool.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:26] All right. Um. All right. So if somebody listening wants to talk to you about your services, how can they get Ahold of you?

Cheryl Hyde: [00:14:33] Well, my my website is Hide, hide, hide. There’s no. And in there it’s just hide, hide, hide, dot com h y d e hide. And then my phone number. Six, seven, eight. Did I say that right. 678901 2311.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:51] Awesome. Well, so don’t go anywhere. We’re not done with you. I’m not going anywhere. So thanks for sharing your part.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:14:56] Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:57] So we are moving now to Mr. Carter Reeves with All Synced. Carter,thanks for being here this morning.

Carter Reeves: [00:15:01] Happy to be here this morning.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:02] So Carter is another one of our Carter Cartersville. How about that Cartersville Business club, folks.

Carter Reeves: [00:15:08] I was named after the town.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:09] There you go. Just not the club, but the town first.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:15:13] You were named after the club.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:14] Absolutely.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:15] So it’s very I think it’s important to I think say this because. People can be passionate about a lot of things and it doesn’t matter what industry it’s about. You happen to be passionate about computers and software and making sure technology and people are up and going for helping their businesses go. But as well as what really caught my attention was when you started talking about helping the nonprofits. So first of all, if you don’t mind, just share your backstory and we’ll get into a little bit of that here in just a minute.

Carter Reeves: [00:15:44] So, yeah, I’ve lived in cars with my whole life. I was born there actually. My original name was supposed to be Caleb, but my mom’s best friend had just named their child Caleb, and they were literally driving down I 75 saw the Cartersville sign and was like, Well, Carter’s a nice name. We’ll go with that. And there it was. So I actually grew up. So my mom owns Steps of Faith Dance Studio in Cartersville, so she did a lot of she had her for profit side, which was the dance studio. And then she had the what she would call the company, which was the non profit side. So they did a lot of charities and events for with Dance Ballet. She would do Tap the Source. So I’ve always been kind of involved with the nonprofit side. In fact, my mom would always do like a thing where they’d go on mission trips every year. And as my brothers and I got older, my brother ended up like I think my older brother ended up going to. Trinidad and my younger brother went to Italy and I got to go to South Carolina.

Brian Pruett: [00:16:35] Well, some people say it’s another country. So. Exactly.

Carter Reeves: [00:16:38] So. So I’ve been kind of involved with non-profits most of my life, and especially volunteering at church and all that I know. So the things I’ve always gotten into is technology. And my grandfather on my mom’s side was he was always good with computers. He always imparted that piece of wisdom to us, and I got really into it with him. He helped me build my first computer and some of the other stuff that I really got into. And in fact, a lot of what I did with technology, I started out in high school because I have teachers that have issues with their computers, and I was always that student that would step up and go, okay, look, give me five seconds, I’ll fix it. And I go and fix it. And it got to a point where it was actually hilarious because my art teacher was like, You do more with computers than technology. You’re already doing your college courses. Just take care of your college courses. As long as I see you work for your college courses, you get an A in in class. Keep doing what you want to do. And I’m like, that was fantastic because I was able to get all my stuff done before I got home. And as I graduated, I went into industrial engineering and technology. There was some some crazy stuff. I was in some program for Georgia Tech. It didn’t end up going through with that.

Carter Reeves: [00:17:36] Ended up at Kennesaw, actually went to the Marietta campus, went through it a bit more, got into industrial engineering a bit more. But by the time I was about to graduate, I actually got out of a really poor relationship and I was still working with her at the time at this life when I was doing lifeguarding. So I was just looking for some other job and actually a good friend of my family, her dad had owned a computer store in town and they were looking for somebody. I went to go ahead and work there, so I worked there for about three years, I think 3 or 4 years. And actually on my second year there, I was actually at the time, all I really did was fix computers in the store. I didn’t really do anything on site and I was helping out our manager at the time and he was the guy who would always go out on site. He always went everywhere. And one day he came in on like a Friday and he said he was feeling really off, feeling really sick. He had me drive him around, go get pick up his prescription for the pharmacy. He thought he had strep and this is all right before Covid. And the next day I find out because he didn’t show up in the morning to unlock the door like he always did on Saturdays.

Carter Reeves: [00:18:39] And we kind of all knew something was off. And the owner came in, which was actually the family friend the first time I had ever saw him. And then we kind of knew something was definitely wrong. We found out he had passed away in his sleep that evening. And what really got into that, though, and how that affected me was he was always the guy he wanted to be. He wanted to do everything himself. So he never really written anything down, no passwords, no items. He just did it all himself. So then when he passed away, actually, a lot of our customers started to try to walk, almost started walking away because they thought it was only him. So we had to introduce myself to so many customers and all these people like, Oh no, we’re here, there’s more of us. But then it became a session of, okay, where are all the passwords? Because none of them are written down. So I spend so much, so many months trying to figure out what he would have wrote, what he would have written or what he would have done, like what password he would he put in here because he had some kind of scheme in his head that I basically had to figure out by myself. Combine this with our owner was like, I can’t do this by myself. There’s too much work to do.

Carter Reeves: [00:19:36] I need you to go into the field too. So I started going into the field, started meeting these customers. I was really thrown in the deep end because most of the time they’d be like, Well, go figure it out. It’s part of the job. Something’s broken. You figure it out, you go fix it. So a lot of that time I spent figuring stuff out and figuring stuff out by myself, and I got really good at researching and reverse engineering things and figuring out stuff that I just never seen before. So then it became, of course, 2020 hit Covid hit, and my wife and I had got married in 2019. We were actually our apartment lease was about up. So I was trying to find somewhere to live and I actually found some to build a home and we were going through this process. She actually got laid off because of Covid, which actually almost made us lose our mortgage. So I was talking with my boss who had promised me a couple raises and they just never fell through. My father in law knew Ben, who was actually one of our marketing leads, who was who knew Chase, who was the owner of the company I work at now. All Saint and I went to go ahead and meet with Chase, and Chase is the true MVP. I will go fight for that man. He actually I told him what was going on with my mortgage.

Carter Reeves: [00:20:40] He actually gave me an immediate raise that he did not promise me he didn’t know me from Adam. He immediately gave me the money I needed so that I can keep my house and went through that, got through the house, started working for him. And one thing I love working with Chase is that we always do everything straight forward and honest because it has always been a black box. So there’s so many people have been taking advantage of churches, nonprofits especially. So one thing I love doing is just being able to open the box a little bit more and teach people. I like teaching people because if I can teach you, Oh, hey, try this thing first and then you can give me a call, it saves everybody so much time and then they feel included in the process. That way it’s not, Oh, this guy just comes by and, you know, basically hits my computer with the hits my computer over the head and suddenly works. Now, it’s a very frustrating process versus. Says, okay, I tried a couple items and now it’s like, okay, now I need some. I know I need some extra help. And then by the time I get there, then it’s like, okay, all the initial stuff I was already going to do has already been done, so I can go straight into the issue.

Brian Pruett: [00:21:42] Well, I have to give kudos to to Carter because I had him look at my laptop last week and basically my laptop is old like me, so it’s dying. But, um. Wait, wait.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:21:54] You’re dying.

Brian Pruett: [00:21:55] No, I know, I know. But, you know, most people would want to maybe try to sell you something, but he. He took the time to actually talk to me a little bit about what computers he would recommend. And he even sent me a link to one that’s actually on sale. So thank you for all that. So but you shared with us a few weeks ago at the Hartsville Business Club too, that you guys, along with, I guess Microsoft, had a program helping nonprofits save money on just email addresses. And when you think about little things like that, you don’t think email, oh, money, you know, emails and stuff. But I thought that was pretty cool. So do you mind sharing about that?

Carter Reeves: [00:22:32] Oh, absolutely. So actually, it’s it’s more than just the emails. It’s actually office products in general, so it goes even further beyond that. So Microsoft, the way that they view it is that they get of course, they get their tax write offs or these non profit statuses. So what they do is, is all you need is a 500 and 1C3. That’s all you need. You go ahead and you go ahead and we I help you get registered with Microsoft as a nonprofit and then through the vendor that I work through right now who sells us Microsoft licensing, we can get you. I think it’s in some cases anywhere between 50 to 75% off regular licensing prices. It’s absurd. So like one good example that I know is we sell business standards license. I typically sell it gives you all the basic Microsoft Apps outlook, word Excel, a terabyte of storage plus SharePoint, which I can go into a little bit later, plus your email all for less than $5 a month. Wow. And that’s insane considering because this exact license that they sell is $16 a month for non for a regular profit companies.

Carter Reeves: [00:23:29] So they’re selling extreme good cost and all this time in the way I view it is if you can save that money for these non profits, they can pour it more into their goals, their ministries. That’s money that can keep going and keep going forward. And that just helps everybody because then you can keep saving money. And it’s something that’s super basic because you’re always going to need an email, you’re always going to need office. And there’s especially because Microsoft doing a new program to that. I was talking with Chase about earlier this week. They call it CSP, where it’s you basically agree that you’re going to use this license for a year. So you get that kind of annual discount except for you’re paying monthly. They in fact, they give you effectively with the pricing, they give you three months for free if you go down that road. So that’s where that less than $5 kicks in. And it’s you’re always going to need email. You’re always going to need office. So telling Microsoft, hey, I’m going to use this for a year, it’s just it’s just a freebie.

Brian Pruett: [00:24:20] It’s pretty cool to have someone like him in my back pocket, too, because I have now I know grant writers. I know trainers for nonprofits. Of course, they’re people like me who help do fundraising. And now with this, we put them all together to be a great team, to work with nonprofits. So it’s just it’s really cool to have that. So. All right. I have a question because a lot of people. When you get up a little older into the senior years people. Well, I’m not technology savvy anyway, but people are scared about the computers. Do you guys. It’s never too old to learn, right?

Carter Reeves: [00:24:52] It’s never too old to learn. It’s one of the things because especially because what I’ve done often tried to do like example, I have a labor union that I’m helping right now. They had a phone system that was installed in 1970, and I’m moving it to the latest technology right now. It’s a bit of a crazy move right now because every act of God pretty much occurred, which was the original one, was that they had a deal with AT&T going on where they was like, Oh, we just got to keep signing in and we won’t overcharge you. You’ll be fine. And then apparently the Treasurer forgot to sign it. So then Microsoft or AT&T increased their price for what was originally, I think, $120 a month to $2,000. Wow. So then we were like, okay, we’re in a deadline now. We got to go, go, go, go, go. And then they were like, oh, we’ll just cut the lines down from 12 to 2. That’ll fix the problem. They brought them down to $200. The following month, it jumped back up to $1,200 because they had no contract and they were stuck in it and we started getting them moved over to Nextiva, which was one of the phone groups we work with.

Carter Reeves: [00:25:44] And of course, Lightning Strike breaks the old system completely. And I’m like, at this point I’m losing my mind here because normally what I do is I have the old system and the new system side by side so we can kind of like iron out the kinks before we move you all over. And then every act of God is just like, No, we’re jumping straight. 50 years of technology, have a good day. And like, especially because I know this group, because they were from my other customer originally, because they called me after I started working for All Saints, they were like, Oh, we need help. We haven’t got much help recently, and I was happy to help them out. And it’s just right now I joked with them the other day like, it’s like, I hope you guys don’t bite my head off soon enough with all this stuff that’s going on. I swear it’s acts of God. So I’m doing my best here and they’re very understanding. But it’s also I understand from what they’re telling me too, they’re like, We get so many calls a day, we just need the phones to work. And I’m like, I know, I know. I know. We’re trying to get it work.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:34] Well, at least it wasn’t a phone from The Andy Griffith Show. Right? What’s your name? Sarah. Sarah, pick up the phone right now. That’s pretty wild. All right. So for somebody listening may not know other than the word it, it explain what it encompasses.

Carter Reeves: [00:26:48] So it is information technology. So that’s a very, very broad term. It basically covers pretty much if the device is information flowing through it, it counts. Example I can give is, is that I typically handle computers, Macs. I do a little bit with printers and emails, software, all that. But I’ve gone as far as there’s a movie theater in Union City who we help out. They literally just grabbed me and were like, Hey, we just had the security gates acting up. Can you help us out with that? And I was like, Yeah, yeah. Software security. No, no, no, no, no. The arm for the for the cars. And I’m like, That’s not really what I do. But sure. And I gave it an hour and I figured it out and they were like, You just saved us some time. And now I’m apparently in charge of it now. And I was like, I didn’t I didn’t realize I was signing up for this, but this is my baby now. Apparently.

Brian Pruett: [00:27:33] So you guys do all that at All Saints share about All Saint All Saints.

Carter Reeves: [00:27:37] One of the things we do, we do a lot of is we’re a centralized IT source. So instead of you having to call QuickBooks or whoever your vendor is, I do a lot of that where you just call me. I take care of the problem. One of the big things that we provide as well, and I mentioned this at our last meeting, is we do what we call CTO services, our chief technology officer, where we find technology because I’m moving all over the place. I’m going from fields, from health care, entertainment, health and retail works. So I’m seeing all this different software around so I can look around and go, Oh, I know this other company who uses this software that would be very beneficial to another customer of mine, and I’ll bring it up and go, Hey, look at this and I’ll bring it to you. And not only will I bring it to you and then we can demo it and see if it works, if it fits. Y’all’s model is that I can implement it and then I get everything working for you. I fix the process and I keep it going. And it’s just it’s like a great example was I think it was last Friday one of my employees or customers had called me and they’re like, I can’t get this thing to work in Excel. It’s driving me nuts. She’s been working on it for about a week and a half. I jumped on there, helped her out, get it done in 20 minutes. We were able to get her a chart so she could basically show this tally chart so that she can get all her information out for her project and her meeting that afternoon.

Brian Pruett: [00:28:51] What I think is wild is, guys, you don’t even have to be in the same room, same building to help somebody on the computer. And you can log into that person’s computer. So if somebody’s listening and maybe you are trying to think about the best computer to buy, you know, kind of like their needs, but walk them like you did with me, how do you go about choosing a computer?

Carter Reeves: [00:29:11] So how do I go about choosing a computer? As we obviously we start at budget. So it’s one of those things if you come up to me and go, okay, I’m about to deploy like 20 desks, then I’m going to find something that’s cost efficient because I know you’re going to be spending a lot of money. But then I also need to look at like what you plan on doing. So if all you’re doing is browsing the web, then I don’t need to go find this ridiculous workhorse. I can get you something that’s streamlined and simple and versus like I know a lot of the engineering firms we take care of. I got to go find that workhorse because they’re working in CAD all day. I got to find them something that works. So a lot of this is is a conversation where. Like I did with you, Brian, where we just sat down and was like, okay, what are you looking for? What do you need? Are you looking for mobility? Do you need the laptops? And it’s like, I’ve actually had one of the craziest things that people don’t think about is I’ll ask the question, go, Do you want a numpad on your keyboard, on your laptop? Because that’s not 100% universal thing. But I know for like my mother, that keyboard a numpad isn’t there. She doesn’t want the laptop. Same thing with backlit keyboards where they want to be able to have like their keys lit up. Some people like having the RGB like color rainbow effect. Some people hate it. Chase I love love poking fun of him. He hates that RGB stuff. He’s like. He’s like, It’s a computer. It’s not a it’s not a projector. It’s just like, this needs to work. I don’t need all these fancy colors. And a good buddies of mine from Microsoft, we all just find him some RGB stuff. Whenever we pick something up, I just leave it at his door for him.

Brian Pruett: [00:30:31] So I told you that my computer was old, right? When he started taking it apart to see what was wrong, it started crumbling in his hand. Oh, yeah? Yeah. So, yeah.

Carter Reeves: [00:30:39] I saw that Windows 7 sticker and I immediately went, Oh, no, this has a seven.

Brian Pruett: [00:30:44] My answer to that was, but it’s got Windows 10 on it. He goes, That doesn’t matter about the hardware.

Carter Reeves: [00:30:49] The hardware doesn’t care. It’s like that same thing. I get asked this question all the time about like especially for Apple, where they’re like, Is Apple trying to kill my old computers? And I’m like, yes and no. Legally speaking, no, but yes. And so one of the things that they do is, is that they they add features to the operating system. Windows does the exact same thing, where they just add features, they add more stuff, and as they’re adding more stuff, the computer suddenly needs more horsepower to keep the thing going. And then suddenly your old hardware that has this limit that’s not changing is suddenly getting eaten up by just the base. So like all your extra software, you want to do completely out of the question because there’s just not enough room for anything to even run. That’s how a lot of these things die, like iPhones die that way. Or they’ll have like some special piece of technology in a Windows 11 did this where they’re like, Oh, we need this TPM module on your motherboard now. Oh, by the way, those motherboards, we haven’t been producing those since like 2015. So if your computer is older than that, good luck. Have a good day. You’re not getting Windows 11.

Brian Pruett: [00:31:47] Wow. So I know people who are fans of Macs and all that stuff and they say Macs don’t ever get viruses. Is that true?

Carter Reeves: [00:31:55] No, it’s absolutely not. The thing is, is that these a lot of you got to think about is these hackers and these virus makers, they see themselves as businessmen. That’s what they do. At the end of the day. There are some of them that, of course, are going to be the outliers that like just screw around. But most of these guys, they’re in it for the money and they think about how many computers are in the world, and windows by far outnumbers Macs. So what are you going to do with spending your time writing a virus for Are you going to write a virus for the niche guys? Are you going to write a virus for the one that’s going to hit the most things? And in some cases, especially because of that, that perpetuation of, Oh, Macs don’t get viruses, some of them have switched that field because they know people are going to go, Oh, it’s not a virus because Macs don’t get those and they’ll take advantage of that. But I’ll tell you, right now I sell antivirus for Macs just as much as I sell them for windows. And I always get the same thing and I get little notifications. Whenever we have our antiviruses, they’ll let me know so that way I can help make them better and I get them in the same notifications that I do in Macs and the same thing on Windows. So plus Macs.

Brian Pruett: [00:32:55] Are four times the more expensive.

Carter Reeves: [00:32:57] Exactly. And with Macs, two, Mac and Apple specifically have really gone down the road of trying to prevent people like me from fixing their stuff. Applecare they’ve been pushing it really hard. In fact, they had some like lawsuit a few years ago called like it was a right to repair thing where at one point they just wanted to make it plain where they wouldn’t let us fix it and it become like something where they could sue over. And of course they lost that horribly. But it was a case of they wanted to make it as difficult as possible. Like I talked to the NSA actually a few weeks ago. She asked me like, can you look at my Mac? And my immediate question is, do you have AppleCare? And if she goes, yes, and then go get Apple because I don’t want to. Because if I have the moment I open it you AppleCare is gone, vaporized. And there’s no point in wasting that money stuff that you’ve already spent. Take advantage of the money you’re already taking. I’d rather send you out for somewhere you’ve already spent your value on. Then you come to me because at the end of the day, I’ll help. I’m happy to help, but it’s one of those things. I don’t like wasting money and I don’t like wasting other people’s money especially. So that’s one of the big things is everybody and one of the big things we say at All Saints is we all want to grow together. So as we’re growing, we want you all to grow, too. We want a long term relationship. We’re not in it for that quick $20,000 project, cash grab. We’re here for long and as long as you’ll have us.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:13] Awesome. So you mentioned earlier you’re part of the Cardwell Business Club as well. And so can you share? I like people who do the networking. I mean, we all at this table do networking. So can you share a positive story of networking? What’s what’s maybe a testimonial for networking for you?

Carter Reeves: [00:34:28] So actually, I have two of them and we’re kind of both the same. One of them was I was working with Caitlin and Caitlin from Cultivate Health. You had her here last week. She and I have been she was very instrumental because back in spring. My wife and I, we lost a pregnancy. And I know that her and the. I’m failing at the other name. Footprints on the heart. Christie, Christie, Christie. And they were very instrumental in that. They were very helpful. I know Caitlin. She started a she started a food train. And Caitlin left is a wonderful box with a gift. And we still have at our house right now. And it was very touching, everybody coming together in that moment because this was our second pregnancy that we had lost. And it was really hard because every time it happens for us is this we get excited. I’m always in by nature. I get excited very quickly. So it’s just a very harsh thing, harsh reality that kind of come back and bite you every time. And I know for a long time, like right after that happened, my wife and I had to take the whole we already had started decorating a little bit. I had to take it all down right before she got home and put it all, store it all over at my mother’s house and keep it there because I just we wanted it out.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:44] Well, I’ve been a part of a lot of networking groups and several people who have been on the show who are part of the Carnival Business Club talk about this is not your normal networking club. It’s more of a community. So you got to get there. Rj We’ll get you there especially.

Carter Reeves: [00:35:58] Because, like, the fact.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:35:58] Is, this Wednesday.

RJ Patel: [00:35:59] Rj I’m on my way.

Carter Reeves: [00:36:02] One big thing is, and this is the thing that always threw me off is when I first joined CBC, I was kind of in that mindset of like, okay, there’s anybody that’s in it like they are. And I’m putting the air quotes here at the end of me. Like, I got to get the referrals first. And then I realized quickly I’m like, No, this is not really the route. Like it’s a. Cheryl We talk about this all the time. It’s like cooperation before collaboration, before competition. And that really started hitting me in the past year where I sat down and I was like, okay, this is really working out. Like, I spoke with Daniel from Goosehead Insurance. Daniel got me with some insurance and we’re able to work together and talk some more. And I’m starting to understand a bit more of the insurance industry because a lot of what it’s going to be is just knowledge. You’re sharing knowledge. You’re sharing experience with each other because at the end of the day, we’re all trying to help each other the best that we can. And as long as we keep doing that, we’ll. What’s the line? I’m trying to run for CBC. The you can have everything you want in life as long as you get as long as you help someone else get what they want.

Brian Pruett: [00:36:57] There you go. Zig Ziglar. All right. So other than because you grew up around it, but why is it important for you to be part of the community?

Carter Reeves: [00:37:06] It’s important for me because every moment you’re never going to know when you’re going to be the person at the end of the day that needs that help. So be there for someone else because of that day that you need help. You’re going to wish somebody would be there for you. So you got to keep the keep the cycle going. So for a great example is our church was very instrumental in a lot of what we were going through with our pregnancies and stuff like that. I go to Crosspoint, we actually have a new program, new nonprofits starting up, that they help with the expenses of lost pregnancies. And they were very instrumental because I had a situation with Northside where they charged a chart. They told me like, we went to the E.R. for a treatment for her first pregnancy, which ended up being an ectopic pregnancy. And they were like, We’re up there at 2:00 in the morning and their administrator is like, Oh, it’s going to be like $2,500 is the estimate. But if you pay right now, it’ll be 75% off. So I’m like, no brainer. 875 go take my card, do it right now. They charge me the $2,500 on the card. And then they’re like, Oops, our bad, can’t undo it. And then I got mad and I’m like, I’m not going to sign this. You can’t make me sign this. So what they did was they slipped the the receipt to my wife while they still drugging her up and had her sign it. It was I was beyond fuming. I was I was so angry. I couldn’t even sleep that day. And after that, all that happened.

Carter Reeves: [00:38:26] So I was looking at $2,500. I’m fighting the whole time. And then they send me the full amount, which ended up being nearly seven grand. And I’m just like, This is insane. This is asinine. This is not going to go. I had to go through a lot of crap just to bring it down to what I did. But if it wasn’t for my church and I also to go to like I have Samaritan ministries, they helped out significantly with our cost and all that. But if they didn’t, those nonprofits didn’t exist. I’d be looking at like nearly what it ended up being like almost eight grand. It’s like, I can’t afford eight grand. And these groups, they came in, they helped save the day. A lot of the education, especially in part of it was like, I didn’t know you could negotiate bills with hospitals. I didn’t know you could do payment plans. I thought they were like, It’s the electric bill. You don’t question the electric bill, you just pay it. And then that’s that. I didn’t know about that. So that’s stuff that I was taught by these nonprofits and I just like keep helping them going. Because if I can provide my skills and my and my knowledge and make things better for other people in my community and around the world, like I owe it to that because there’s going to be that one day that I’m going to need that help. I’m going to wish somebody else who was in the shoes that I’m currently in right now chose to decide to help versus deciding not to help.

Brian Pruett: [00:39:43] I wish more people were people are listening to this and take note because we need more people like, well, everybody at this table, but we need more carters. Um, so it’s funny you mentioned Crosspoint. I’m actually doing a big event there this coming Wednesday locker room chat for another nonprofit they’re called All in All Ministries. He’s helping men with addiction. So, um, but so if somebody’s listening and wants to talk about your services, how can they get a hold of you?

Carter Reeves: [00:40:08] So I’m going to bring up this phone number because I can’t remember this phone number saved my life. So we got a general line that everybody can get a hold of us on. It is. I’m pulling it up now. Yep. (770) 835-4600. Or email is support. Support at all. S.r.l.. S. I. N. C. E. D.

Brian Pruett: [00:40:32] Website. There you.

Carter Reeves: [00:40:33] Go. And All Saints is the all sync.com. Same, same.

Brian Pruett: [00:40:35] One. All right, Carter, thanks for sharing your story a little bit. And it’s funny that I don’t believe in coincidences and I always bring three people on at once. And people are like, Why do you have so many people on your show? It’s for this very reason. I love the networking. Now, we most everybody here knows each other except for Stone knows people now. Um, funny story, though. My next guest, RJ Patel. Rj, thanks for being here. Thank you. Brian picked clean. He and I have known each other for years as well from the Kennesaw Business Association. You have been the president of that. But the reason this happened to is because you’ll share about your non profit you’re part of here in just a minute. But when you talked about non profits, I was like, Oh, I got to introduce him to Carter. Guess what? Rj is already a customer of Carter. Carter didn’t know about the non profit, which is kind of funny. So Exactly. So RJ, share a little bit about your background, share about PC and then let’s talk about the amazing thing you guys are doing.

RJ Patel: [00:41:29] Thank you for having me on the show. Cheryl We just met today, but I know that we have a common denominator. Kevin. Marcy.

Cheryl Hyde: [00:41:39] I love Kevin. Marcy Yes.

RJ Patel: [00:41:41] That is a class act family. So if you’re a part of that, we’re already friends. Good. Thank you. And yeah, Kevin is a gem. Um, Carter, we already do business together, so we love what you guys do for us at PCT. Yeah, but at PCT, we have the residential cleaning side, and then we have PCT janitorial that we are just launching where we’re going to be pursuing a lot of the commercial sector in the Cartersville area and there’s a lot going on up there. So yeah, I’m reactivating myself. So you will be seeing me there. Um, but you know, if you look around this room, I’m that odd guy, You know, I’m a little bit tanner than most of you guys, and I’m a Patel. So by Spirit, I am a serial entrepreneur. And I have had I was born and raised in London, moved to Kennesaw, Georgia, back in 1978, and I have made it my home since then. Were you born, Carter? Don’t answer that. I’ve made it my home and it is a beautiful place. Kennesaw is a beautiful place. It’s given us a lot of friends, a lot of success. I’ve had six businesses, and what I found out, Brian, is all six of them have to do with people helping people. Right. It’s it’s exactly what we need, is helping people, helping each other.

RJ Patel: [00:43:17] And that’s what we do every day, whether it’s somebody, you know, mom and dad who are going to work day supporting their family, too. We have celebrities that we clean for. We have sports players that we clean for. It doesn’t matter who they are. They need our services. And the number one thing we earn from them is trust, Right? And that’s what we do every day. Um, you mentioned something, Cheryl. You just mentioned something. Carter And my charity goes in that direction because last year was probably one of the worst years for me personally as an individual. I was misdiagnosed. For having a hernia. I go to North Side and I had prepaid that 75% off thing, right over $5,000 out of pocket. I go into surgery and my the surgeon goes to the waiting room where my wife was waiting and says to her, everything went well, but he doesn’t have a hernia. So she looked at him and said, So what did you do? Well, we put a mesh in there and just for preventative care, like you’re not supposed to do that. Haven’t we heard all these nightmare stories about mesh? Right. I seen big billboards out there. And next thing I know from North Side, I get a $37,000 bill. I said, for what? I paid it.

RJ Patel: [00:44:53] And I was told ahead of time if there were any complications, there would be an additional charge. But I just told you guys, right, I didn’t have a hernia. So therefore, what was the complication? There wasn’t one. And this is where I think in our country, this health care business, we all know it is just out of out of whack. Right. I believe in my heart it’s all about greed. It’s all about that money. And sorry if it’s a sore subject to people, but at some point. Right. We’ve all been unfortunately screwed by somebody along the way. Right. Because it’s all about the money to them. It’s not about the human factor. And so with with our six businesses and the desire to want to help people, we align ourselves with this group that’s based out of India. And there are no religious barriers. There are no color barriers. There are no political associations. And if it’s about serving the human needs, that’s what it’s about. And so they have three verticals nutrition, health care and education. Believe it or not, everything that’s done is for free. We have hospitals around the world. We have educational facilities around the world. It’s free. We just built a medical college in India. Medical college. It will be for free.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:32] Okay. That’s amazing.

RJ Patel: [00:46:33] It’s supported through donations. There’s no there’s no catch. In 2019, I spent about three months in a city called Clarksdale, Mississippi. Here in America. And yes, I was there for three months living in a hotel. And I built a 2000 square foot medical clinic and we serve for free. We don’t have a cash register. We don’t accept insurance. Nothing.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:08] And that’s including medications, too, right?

RJ Patel: [00:47:10] That includes medication. Because what we realize there is people don’t have the money, even though they get diagnosed by the doctor with something, they come back with the same symptoms because they don’t have the funding to buy the medication. So we had to stop that cycle. Come back and see us if you need us, but not for the same thing. That doesn’t make sense. So we started supplying the funding for medications we made. We aligned ourselves with dentists who would provide free dental care. We have a phenomenal doctor there, Dr. Chitra, who aligns us with other caretakers. But for free, there’s no catch. Don’t give us that. Oh, yeah, it’s free. But you’re going to have to pay a deductible. None of that rubbish. We don’t want that. If it’s not free, if you’re not going to do it, absolutely free to that for that person. We don’t want to align ourselves with you because what we provide is for free. Here in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in America, can.

Brian Pruett: [00:48:18] You you shared with me when we first talked about this, but share why it’s Clarksdale, Mississippi, and not Kennesaw, Georgia, or Atlanta, Georgia, or Birmingham, Alabama.

RJ Patel: [00:48:29] Clarksdale, Mississippi is part of the Mississippi Delta. Um, most people know the Mississippi Delta as as it exists. They don’t know the geographic boundaries. So it’s from Arkansas to Memphis, Memphis to Jackson, Jackson back to Arkansas. So if you just draw that out on a map, that creates a delta. And if you look it up in that delta is the poorest part of America. Poorest. I went to Clarksdale, Mississippi, for the first time in 2019. And I promise you, I felt like I warped back in time. Okay. It was a surreal feeling, like, boom! Am I still in the same country? Right. We live in this wonderful city of Kennesaw, surrounded by Marietta and then Atlanta. You know, Beautiful, right? There. You feel like you went back in time and this is in our country. And these people don’t have health care.

Brian Pruett: [00:49:32] Well, you also share with me another part of it. In that area, you had somebody that was actually suffering a heart attack and they had to drive to Memphis, right?

RJ Patel: [00:49:39] Yes. One of our own people. She her name is Pearl. She moved from California to here to be part of our clinic to to volunteer herself. And she had some heart issues. She went to that local hospital. They kept her waiting for four hours. Four hours. You know what can happen with heart issues, right? In here in Atlanta or Kennesaw at Wellstar. If it’s a heart problem you’re taking in immediately and given the right attention. They kept her. And then they finally said, Oh, we don’t have the manpower to take care of you, so you’re going to have to go to Memphis.

Brian Pruett: [00:50:21] It’s crazy.

RJ Patel: [00:50:22] So another one of our volunteers, David drove Pearl to Memphis for that care. A lot could have happened in that time.

Brian Pruett: [00:50:31] Unfortunately, she survived.

RJ Patel: [00:50:33] Fortunately she did. And she’s she’s fine. She’s volunteering herself again. But we want to stop that. What if she hadn’t, Right? Right. The what if. Right. What if somebody else doesn’t get that care? And they’re not those hospitals in. You know the the. Poorest parts of America are suffering. They’re closing down. Look it up, folks. Look it up online.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:03] Well, we had one close in Atlanta not too long after the Covid.

RJ Patel: [00:51:05] Yeah, they’re closing. We want we want the ability to come in here, partner with whomever the city, the county, whatever, and provide free services. And I hope to one day come back and say, Hey, Brian, we have a free hospital in Clarksdale, Mississippi, because that’s our next step.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:26] Well, you know, you already mentioned but share where those are around the world because you have some already in world.

RJ Patel: [00:51:30] We do. We do. We have them in Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, all over India, Nigeria. Clarksdale, Mississippi. And it’s growing. This concept is growing because it’s about people.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:45] Well, you also shared I think you told.

RJ Patel: [00:51:46] Fiji I forgot Fiji. Sorry. No, Fiji is an island. But what you may may not know, right. If you look at it, Fiji from afar there are hundreds of islands around Fiji. That these people have no access to health care. So we opened a hospital in Fiji last year. And we are doing a lot of congenital heart surgeries there for these children. And yes, everything’s for free. Everything is for free. You come in for a headache or a heart transplant. It’s free.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:25] That’s amazing. Well, you shared with me also about your the I think it was the four doctors that are there, that they all come from different parts of the country, closing practices and coming to that. Can you share about those?

RJ Patel: [00:52:35] Absolutely. Yeah. So Doctor Chitra was in Augusta, Georgia, and she wrapped up her practice in Augusta and moved to Clarksdale. We have another doctor from Alabama, and she’s in the Huntsville area. She goes there every week. She drives to Mississippi every week and serves patients there so Dr. Chitra can have a break and do other things that are important to the practice. And then we have another doctor. She wrapped up everything in I believe it’s Idaho Dr. Jeannie, and she’s a psychologist, and she moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi, helping people. And then we have another doctor out of South Carolina. I call her Dr. G. Her name is Gautami. And she is wrapping up everything in South Carolina and the Anderson area and moving to she’s already purchased a house in Clarksdale.

Brian Pruett: [00:53:33] That’s amazing. So somebody is listening that’s either a business owner or just wants to get involved and how they can help. How can they do that?

RJ Patel: [00:53:39] Go to Clarksdale, Free Medical. And it’s the Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Medical Center. I realize that’s a mouthful and easy for me to say, right? But it’s Sathya Sai sanjeevani s a t h a s i. S a n g e. V a and I.

Brian Pruett: [00:54:03] So you talked about all stuff medical and nutrition, education. You showed us what you brought. But explain those two, because that’s pretty awesome, too.

RJ Patel: [00:54:11] So one of the verticals is nutrition. And what we learned, especially in India and this is probably true everywhere, right? Isn’t breakfast considered the most important meal of our day? Yes. Right. And with that said, there was a lot of children that the parents couldn’t afford to feed them. And so now what’s happening is their learning curve was going down because their brains weren’t functioning right. They weren’t prepared. And of course, nutrition, good nutrition, the right nutrition will help you prepare. So this has the micro and macro nutrition, nutritional value. You just add milk or water to this, and this will last one child 30 days. Okay. And in India, it sold for ₹199.

Brian Pruett: [00:55:04] Which translates to what? In English?

RJ Patel: [00:55:05] 80 to ₹82 for a dollar. Wow. Less than three bucks. For 30 days. Okay, Because this factory was built with funds from people. There’s not that overhead, you see. And. I’m going back in November actually to do a total top to bottom deep clean on this factory. Because I’ve been going to India. I was there two weeks ago training 20 people on how to clean. Because I want every facility that’s part of this footprint all over the world. To be clean. We we set that standard in Clarksdale. People walk in thinking it’s a free clinic. And what’s the normal mindset with a free clinic? Right.

Brian Pruett: [00:55:55] It’s nasty.

RJ Patel: [00:55:56] Right. Right. No, not this place. They walk in and they’re just literally shocked, like, oh, God, I’m going to get charged because it’s a facility that you want to come to. And we set the standard for clean. And, you know, we monitor it. We provide all the products that they need to keep it clean. And we have one gentleman, Jimmy, who goes in there every day. And he’s an employee of ours. We pay him and he cleans that clinic every day, five days a week.

Brian Pruett: [00:56:32] Now. That’s amazing. All right. So go back to the cleaning. I want to know what PCT stands for.

RJ Patel: [00:56:38] Prestigious cleaning team.

Brian Pruett: [00:56:40] There you go. There you go. So we’re going to talk a little bit about the networking piece with you as well, because you when you and I met, it was Kennesaw Business Association. You’ve also been a past president of that. So twice. Well, yeah, There you go. How share just some stories because networking for in that especially in that area but it’s been I mean obviously tremendous for you Can you share some positive things about networking?

RJ Patel: [00:57:05] Well, you know, I think I would have to go back to what my grandfather taught me. Luckily, I was influenced by him and he was a man of quality. And one of the things he said is you you know, when you step into a room or step anywhere to into a home, you always want to figure out how can you help people, right. It’s not what can you take from them. Right. And you mentioned that. Carter Right. When you go into this business environment. Right. And you start throwing cards at people, that’s the number one turnoff. Yeah. Would you agree, Cheryl? Absolutely. That’s a number one turnoff. If you throw cards at people, I can guarantee you they’re going to land up in a landfill somewhere or recycling bin somewhere. But if somebody says to you because they want to build that relationship, they they liked who you are as a human being. And they say, may I have one of your cards that will stay with them? That will get duplicated into their phone. Right. So when you walk into networking, when I came to KBA, for example, it was about what can I provide, what can I what talents do I have to bring to this organization? And. I One of the things that I did was my my second month as president. The first time around, we were meeting at a facility at the Pine Tree Country Club, and I felt like that was not a good business environment. It’s a great facility, but it wasn’t right. So at the time, Dr. Betty Siegel at Kennesaw State, she opened on welcomed us and said, come over here to the KSU Center. And at that time, it was that old mall, the old outlet mall, oh, outlet mall that they converted over to the KSU facility. And in there is a facility where it can house over 200 people. And it was the right business atmosphere. And people felt like they could come here, network, get to know people, and membership went up. Everything started going really well for KBR after that.

Brian Pruett: [00:59:25] So other than that answer I wanted to give you, give me a different answer of why it’s important for you to be part of the community. Oh, because there is a difference from networking in that, but being actually a part in doing something in the community as well.

RJ Patel: [00:59:37] Well, you know, I again, I moved from London, England, to Kennesaw, Georgia, right, in 1978. 75 wasn’t complete. So I was like, what is this? All the traffic went from 41 to 75. After it opened and I was like, What happened? Somebody What happened to all the traffic? Because being a Patel, Right. We owned a hotel and. Traffic shifted. And that was a learning lesson for me. Like, what is a 75? Right. Did you know something interesting about interstates in America? Anything that ends in a zero 2010 runs. Uh, east. I mean, east west and anything with a five runs. North. South? Yeah. Did you learn something today, Stone?

Speaker4: [01:00:29] I did. This is why I come.

RJ Patel: [01:00:31] Okay. Awesome. You knew that, Cheryl. But I learned that a while back. And, you know, 75 opened up, and it took all the traffic, everything away. Kennesaw became even more deserted, especially in the downtown area. Right. And, you know, Kennesaw didn’t have a great reputation. Unfortunately. It had some issues, some some stuff going on. And today, Kennesaw is one of the most diverse places you can live. It’s an amazing place. Um, the city mayor at the time, Mark Matthews, came to me and said, hey, we need we need your help. We’ve tried this twice and we haven’t been successful at this, so we need your help. And I’m like, What? He said, We need you to pass a $15 Million bond referendum. I said, okay, sure. I said, What’s a bond referendum? How does this work? Wait, you want me to ask the citizens of Kennesaw to self tax themselves? I said, I have a I better have a really good story. Why? And it was to bring Signalization on Giles Road. Much needed because of Legacy Park. It was to bring Swift Cantrell Park, which it is today, and to purchase the the Gardens Smith Gilbert Gardens. And did you guys know that? Smith Gilbert Gardens has the oldest house in Kennesaw.

Cheryl Hyde: [01:02:07] I do now.

Brian Pruett: [01:02:09] Well, you’re just teaching everybody something today. Oh, yeah.

RJ Patel: [01:02:11] I learned all this because I got involved in community. Right, Right. You asked me that question. If it’s not. If you don’t get involved, you don’t learn a lot. But when you get involved and immersed, don’t just get involved. Get immersed. And I got immersed. Okay. I dove in head first, and the community just embraced that. You know, and we were able to successfully pass that $15 million bond referendum, which I’m still paying on myself. So don’t get mad at me. Citizens of Kennesaw for doing that. But I think now the Swift Cantrell Park has 600,000 visitors per year. Per year. 600,000.

Brian Pruett: [01:03:03] It’s a beautiful park. I like the walking track on it.

RJ Patel: [01:03:06] Yeah, the dog park. And then I was fortunate to work with Rob Dyrdek and the city of Kennesaw from 2010 to 2013 to help bring that skate park to Kennesaw. Because I none neither one of my kids skate. But I felt like if if children who wanted to play baseball, they have baseball fields, if they wanted to play soccer. We have soccer fields, tennis, we have tennis courts. If you want to do something, you had that. But these skater people had nothing and they were constantly being asked to leave people’s concrete sidewalks and things like that because that’s the only place they could skate. So why not give them a place to skate?

Brian Pruett: [01:03:50] Yeah, it’s pretty cool too. I like sitting there watching those guys do that stuff. And gals. Yeah.

RJ Patel: [01:03:54] I wish they would wear helmets, though, right? It’s scary.

Cheryl Hyde: [01:03:56] The orthopedic surgeons of Georgia appreciate it, too. Yes.

Speaker7: [01:04:00] Yes.

Brian Pruett: [01:04:01] So I moved to Kennesaw in 1979. I was seven, but we moved in 79. So some other tips. Do you remember the old Smith Motel? I sure do. So my grandparents every year would drive down to Florida, down 41, and stay at Smith Motel every year. And then you all know what? Kenny Rogers movie was filmed mostly in Kennesaw.

RJ Patel: [01:04:21] It’s what? I have a six pack. Yes. Yes.

Brian Pruett: [01:04:24] I have a 27 pack. I got a keg. And then also, Kennesaw is probably, if not the lowest crime rated city, one of the lowest crime rated cities because of.

RJ Patel: [01:04:36] The gun law back in 1982.

Brian Pruett: [01:04:39] Our Meyers.

RJ Patel: [01:04:40] Our mayor was Darvin Purdy, a friend of ours, and he was an attorney. And he was the one that passed that. And understand, we just moved from London to here and the news was worldwide. So our friends in London were calling us saying, Did you move to a dangerous place? Because, you know, they had this western John.

Brian Pruett: [01:05:04] John Wayne.

RJ Patel: [01:05:04] John Wayne, kind of a look coming off the horse. And now you’re going to have to have a gun in your home. What are you in a danger? What are you talking about? They just passed a law. Oh, that’s how we found out.

Brian Pruett: [01:05:18] So funny thing, you know, in Kennesaw, you have to own the gun, right? In city limits, right? So in Acworth, you know what you have to own. If you live inside the city limits of Acworth, just take a guess. You have to own a rake within the city limits of Acworth. I do trivia and I love all these kind of weird stuff, so I just had to learn. Seastone you come and learn every Friday?

Speaker4: [01:05:38] Well, I comply fully with the Kennesaw law. Apparently I do not have a rake. I have two tools at my house, a telephone and a checkbook.

Brian Pruett: [01:05:47] There you go. There you go. All right, so, RJ, if somebody listening wants to get a hold of you and talk about your your cleaning services, how can they do that?

RJ Patel: [01:05:55] They can call my office line seven 742 clean.

Brian Pruett: [01:06:00] And share one more time where they can learn about the clinic.

RJ Patel: [01:06:04] They can actually call me directly at (404) 630-6998.

Brian Pruett: [01:06:13] Awesome. Well, before we wrap this up, I always like to do this. I always like for everybody to share one positive quote nuggets word just so people listening today and can live the rest of 2023 and beyond with so Cheryl you get to start.

Cheryl Hyde: [01:06:31] Seriously be curious, not judgmental.

Brian Pruett: [01:06:36] Oh, nice, Carter.

Carter Reeves: [01:06:38] Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Brian Pruett: [01:06:40] Rj.

RJ Patel: [01:06:42] Always serve the human spirit.

Brian Pruett: [01:06:45] Awesome. The other thing I like to do, because it’s a lost art these days is the. Thank you. So, Cheryl, thank you for what you’re doing for the seniors and everybody in the community. Carter What you’re doing for the businesses, the nonprofits and the community and for what you’re doing for the humans, I mean, it’s it’s the communities that you’re serving. So everybody out there listening and remember, let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.