angishields, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

BRX Pro Tip: 5 Rules of Thumb for B2B Selling

October 31, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: 5 Rules of Thumb for B2B Selling

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BRX Pro Tip: 5 Rules of Thumb for B2B Selling

Stone Payton : And we are back with Business Radio X Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, B2B selling really is different than other forms of selling in a lot of ways. But what are some key tenets of B2B selling that we need to be aware of?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. For me, there’s a few rules of thumb that hold true in B2B. And like you said, it’s a lot different than when you’re selling directly to a consumer. And it’s more of kind of they’re going into a store to buy a thing, and you’re just selling them the thing that you have in the store.

Lee Kantor: Number one, in B2B selling, I think it’s important to focus on building relationships and trust. That goes a long way to selling more than just making a sale in a transactionally minded way. So relationships are critical in terms of selling because you have to be thinking in the long term all the time. It can’t be done in a transactionally minded way.

Lee Kantor: Second, having deep expertise in your prospect’s industry and true understanding of their pain points aren’t nice to have. Those are must-haves. The more you understand the industry, the more you understand the pain points that your prospects are having, the better you’re going to be able to solve their problem and to help them get the outcome they desire.

Lee Kantor: And third, when you’re selling, you have to focus on value and ROI. You can’t focus on, you know, the cool thing that your product or service does. The features aren’t as important as the value that the features deliver. So focusing on value and ROI not, you know, the cool package that’s in or how pretty it looks.

Lee Kantor: Number four, B2B sales always take longer and involve more stakeholders than B2C sales, so patience and persistent follow-up is critical. And if you don’t have systems for that, you’re going to run into problems and get frustrated.

Lee Kantor: And number five, don’t neglect meeting face to face. Building real human-to-human relationships and rapport helps you address concerns, answers any questions, clarifies issues. And it’s all done in a more timely manner than this back and forth using kind of digital, you know, emails or texts or more impersonal things. So don’t hide from face to face. If you want to be successful, you’re going to have to spend some time face-to-face with the people you’re selling to.

BRX Pro Tip: Selling is Not Telling

October 30, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Selling is Not Telling

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BRX Pro Tip: Selling is Not Telling

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, today’s topic, selling is not telling.

Lee Kantor: Nope, selling is not telling. It might rhyme. It might be catchy. But it is not a fact. Selling is asking. You should be spending way more time asking questions, not making assumptions, and asking even more questions. You have to dig deeper. You got to understand what your prospect has done, why they did what they did, what’s really important to them. You have to understand what they really, really want, what is the outcome they desire.

Lee Kantor: And spoiler alert, it’s not going to be the first thing they say they want. You’re going to have to dig deeper. You’re going to really have to understand their situation if you want to sell them something. So, you have to deal with the problems and shortcomings of your product early.

Lee Kantor: And you got to remember, you can’t sell anyone anything, but you can help them discover what they really want. And you can help them discover that what you have might help them get that thing that they really want. That is a dream that can come true. So, start by asking more, not by telling more. And you will see, you will be selling more.

Rescue, Community, and Hope: Tiffany Collins’ Happy Tears Mission

October 29, 2025 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Rescue, Community, and Hope: Tiffany Collins’ Happy Tears Mission

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Joshua Kornitsky welcomes Tiffany Collins, founder of Happy Tears Cat Rescue, to Cherokee Business Radio for an inspiring conversation about her personal journey from dog lover to passionate cat rescuer. Tiffany shares the evolution of her grassroots nonprofit, highlighting the challenges, triumphs, and the role local community support plays in saving and rehoming cats throughout Cherokee County and beyond. The episode illuminates how one person’s compassion can create lasting change, and explores the emotional highs, logistical realities, and hopeful dreams driving the Happy Tears mission.

Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors

A career executive assistant for companies like Philips Electronics, Coca-Cola and Aflac for most of her work years, Tiffany Collins continues as an EA in corporate America, but 7 days a week works around the clock rescuing kittens and cats, taming feral cats and doing Trap Neuter Vaccinate and Release efforts which led to the start of her 501c3, Happy Tears Feline Foundation Corp in July 2023.

Tiffany grew up in Sulphur, Louisiana and has lived in Georgia over 30 years. Always an animal lover and feels her life is complete and filled with purpose doing the work of a rescue person.

Connect with Tiffany on LinkedIn and follow Happy Tears on Facebook and Instagram.

Episode Highlights

Origin Story: From Dogs to Cats
Tiffany recounts her unexpected entry into cat rescue, sparked by fostering a friend’s cat during the pandemic, and how this experience revealed her calling to help animals in need.
Grassroots to Nonprofit
The episode follows Tiffany’s transition from casual helper to founder of a formal nonprofit, detailing her work securing a shelter license, building community partnerships, and managing a growing network of volunteers and supporters.
Viral Rescue & Social Media Impact
Listeners hear about the viral TikTok rescue of “Luna,” the Emory University dorm cat, and how social media dramatically expanded the foundation’s reach, increasing adoptions and engagement.
Challenges & Needs: The Realities of Rescue
Tiffany shares candid details about the operational pressures of running a shelter, including the physical toll, fundraising needs for equipment like litter robots and a new truck, and the cost of veterinary care for dozens of cats.
How Listeners Can Help
The episode closes with practical ways for listeners to support the rescue: volunteering, fostering, donating supplies, attending adoption events at Hollywood Feed locations, and spreading the word to help more cats find their forever homes.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Joshua Kornitsky: Welcome back to Cherokee Business Radio. I’m your host, Joshua Kornitsky professional EOS implementer, and I’ve got a great guest here in the studio today. But before we get to that, let me just let you know that today’s episode is brought to you in part by the Community Partners Program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending capitalism, promoting small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Mainstreet Warriors. Org and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors Diesel, Inc. Please go check them out at diesel. David. Comm. So as I said, I’ve got a really special guest in the studio here today. I’m really, really excited to introduce Tiffany Collins. She’s the founder of Happy Tears Cat rescue. It’s a grassroot organization. Uh, it’s a nonprofit dedicated to fostering, saving and rehoming cats from across Cherokee County and beyond. And really, what began as a single rescue quickly turned into a mission fueled by compassion and persistence. Today, Tiffany balances a demanding career with leading a volunteer driven rescue operation that’s changing lives one cat at a time. Welcome, Tiffany. I’m really happy to have you here today.

Tiffany Collins: Oh my God, thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

Joshua Kornitsky: So let’s begin at the beginning. I always like to ask for what I call the origin story. Right. Um, what brought you to this place in your life? Where? Where? Happy tears, which is an unusual name. I’m going to ask about two. We’re happy tears. Cat rescue became, uh, the driving thing in your in your daily life.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. Um, thank you for asking. And, you know, I was always a dog person. I always had dogs. Um, but then I say I really always an animal person. So, um, what led me to, you know, having a cat was total accident. Um, I got a cat. And that’s what kind of made me start seeing cats. And seeing cats was just almost like I’d never seen them before. Although I know they exist. My mother is the hugest cat lover ever. Okay, so I guess what started was, you know, again, I’m babysitting a cat and this is where the accident comes in. I’m my my dog who was 15 years old. His name was trooper. He was a Pekingese, okay. And I’d had two Pekingese in my life as an adult. Those were my pets. And the next thing I know, my friend, is, during the pandemic, adopting a cat. She’s in an apartment. She is saying, I’m lonely. It’s the pandemic. You know I can’t have a dog. I love dogs, but I think I’m going to get a cat. I went with her to the shelter and we got to looking at kitties. She found one, and it’s. The funniest thing was the cat seemed to like me a lot. And you.

Joshua Kornitsky: Weren’t there. You were just the guest.

Tiffany Collins: Heck, no. I’m allergic.

Joshua Kornitsky: To cats. To keep her. Oh, really, I am.

Tiffany Collins: Which makes everything is so crazy about this whole story. There’s so many things we could probably talk this whole time about how crazy this is, but, um, the kitty, you know, she. Its name was Julia inside the shelter. And my friend kept the name Julia, and I thought some names just fit. But, you know, do you really love a kitty if you don’t name it yourself? And I have an old boss named Julia who I absolutely adore, but I would never keep the name Julia for sure. So this was kind of, like, very telling to me. Although, you know, she gets the cat home. The cat has little quirks about it. I thought they all came out potty trained and used a litter box, but this one was partially using the litter box sometimes and partially not. And my friend was so frustrated. And when she decided I got to go to India, can you babysit this cat for me? And my dog was at the end of his life and had about a month left to to live.

Joshua Kornitsky: This is your your Pekingese trooper?

Tiffany Collins: Yes. And he was 15 years old, so he lived a long, beautiful life. But my friend goes out of the country and I’m babysitting this cat, and I’m posting on social media constantly, like, look at this cat, look at this cat. Everybody’s like, you’re falling in love, Tiffany. And I’m like, no, I’m not. I literally was the last person to know.

Joshua Kornitsky: Isn’t that always the way?

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: And how did the dog feel about the.

Tiffany Collins: Oh, he hated her. And she hated him.

Joshua Kornitsky: Certain things are universal truth.

Tiffany Collins: Absolutely. And, you know, it was just weird seeing the cat greet me at the door and things that my dog used to be able to do, but he was so sick that he couldn’t. And it’s like. So my friends over in India, and she she never once called me to say, how’s the kitty doing in five weeks? I always had to tell her. So that was also very telling to me.

Joshua Kornitsky: So little Julie set up.

Tiffany Collins: I, I swear to God. And so the next thing I know, I am like, thinking I need to ask her, does she like this cat? Because I want it out of my house and really, seriously? Okay, at least I thought I did.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Tiffany Collins: And so she and I cried over the phone Together we had this great conversation and I said, I just you haven’t checked on the cat. You’re not trying to hurry up and come back home. And she her family’s in India. India. She doesn’t get to go much. I mean.

Joshua Kornitsky: So she was there.

Tiffany Collins: She really.

Joshua Kornitsky: Really. Family time?

Tiffany Collins: Yes. And she wanted to stay longer because she could. And so.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure, she’s got somebody watching her cat.

Tiffany Collins: Yeah, well, she ended up not coming back for five months.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, wow.

Tiffany Collins: So. But I actually said, let’s go ahead and take this cat back to the shelter. And if not, I can find it a home. I’ll try to find it a home again. I’m no rescue girl. I’m a dog girl I like. So this.

Joshua Kornitsky: Happened. I’m waiting to see where this goes.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. And so the next thing I know, somebody comes over. They’re interested in the kitty. And my friend and I both are on board. That if I find somebody great, they can take the cat. Well, they left, and I called my mother, who’s the huge cat lover, and she’s in Louisiana. And I said, mom, I’m so excited somebody wants this cat. And then she goes, really? Who? And when she said that I could not breathe, I could not talk. I was crying, and I was so upset. I wanted this cat. And I did.

Joshua Kornitsky: Not tell you about Julia. The.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. Oh, Julia.

Joshua Kornitsky: So at this point, do you still have Julia?

Tiffany Collins: Julia is my cat, and her name is Kiki.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. So? So Julia. Ni. Kiki, you. You never were able to put her out? No. To adoption. Not not put her out.

Tiffany Collins: No.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you. It turns out you fell in love.

Tiffany Collins: I was so in love with her and I. That’s what started it, really for me. It started me being a cat person. But I’m also a person that only had one pet ever as an adult. One at a time. Like I didn’t want to pay double vet bills. I didn’t want to, you know, double everything up. And, um, having a cat was so much easier. And I thought, wow, I’m going to get a second one. And this is kind of what started me on my journey.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Tiffany Collins: Because I met some people, I went to a body shop to get my truck fixed, and there were 17 cats in the parking lot.

Joshua Kornitsky: Like, literally, that’s not an exaggeration. 17 a bunch.

Tiffany Collins: Somebody argued that there was only 11. But this lady. No, no, I counted 17. It was a sight to see for me because I was. Now I have a cat. Now I’m starting to see them more. So I see this pile of cats and I ask the body shop owner, I’m like, what’s going on out here? And he says, you want one? And I was like, well, I already have a cat. And I didn’t know what people do about this stuff. And so I went to our local Facebook page, Cherokee Connect here in Woodstock, and I just made a post and took pictures of these cats. And I said, can anybody help these cats? They look like there’s pizza on the on the ground. I mean, these people were just feeding him junk food and.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Tiffany Collins: So I want everybody to be spoiled like my baby, you know? And so I found some trappers who do TNR, which is trap neuter return. Okay, so they trap them, they go get them fixed, and they put them right back where they were. So these people said, yeah, we’ll help. Would you like to learn how to help? And would you like to learn how to do this?

Joshua Kornitsky: And these are the trappers. Okay.

Tiffany Collins: And I was like, not really. Um, I don’t trap animals like. But this one girl said, you know, come do it with me. You’ll get addicted. And I was like, I’m not gonna get. I’m gonna cry when I see a cat in a trap, you know? But sure, as she told me, I saw the cats getting trapped and I thought, oh my gosh, they just run in for the food in the trap. It closes gently.

Joshua Kornitsky: No scariness, no harm.

Tiffany Collins: No. I mean, they’re definitely scared, but they have no reason to be scared. And then you cover the trap up with a blanket. Yes. And so I started doing that. And my thing was I probably did that for several months, but I would cry every time we’d put him back out. I was like, I don’t want him to go back out. I’m glad they’re fixed.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Tiffany Collins: So I wanted to turn the R in return. I wanted to change that to rescue for me. I don’t want to return him. I want to rescue him. And so my friends even said, gosh, we spend so much of our own money doing this stuff. And, you know, they’ve been doing it for years just trapping cats. And some of them said, we’ve always wanted to start a nonprofit, but we just never have. And I said, well, let’s do it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Takes a lot of work, doesn’t it?

Tiffany Collins: It does. And, you know, for some reason, I’m the only one in the group that says, let’s do it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, I know a little bit about you from our initial discussion, and it’s up to you whether you want to talk about the other things you do in your life. But you do seem like a highly organized person.

Tiffany Collins: I am. I’m an executive assistant. Um, so I’ve been doing that for 30 years, so I.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’re used to handling the day to day? Yes. And all of the things that have to get done. And juggling 11 balls and six countries.

Tiffany Collins: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: And so it was I feel like the universe set you up.

Tiffany Collins: I think so too. It still freaks me out. But there is a universe doing stuff to people, so.

Joshua Kornitsky: So the trappers suggested that or agreed with you that a nonprofit. I want to let you finish your story, but I get so interested. Yes. Uh, the trappers suggested that that they’d always wanted to do a nonprofit. But I take it that you grabbed that concept.

Tiffany Collins: I did, because when they started telling me all the money they’ve spent out of their own pocket. I don’t have that money. I’m paid as an executive assistant. I just don’t have that money. And I’m a single woman. I’m not married. There’s no second income in my house, but I want to do this and I want to figure it out. And so I just slowly started trying things and sometimes posting about a cat that we’re helping. Strangers were sending me $50 or $100 and thanking me for what I’m doing. And there’s all these little things that just kind of put it in motion because I thought, wait, maybe I can do this. And if people help me and we all work together, I can definitely do this. So it’s just it’s strange how it all went down, but that was it. It was.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you became a nonprofit?

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Now, how long ago was that?

Tiffany Collins: That was 20, 23. Uh, well, at the beginning, at the end of 2022 is when I started, you know, trapping. And then I started getting serious, I guess the first quarter of 2023 And by July, June and July, I was definitely, you know, full fledged nonprofit just did the the business name. I did the all the paperwork, the paid the fees and started the nonprofit.

Joshua Kornitsky: So why happy tears?

Tiffany Collins: Oh my gosh. You know, the first couple times I did some adoptions, I cried like a baby just.

Joshua Kornitsky: Because of the letting go or the fact that they had permanent homes.

Tiffany Collins: The yes, the happy tears were, you know, I looked like I was sad, but I was I might cry just talking about it, but I, I just get so happy that it brings tears to my eyes because of what rescuing really means to me and and the adoption part of it especially. It’s like I didn’t just do something for the cat. I did something for these people that are adopting. Like, I know what it feels when I get my look at me, I’m starting to cry.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m not getting a lump in my throat.

Tiffany Collins: Don’t feel sorry for me. It’s good. This is the happiest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

Joshua Kornitsky: This is. This is why it is happy tears.

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: So? So tell us, how has happy tears grown? Right? Because it simply started with you. And are you still working with the trappers that you were working with?

Tiffany Collins: Every day I talk to them. We are so close. I talk to all these people more than I ever do my family. And I’m sad to say that.

Joshua Kornitsky: You make along the way.

Tiffany Collins: Well, and you know, if they would help me with the cats, I’d talk to them more, you know? Fair enough. Family’s kind of spread out. And my dad fostered for me recently, and that was really sweet of him. It was a big, big deal. He’s allergic to cats. And so for him to help me, it was amazing.

Joshua Kornitsky: So how, uh, I guess. Where did it go? So you’ve established the nonprofit. Um, Did you start, for lack of a better word, collecting cats and for the purpose of of saving and rehoming? Yeah. What did where did you keep them?

Tiffany Collins: Yes. So, you know, you get a shelter license through the Department of Agriculture?

Joshua Kornitsky: I did not know that. Yes. But I presume you knew where to go.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. I had to figure it out, too. I was like, how do I do this? How do I do it legally? There’s a lot of people that do this kind of stuff, and they don’t go through the proper channels. But, you know, the Department of Agriculture is who we all report to, so to speak. And, you know, you have your license. You they come inspect and they try to see what is your house capable of holding, what makes sense. You know, there’s a license that you can get for whatever kind of shelter you have. And I started out with a shelter for 20. I now have a shelter license for 40. Okay. Up to 40. And Lord, I have 30 cats in my house right now. But in the beginning, you know, I.

Joshua Kornitsky: Was a lot of cats.

Tiffany Collins: I know I have a four bedroom house that I never really used.

Joshua Kornitsky: And you’ve surrendered it to the cat?

Tiffany Collins: Yes. Now, I only have a.

Joshua Kornitsky: Licensed legal all above board.

Tiffany Collins: Everything.

Joshua Kornitsky: It doesn’t look.

Tiffany Collins: Crazy.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yeah, it’s nonprofit and real. Just so that everybody knows it’s. It’s not just one lady with a bunch of cats in their.

Tiffany Collins: House, and they’re not running amok. They’re not everywhere. They. A lot of people look at me funny. But then the people that come to my house and know I have 30, they walk in the front door and they’re like, I thought you said you had 30 cats in here. I’m like, they’re all contained. You know, there’s three bedrooms and two bathrooms that are, you know, basically dedicated to quarantining and then having, you know, kitties. Right now I have some sick kitties that are I have an FIV kitty that’s in a bathroom by himself. Um, but my bedrooms are good size, so there could be 8 or 9 cats in a bedroom and there’s plenty of room. There’s a window, there’s trees. There’s everything they need.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, so how do you help them find their forever homes?

Tiffany Collins: So I don’t have a website, but what I do have is petfinder. Org. Okay. Um, most rescues use that. That’s your online place to adopt animals out. Um, and petfinder. Org is amazing. Most I know 20 years ago, that’s where I found my dog. Really? Yeah. Wow.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yes. Okay, so they’ve been around for a while.

Tiffany Collins: Oh my gosh. Forever. And, um, they’re a wonderful organization. And, you know, social media really helps me. Um. Happy tears. Feline Foundation is on Facebook, um, TikTok and Instagram. And we even recently went viral on TikTok. It was.

Joshua Kornitsky: Pretty.

Tiffany Collins: How so? Yes. So I saved this crazy cat. It was a black cat that was at the Emory University dorm. Um, one of the dorm rooms. Somebody brought it in. Long story short. Ought, um, somebody brought it into their dorm after they took it to the emergency room. And I think this kid, it was Mother’s Day weekend, which is when schools ending for everybody. They’re moving out of the dorms, right? And so this kid brings a carrier into the dorm to try to get the cat into it for a rescue that was going to help him. And the rescue didn’t get that cat. The kid couldn’t get the cat. The cat went absolutely crazy. Um, and so Mother’s Day weekend, I’m on a long text thread with 20 people. Nobody has time to go get this kitty. And I thought, well, I don’t have anything to do. And it was raining. It was a crazy day. And I went over to Emory, went in this dorm room. I saw this boy, and he was so sweet. I just couldn’t believe how kind he was as a student. A young student helping a kitty. He even.

Joshua Kornitsky: Took.

Tiffany Collins: It. He took it to the vet and paid the vet bill. And I know how much an emergency vet bill is. Yes, I.

Joshua Kornitsky: Was, sadly, so do I.

Tiffany Collins: I was like, dude, you did your thing. Don’t worry that you can’t get this cat, I got you. Well, then I walk in the room and I can’t get this cat. I had to call animal control. She was crazy.

Joshua Kornitsky: Just didn’t want to be contained.

Tiffany Collins: No. And usually cats will run from me. And I’ve got my gloves on. I’ve got. You know, this cat was running at me, scaring me half to death. So I took this video and shared it with the text group because most of us were like, what’s wrong with this kid? Just put the cat in the.

Joshua Kornitsky: Cat by the neck, throw.

Tiffany Collins: It in the thing. You got this. Like, what do you need us for? Oh my gosh. When I saw what I saw, I wanted to show everybody. Hey, guys, it’s not the kid. This cat’s crazy. And, uh, animal control got there. And the next thing I know, me and animal control guy are zipping it up in a net because I knew we needed a net. There was nothing I could do. And I’m five foot three, so this cat was on the top bunk bed, so there was no it was just crazy. So but that video that I took went viral. It was hilarious. 6 million views. We have 10,000 followers now because of that one cat.

Joshua Kornitsky: And did it help bring any did to help sustain the organization?

Tiffany Collins: There was a couple adoptions. People found me, and I think I might have had maybe 400 followers on TikTok before that. And I found out a lot of people are just like, what’s your Instagram? What’s your. And I’m 52 years old. I’m using Facebook religiously, but I really need to start doing more. Not having a website, but using my social media in a better way to reach adopters.

Joshua Kornitsky: I mean, don’t get me wrong, this is just my opinion, which is worth exactly what you paid for it. Websites are great, but you’re meeting people where they are, which is social media. And I think that that as long as you’re getting the the cats that are available out in front of people, that’s all that really matters.

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: And I feel quite certain, though it’s not my area of expertise, that there’s 1 or 2 people looking at it.

Tiffany Collins: Yeah, well, without much help and without much, you know, advertising. No store to go in. Last year I adopted out and saved over a hundred cats.

Joshua Kornitsky: All by.

Tiffany Collins: Yourself? Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: So let me ask the most burning question that occurs to me. And I’ve got a lot of questions, but the one that occurs to me is how can people help?

Tiffany Collins: Yes. Oh my gosh, there’s so many ways to help me. And the rescue. Um, anything from just coming over and cuddling? I tell everybody you can be a volunteer and just cuddle. You don’t have to scoop a litter box. Uh, but if you help me clean, that would be amazing. Um, so, you know, I like the idea that people could come over, especially when I have 30 cats. There’s just only so much of me to go around. But volunteering to do anything around the house, um, anything as far as Is transporting a kitty to surgery or a group of cats. Sometimes I’ll have 15 cats going to surgery in.

Joshua Kornitsky: A day for for getting spayed or neutered.

Tiffany Collins: Aha.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Tiffany Collins: And so vet appointments fostering at their house. Um, you know, sometimes I don’t want 30 cats in my house. If I could have somebody give me a room in their house for two weeks, you know, a bathroom or a bedroom, something where, you know this. I don’t have room for a cat, but I’ve got some fosters that can kind of hang on to them. And I pay for everything. I’ll give them everything they need. All the food and supplies. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And a lot of people are so great. They’re like, Tiff, I want to help. And part of that help is you don’t have to pay for anything. I’ll buy the food. So people do want to help in a great way.

Joshua Kornitsky: So I do want to back up because you said some days you could have as many as 15 cats going for for surgery, meaning again to, to be spayed or neutered. Yes. Um, are you paying out of pocket for each one of those?

Tiffany Collins: Uh, uh, sometimes. And, you.

Joshua Kornitsky: Know, you work with a number of vets or how do you.

Tiffany Collins: Okay, I do I work with different clinics. Sometimes it matters. You know which appointments. Who can see me the fastest? Right. Um, and obviously, price is a factor. I mean, 15 cats having surgery that day was over $2,000, and that’s a low cost. I mean, that’s just I mean, more vet, you know, some of the vets charge way, way more. So we are using the lower cost spay and neuter clinics which we have to and they’re used to we’re volume clients is what we’re considered. And so it is discounted. But every cat that I take care of costs me just on that surgery day because they’re getting shots, they’re getting fixed. They’re getting, um, you know, a combo test, which is very important. We want to know if they have Fe, Felv or five. And so we are testing them for things. We’re were deworming them. But I spend about $225 on average for one kitty. So again, that, you know, and that’s just that day. Um, when they come into my house, I’m already treating them for parasites. I’m giving them flea treatments. All that stuff costs money.

Joshua Kornitsky: So if somebody wants to adopt, obviously Facebook is is number one place to seek you out.

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Uh, and it sounds like there’s some entertainment on TikTok that they can check into. Yes. But it sounds like, like any other shelter, one would assume it sounds like these cats are all medically as up to date as as is required for them to be a safe adoption, to go into a home with adults or children or what have you.

Tiffany Collins: Yes, absolutely. Okay.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s that’s important to make sure that everybody knows that. Because again, my fear would be that people would misunderstand that. It’s just a very nice lady spending time to get cats homes. And it isn’t. This is a legitimate shelter. Yes. That’s making, um. Pets available. So what does it look like when someone wants to reach out to adopt? Do they. Have to, I assume, coordinate a time with you? Do you have any. Yes. Any permanent staff that are. That are volunteers or it’s just all running through you?

Tiffany Collins: It’s all running through me. I do have some random volunteers. Random people come and help me. Friends, people that need, you know, kids right now that need community service hours for school. Um, but I don’t have any regular volunteers. I have a pet sitter that comes once a day, and I’m paying her because my full time job has me at an office five days a week now. I used to work from home and could do it, really do it all myself. But yeah, I’m very short on volunteers, so everybody that wants to adopt, um, has to go through me. And, you know, I have an application on my Facebook page. Pinned at the top. Um, so the application is short and sweet, but it asks the questions that are important to me. The same questions um, Humane Society would ask you. I kind of went off of what other rescues ask on their applications. Um, and so the application process is really easy. I’ll read through it, I’ll talk to the people, and then we’ll schedule a visit, because again, because of my day job, I don’t have anybody to show the cats for me during the day, and it’s just me. So at night we schedule, you know, when I worked from home more, I could add a.

Joshua Kornitsky: Little bit of flexibility.

Tiffany Collins: Yes, yes, but now it’s strictly nighttime visits, weekends. Um, I just have to get it in where I can. And, uh.

Joshua Kornitsky: Is it rewarding?

Tiffany Collins: Very. I’m so exhausted. I don’t know if you can see these bags under my eyes. I’ve never had bags under my eye, but I’m. I’m also 52. But, um, it’s it’s time. And I’m not going to look the same forever. But I am. So I’ve never been more exhausted. My body aches. I have tennis elbow from all the lifting, bending, scooping litter, but I have never been more happy in my life. I’ve finally have something that gives me a purpose. Um, and I didn’t know I didn’t have that. I literally thought I was.

Joshua Kornitsky: Great observation because you didn’t. You didn’t feel you were lacking?

Tiffany Collins: No. I thought my friends all told me, Tiff, you’re so lucky you’re not married. Oh, you’re so lucky. You can do whatever you want. You’re so lucky. Lucky, lucky. And I thought. I just thought, I’m so lucky. But, you know, I did have the ability to kind of be selfish almost my whole life, which I’m not. I’ve always done.

Joshua Kornitsky: You certainly don’t come across that way.

Tiffany Collins: Not at.

Joshua Kornitsky: All. You come across as someone that gives all of themselves, I do.

Tiffany Collins: I’m good to my friends and family. I Most of the trips I take are to visit them like I’m a good human, but I didn’t realize how good I could be. And until I started doing this and I thought, oh my gosh, this is incredible.

Joshua Kornitsky: So in a in an ideal world, where would you like to see happy tears go or grow to? What what do you have a goal that you would like to see?

Tiffany Collins: Not yet. Which is sad. I mean, I.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, right now you’re in day to day survival mode. It’s not. It’s not sad. You’re right. It’s to be expected from the the place along the path that you are.

Tiffany Collins: You’re right. Absolutely. No, I, I keep saying I don’t want to get big, but I sure would like to have some place that’s not my bedrooms in my house, but close by to take care of the animals and do what I do. Um, you know, if I, if I were to dream something up that would be perfect for me would be to have a couple acres of land somewhere not too far, because I still have to work in corporate America. But to have like some kind of a facility on my property to do the same thing I’m doing, but not have these cats, you know. I mean, it. They’re great.

Joshua Kornitsky: Let them have their own space.

Tiffany Collins: But they’re messy. I mean, it’s like sometimes I come out of my bedroom and I can smell in one of the rooms, like, okay, I got to go change a litter box out in there. You know, it’s I’m exhausted from having it right there in my house. And, you know, I just had to paint. It cost me thousands of dollars to paint my house, which I would have never had to paint my house if I didn’t have this going on. And and I had to pay for that out of my pocket. And so I built a enclosure behind my house, which HOA had to approve. And it was one of these enclosures that I built for the crazy cat on TikTok. Her name is Luna, by the way. And then I called her Luna TikTok because she got so famous on TikTok.

Joshua Kornitsky: And so she’ll be she’ll get sponsorship deals.

Tiffany Collins: Yeah, I know right? She really should. And she’s still with me. I don’t know if I’m ever going to adopt that cat out, but I built an outdoor enclosure for her. And it wasn’t just for her, it was for cats like her. And I spent about $8,000 building this out of my own pocket. I did get some donations. Um, people, you know, saw that I was doing it and helped donate. And I got about 3 to $4000 in donations, which was helpful.

Joshua Kornitsky: Some.

Tiffany Collins: Absolutely. And, um, so this outdoor enclosure I built for feral cats, because when I bring a feral cat in my house, this is going to try and make sense in a second. They start tearing my house up because they’re so upset that they’ve been brought inside. I had a cat take down one of my light fixtures because he was so upset that he was brought in a house that he just jumped up on the light fixture, pulled it out of the wall. Lights went out. It was dark. I was like, you know, it was crazy. So there’s just things that I need to do to keep my house from being torn up and destructed.

Joshua Kornitsky: For your own mental well-being, too, I’m sure.

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: So if people listening want to help.

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: What is the best way for them to help you?

Tiffany Collins: Well, you know, my Facebook page. I have, um, you know, all my links. So donations, you know, are great.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, so is that is it for happy tears or is it for you personally?

Tiffany Collins: Oh, no. Never. Never.

Joshua Kornitsky: I mean, how do they find you on Facebook?

Tiffany Collins: Right. Oh. I’m sorry. Yes, I do have a Happy Tears Feline Foundation page on Facebook.

Joshua Kornitsky: I just want to make sure people know what to look for.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. Um, send me spa treatments, but. Yeah, but everything else goes to the kitties, right? So, um. Yeah, Happy tears has Facebook and on Facebook. I’ve usually got my links for, um, we can take credit card donations through Zeffie. Okay. Um, there’s a whole link for that you can actually do. If somebody wanted to do a monthly donation or just a one time donation, that’s a great thing. And Zeffie gives you a perfect receipt for your taxes. Everything anybody gives me is tax deductible.

Joshua Kornitsky: So and we will post all of these links when we publish the story as well. But there’s Facebook and you said you had told me that there’s an Amazon wish list.

Tiffany Collins: Yes, there’s Amazon and Chewy. There’s people that love to shop both places. So we did both places. Um Amazon wish list. There’s chewy wish list. Um, both of them have anything from cleaning supplies? Uh, we know we do a lot of cleaning, but food, litter, um, you know, medications that we can buy through Amazon, things like that. Toys. I never have enough toys. Right now we need some cat towers. And we need some of those great little shelves that go on the walls to, um, you know, let the cats play and have less things on the floor. Exactly. Like, get them, let them get up high like they want to, you know. And so. But the wish list is full of just great things we need and and fun things as well as the, the necessities.

Joshua Kornitsky: Do you have any events coming up that if anybody wants to meet you in person or see some of the kitties?

Tiffany Collins: I do, um.

Joshua Kornitsky: We’ll again, we’ll post them online, but if you don’t mind sharing them, I’d love to make sure people know that they’re coming up.

Tiffany Collins: So I’ve just started working with Hollywood Feed, and they’re a great store. Um, a lot of people think they’re a feed store, like livestock. It’s like, no, no, no, this is a holistic pet food store with toys and everything for dogs and cats. And so it’s a wonderful store and they have really, really good products. Great. Um, so I hope I’m allowed to plug them.

Joshua Kornitsky: Absolutely. We want to do it. And if you know anybody there that likes to come on, we’d love to get them on too.

Tiffany Collins: Oh my gosh, I love that.

Joshua Kornitsky: Let’s focus on those who help.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. And they are a huge help to me when I probably every time I go there, they’ve got stuff for me that’s either about to expire. So they’re really giving. Um, but yeah. November 1st Hollywood feed on Sandy Plains Road in Marietta. I’m going to be there in the afternoon, probably from like noon to five, uh, doing an adoption event. So I’ll have some of my kitties there and myself and maybe a couple volunteers. Um, and then on November 9th, I’m going to be at the Hollywood feed in Roswell on highway 92.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, I know I’ve driven by that one.

Tiffany Collins: Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, both of these days are special. It’s a chance for my cats to actually be seen. Um, they can’t be seen when they’re sitting in my house. And my thing is, I don’t want them in a pet store every day of the week. And so that’s why I don’t mind tearing up my house, because these cats of mine are different. They’re learning how to be in a house. They know what a TV sounds like. They know.

Joshua Kornitsky: Do they get along all right?

Tiffany Collins: They love each other, really. And they love me. And it’s when I walk in a room. There’s one room right now that has a king size bed in it. And I lay on that bed and I have six cats crawling all over me, and they’re just, they love me so much. And it’s funny. My pet sitter asked me about that yesterday. Like, how do you get them all to get along? And it’s just like, and I’ve never been trained in this stuff.

Joshua Kornitsky: I don’t know, I’m sure they work out. You know, they’re largely, I presume, there. I’ve had cats most of my life. They’re largely solitary animals. Yeah. And they tolerate one another. Yeah. Sometimes they become friends. But, you know, we as humans anthropomorphize it. They’ll hang out for warmth, and then they’re.

Tiffany Collins: Yeah. It’s so true. No, they I mean, these cats, It’s. They really do love each other. I think they’re having a good time. They’re eating good food. They’re being treated well, but they they do get along. So it’s crazy to me.

Joshua Kornitsky: This is really the most burning question I have. What is Kiki think of all of this?

Tiffany Collins: Oh, man, she’s so angry. Um, I’m actually taking her to the vet today. This is how sad my life is. I’m almost afraid to say this, but I’m gonna say it. I have worked so hard for two and a half years with the rescue that I haven’t even taken my own kitty to the vet, and she’s healthy and good. But lately, she’s doing that thing she did that my friend didn’t like. And that’s she’s not using the bathroom where she’s supposed to use it. She’s sometimes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sometimes trying to message.

Tiffany Collins: Me a.

Joshua Kornitsky: Message.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. And so she’s going to the vet today to get all caught up on her stuff. And she’s very healthy. She’s very sweet. And her boyfriend, I say, Coco, I have Kiki and Coco. I got a second cat and they’re both going to the vet today. But Coco doesn’t care. Coco is my beautiful black cat who I wish I could clone him ten times, but Kiki is the spicy sassy one. But she loves people. She just can’t stand these kitties in the house. And I think that’s. I think she’s at the point where 30 is a little much, mommy, you know?

Joshua Kornitsky: And it sounds to me like she’s enslaved you and had you build her a queendom.

Tiffany Collins: This. Yes, yes. I mean, she’s running the house. I’m not. I’m running the rescue. She’s running the house.

Joshua Kornitsky: All these cats work for her as she’s.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. She’s so mean that I think if a mother cat was giving birth in a brand new baby kitten came out, she’d hiss at it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Nothing but love out of cats. Yes, but I. I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing. Thank you. If no one else has said it, you are doing a very good thing. Yeah. Thank you. And. And every animal deserves love. And every animal deserves a forever home. Yeah, and I didn’t ask the question, but I feel like. Like I need to. And I’m pretty sure I know the answer. Um. I presume you are a no kill shelter.

Tiffany Collins: Absolutely. I absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: I had to ask that question because it’s hard to believe that they still exist.

Tiffany Collins: Right?

Joshua Kornitsky: I know that’s that’s a different discussion.

Tiffany Collins: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: But but I’m not surprised to learn, as I imagine, that that would be unthinkable.

Tiffany Collins: Yeah, absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: Anything else that we can do to help? Is there any. We’ll have all the links up. We’ll have, uh, the wish lists up from chewy and from Amazon. If you want to volunteer, reach out via Facebook.

Tiffany Collins: Facebook or email. Our email is Happy tears. F at gmail.com. And that’s like happy tears. Feline foundation.

Joshua Kornitsky: Gotcha.

Tiffany Collins: We just had to shorten that. I can’t do a whole email address with that.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yeah, that that’d be a long one. Speaking. Speaking as someone with a long last name, I got you.

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um.

Tiffany Collins: There is one more story I could share with you. Um. There’s a big, big need. There’s two big needs that we have. And, you know, I mentioned the tennis elbow earlier, and so I’m getting to the point where I really would like to do a fundraiser or find some help getting litter robots, because those are the things that scoop themselves. There’s just so many. You know, I need about five litter robots, so we’re trying to figure that out right now. We kind of determined that recently because I was a little scared like of those robotic, you know.

Joshua Kornitsky: As I understand it, they sort of have a waiting period so that the cat doesn’t freak out.

Tiffany Collins: Exactly.

Joshua Kornitsky: After it leaves.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. And they they are most of them are safe. So I’ve, I’ve tried one out with my own personal cats and I thought, my goodness, if I could have one of these in the rescue rooms It would be amazing and would take so much work off of me. Um, it’s so hard to scoop all that litter for that many cats three times a day.

Joshua Kornitsky: What do they cost?

Tiffany Collins: Um. They’re around. I’ve seen them from anywhere from 4 to $700.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay, so they’re pricey. It’s about $4,000 worth of fundraiser.

Tiffany Collins: Yes, exactly. And then.

Joshua Kornitsky: Anybody listening, that’s feeling generous.

Tiffany Collins: I know. Right? I mean, it’s it’s it would be so helpful to have those that would take some real heat off of me as far as the cleaning duties. Um, and then the other thing I wanted to share with you. This is a huge need for us. Um, we need a truck. Um, I’m going to tell you what happened.

Joshua Kornitsky: What type of truck?

Tiffany Collins: Oh, an open bed. Pickup truck.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Tiffany Collins: So I had a truck. When I first started rescuing, I had a 16 year old Nissan Frontier. That was my truck I’d had for 16 years. And I thought, this is what I use, you know, for all the rescue stuff like I don’t need, I already have what I need. Um, about this. It was July of 2023 when I first really started the rescue. Okay, I went during a storm to go rescue a kitten. And, um, this kitten was in an apartment complex, and as soon as we got Ahold of the kitten, got it in the truck. This terrible storm took over. It was over here in Woodstock. We were in canton, and I was coming back and the lights were out. The storm was so bad, the water was, you know, flooded in the streets. Um, I ended up taking an exit that I don’t normally take. And I got on a side street instead of going to Sixes Road, and somebody hit me in an intersection and totaled the truck. And so the truck, you know, being 16 years old, had been paid for for years. And so I have started trying to think of ways that maybe someone could donate a truck that they don’t need anymore. Or maybe a dealership has a truck they can’t sell and it’s a tax write off. I don’t know how any of that works, but I’ve started trying to brainstorm. And if I feel like if anyone has any thoughts of how we could get help getting a truck because I ended up buying, um, a small SUV, which, you know, there’s now I have a car payment that I didn’t have.

Joshua Kornitsky: And how many cats fit in a small SUV?

Tiffany Collins: That’s right. I mean, seriously, and it’s, you know, and it’s not just the cats. There are so many opportunities. I miss not having a truck like the stores that I go to, you know, to do adoption events. There’s a lot of stuff that needs to be packed up to take to these events. There’s also chances that I can get litter and food and items.

Joshua Kornitsky: In larger bulk.

Tiffany Collins: Yes, and I can get it so cheap. Um, and make a donation myself, but I can’t haul it. I’ve tried it a couple times in my SUV, and I’ve actually damaged the I don’t know if this particle board or whatever it is that’s in the back of an SUV, but it’s.

Joshua Kornitsky: Too much.

Tiffany Collins: Weight. Yes. So I tried to get 1,000 pounds of litter and found out I shouldn’t have put that in my SUV, but, you know, things like that. I desperately need a truck and I can’t afford it. There’s trucks are so expensive.

Joshua Kornitsky: And and for anybody else that hears this that just has information they can share.

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, that information would be beneficial because we all have opinions. But we need more than an opinion. We need someone who says, oh, I know this about a charity, and I personally know a couple of folks in the nonprofit world. I’ll ask them for some guidance to see if they can offer any. But if anyone that’s hearing it, uh, knows something that would would help Tiffany with this, please reach out via the channels we’ve mentioned, because, uh, just that information alone has huge value.

Tiffany Collins: Yes. And you know. But you know what? Nobody got hurt. The kitten was saved. We even named him T-Bone.

Joshua Kornitsky: And did he go to a good home?

Tiffany Collins: He went to an amazing home. In fact, I asked about him recently because he’s a couple years old, and I started thinking about the need for this truck and thinking, you know what? What’s going on with T-Bone? Now that I’m thinking about this need for a truck and somebody that helped get him adopted out sent me some great photos. I mean, he’s living his best life, and he’s one of those beautiful white kitties that has a green eye and a blue eye. He’s a stunner. He was. It was worth it. I will just say.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s quite a statement.

Tiffany Collins: Yeah. I miss my truck. I need a truck desperately. But that kitty was worth it.

Joshua Kornitsky: We’ll see what we can do to help. I can’t thank you enough for coming on and sharing your stories. Uh, and we will do everything we can to try to raise awareness and get folks out to the adoption days that all of that will be on, uh, our site when we publish. And all of that is obviously available through Tiffany’s Facebook page, or I should say, the Happy Tears Cat rescue Facebook page. I want to make sure I delineate.

Tiffany Collins: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, my guest today, uh, has been Tiffany Collins, and I can’t say enough, but before I, I remind everyone about Tiffany, I want to remind you with the name Happy Tears Cat rescue, because that’s the nonprofit that she’s founded, and it’s dedicated to saving and fostering and rehoming cats across not just Cherokee County, but beyond. As you heard in some of her stories, she’s done a little bit of traveling, and what began as a single rescue quickly turned into a mission fueled by nothing but love, compassion, and persistence. Uh, Tiffany balances her own demanding career with leading this all volunteer driven rescue operation. And if there’s anything anybody can do, please reach out and do so. I can’t thank you enough for your time and for your your willingness to share your story.

Tiffany Collins: Thank you so much. This is a big deal for me and just you having time for me is incredible. I hope this.

Joshua Kornitsky: We hope you’ll come back and we’ll find more things to share.

Tiffany Collins: Absolutely. I’d love to.

Joshua Kornitsky: My. Absolutely. Our pleasure. So I just want to remind everyone that today’s episode is brought to you in part by the Community Partner Program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending Capitalism, promoting small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, please go to Mainstreet Warriors and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors. Diesel. David. Ink. Please go check them out at diesel. David Comm again. My name is Joshua Kornitsky. I’m a professional EOS implementer and the host here at Cherokee Business Radio.

BRX Pro Tip: 4 Reasons Servant Leadership is So Powerful

October 29, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: 4 Reasons Servant Leadership is So Powerful

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BRX Pro Tip: 4 Reasons Servant Leadership is So Powerful

Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, you and I have certainly come to learn just how impactful servant leadership is and can be, but I guess my question is why is it so powerful?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. We’ve discussed this a lot of times and it’s part of when we’re looking for studio partners out there, we want to make sure that they have a heart of this kind of philosophy of servant leadership and they believe that this is important.

Lee Kantor: And things that I’ve found over the years that companies that are led by servant leaders and that people who are servant leaders, it just drives higher engagement amongst the entire team. When a team is heard and cared for and empowered, they tend to deliver better service to the client, so everybody wins when you implement this type of servant leadership.

Lee Kantor: And number two, this deeper level of collaboration, it promotes a shared vision and a better culture for the organization. Everybody is on the same page, everybody is invested in the same message and the same mission, and this creates less turnover and just better communication.

Lee Kantor: Number three, it emphasizes active, empathetic listening. Because people care about each other, they want everybody to win. They’re trying to, you know, create these real human being to human being interactions and they’re really trying to help other people. And this helps get valuable ideas and input from the entire team and even the clients. So, when you have that type of active, empathetic listening, it really permeates the entire organization.

Lee Kantor: And finally, and the most obvious, is, it just builds trust. By focusing on your customer’s best interests and well-being, as well as delivering first class service, you’re going to elevate yourself from being just another transactional vendor to being an indispensable trusted advisor, a true partner to helping your clients’ dreams come true, and the same goes with your team members.

Lee Kantor: So, servant leadership is really important to us at Business RadioX, and I highly recommend folks out there learning more about it and implementing some of their core values.

BRX Pro Tip: What is Your Client Reactivation Plan?

October 28, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: What is Your Client Reactivation Plan?

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BRX Pro Tip: What is Your Client Reactivation Plan?

Stone Payton: Welcome to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, today’s question, what is your client reactivation plan?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think it’s something that you should be investing some time and resources on in anybody’s business, some sort of client reactivation plan. It’s important to create some cadence, whether it’s email or another texting or whatever, however else you’re going to do it, but create some cadence to reactivate former clients and/or those unengaged members of your database. And especially we like to use email because email is pretty much free. All you have to do is come up with some sort of an email sequence that you can drip to these folks on a regular basis, maybe every 4 to 6 weeks, to see if any of them can be re-engaged with your brand.

Lee Kantor: At Business RadioX, this is pretty easy because in our toolkit we have the ability to invite people back on the show. So, any guest that’s been through our system, we can, in six months’ time, just invite them back on, to come back on to tell us what they got going on. But for people who don’t have a Business RadioX platform at their disposal and don’t want to do an email campaign, you can try doing some sort of a survey, reach out to get feedback.

Lee Kantor: There are lots, of kind, of elegant, non-salesy ways to reactivate somebody if you use a little creativity. But I would highly recommend some sort of regular rhythm where you are reaching out to people who have engaged with you in the past to re-engage in the future because a lot of times they might not have been ready to buy at the moment that you were ready to sell, but they probably thought fondly of you and would be open to learning more and to maybe possibly buy now, you know, a few months later.

Navigating the Waters of Franchise Ownership: Insights on Disaster Recovery and Community Service

October 27, 2025 by angishields

Veteran Business Radio

Navigating the Waters of Franchise Ownership: Insights on Disaster Recovery and Community Service

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In this episode of Veteran Business Radio, Lee Kantor interviews Saul Cruz, a veteran and franchise owner of 1-800 Packouts in South Miami. Saul shares his transition from military service to running a content restoration business, helping homeowners and businesses recover after disasters. He discusses the appeal of franchising, the challenges of building referral networks, and the importance of trust and care in handling clients’ belongings. The episode highlights how veterans can leverage their skills and values in structured, community-focused business opportunities like franchising.

Saul Cruz is a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran and the owner of 1-800-Packouts of Miami, where he leads a team dedicated to helping families recover after disaster strikes. Saul’s passion for restoration work stems from personal experience — his childhood home was destroyed during Hurricane Andrew, an event that inspired his commitment to serve others through compassion and precision.

After retiring from the military, Saul transitioned into business ownership, drawn to 1-800-Packouts’ mission of restoring what matters most. He brings the same discipline, adaptability and leadership that defined his military career to his work today, ensuring every homeowner receives the care and respect they deserve.

Connect with Saul on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

Transition from military service to franchise ownership
Overview of the content restoration industry and its importance
Explanation of the “pack out” process for damaged properties
Appeal of franchising for veterans, including structured operations and community service
Challenges of networking and building referral partnerships in the restoration industry
Importance of local market trust and reputation for service providers
Role of military experience in business operations and team management
Benefits of franchising for veterans transitioning to civilian life
Specific challenges faced in securing warehouse space in Miami
Customer appreciation for careful handling of personal belongings during restoration

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Veterans Business Radio, brought to you by ATL vets, providing the tools and support that help veteran owned businesses thrive. For more information, go to ATL vets. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of Veterans Business Radio and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, ATL vets, inspiring veterans to build their foundation of success and empowering them to become the backbone of society after the uniform. For more information, go to ATL vets. Today on the show, we have Saul Cruz, who is with 1-800-Packouts of South Miami. Welcome.

Saul Cruz: Thank you for having me on.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about one 1-800-Packouts. Um, how are you serving, folks?

Saul Cruz: Uh, so we help homeowners and businesses as far as their content restoration. So whenever there’s a natural disaster or an emergency in their homes, we go in and we take care of all their personal belongings, their contents, and we store everything in our warehouse. We also clean as needed. And we’re here to help the homeowners get back into their home as quickly as possible.

Lee Kantor: So, um, is that what the phrase pack out means? It means you’re going to go in and take all their personal belongings, remove them to a safe place, and then kind of put them back into as close to the original form as you can.

Saul Cruz: That’s correct sir.

Lee Kantor: Now this is a franchise, right?

Saul Cruz: Correct. This is a franchise. So we’re nationwide and we service, uh, the whole United States. And we have different franchise owners in every location, but we work together as a as a group, so we piggyback off of each other and get as much knowledge from each other as we go on with our businesses.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share a little bit about coming out of the military? Why, um, your path to franchising, number one, but this specific franchise.

Saul Cruz: So the path was, you know, I as being a military member, we always like structure and having a sense of direction. And franchising is very similar in that sense. You have your SOPs, your standard operations. So it makes it easier for you to run your business and kind of always have a guideline of where you’re going and how to grow your business. And I chose this, uh, 100 package due to being a service member and always helping the community, whether abroad or in the United States, and being able to be part of the community and always being there for homeowners and my neighbors. Anybody that needs help, we’re here to provide that for them.

Lee Kantor: Now, what was so you leave the military and now you’re kind of deciding next moves. Um, how did this one kind of get on your radar? There’s there’s hundreds, if not thousands of franchises to choose from.

Saul Cruz: Correct. Um, I chose this one because every situation is very different, even though it might be the same foundation. Every situation you go into, it’s going to have its own different uniqueness to it. And I feel that works well with military background because you’re able to adapt and overcome. You’re never going to have the same situation regardless of what you go into. It could be a job, it could be a water damage, it could be fine art. So you have so many different situations that are going to dictate how the job is going to go. So your goal is to always be on edge and kind of know exactly what you need to do in every situation before you walk into it and be prepared.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you chose one 800 Scouts, was there another one you were looking at, or had you narrowed it down to a couple and then you really liked this one? Or was it?

Saul Cruz: I had a couple. I had a actually, I narrowed it down to five. They’re all in different categories, and I just felt like this one aligns more with what I was trying to do in the community and also with my business path. I couldn’t sit behind a desk all day long, so I like being on a job site as well. I like to get to know the homeowner and just kind of adapt and learn as the industry changes as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, did you go through a franchise broker to do this or is this your own research?

Saul Cruz: No, I did go through a broker and it was actually a veteran, uh, himself. So we connected in that way as well.

Lee Kantor: Um, now, when you went through the broker, they showed you obviously a lot. You narrowed it down to the five that you, um, I guess were in the finals, and then you landed on this one. What was just the serving of the community and being in the field and being there, like, during a crisis. Those were things that really resonated with you?

Saul Cruz: Yes. It definitely jogged my attention closer to that because like I said, I like being out in the field and, you know, during emergencies I like to help others. So I just felt like it was the best path for me to have this, uh, franchise.

Lee Kantor: So how long have you had it?

Saul Cruz: Uh, about a year now.

Lee Kantor: And is it what you imagined?

Saul Cruz: It’s definitely challenging. And it’s a lot of networking, which, uh, I’m not too. It’s more new for me, but definitely, uh, it makes me come out of my comfort zone because we have to go out and network and build our reputation. And, you know, integrity is very important. So it’s it’s not it’s pretty good, I enjoy it.

Lee Kantor: So when you say build your network, obviously, um, you’re looking for I would imagine referral partners because, I mean, any you don’t know when a crisis is going to happen and anybody might be the one that needs you, but I guess you need people to refer you business. Correct.

Saul Cruz: Yeah. We work with referral partners, public adjusters, restoration Companies are different individuals that can get us leads to get us close to the homeowner, so we’re there to support them when they need us, right?

Lee Kantor: Because I would imagine it’s hard to market to a homeowner because it’s like a needle in a haystack, like, who’s going to need you at what time?

Saul Cruz: Exactly. And especially during like, let’s say, in Florida, in Miami, we got a, you know, hurricane. So during that time, they’re not thinking about a restoration or their their personal belongings until that disaster hits. Um, so definitely educating the community, educating our partners on how we can assist them and, and their home and the homeowners and their clients. So I think that’s very important to have that network and really be prepared for those situations and teaching everybody.

Lee Kantor: So what do you do kind of in between like I guess disasters. That’s that’s the bulk of your, your you not that you need disasters, but when a disaster occurs that’s when your service is most needed, right?

Saul Cruz: Correct. Disasters are when it’s at its highest level. But normally you still have, you know, a house for burned down. You would have water damage here in Florida. In Miami we have high mold due to the humidity. So that’s situations we will go into as well. So there’s many different situations where we would be needed.

Lee Kantor: So it isn’t like you’re just waiting for hurricane season. Like there’s work all year.

Saul Cruz: For High Peak.

Lee Kantor: That would be the peak. But like there’s work all throughout the year. It’s just. But it’s less. I would imagine that when a crisis comes on now, it’s like all hands on deck, right? Like everybody’s scrambling.

Saul Cruz: Exactly.

Lee Kantor: So you have to build capability for it to handle a crisis. But then you also need kind of the the day to day where it’s like kind of coming in much slower.

Saul Cruz: Exactly. So we have the day to day that comes in. So that’s where we get most of our experience. And then when a hurricane or a natural disaster happens, then all boots are on deck at that time. And it just you know what you already do, but you’re going to maximize that, right? Just like you would in the military where, you know, you train, train, train until you need to go, you know, on scene and then you handle the situations.

Lee Kantor: So, um, was it hard to build your team, or is this where kind of your military background comes in handy in kind of getting a team ready to go in this type of an environment?

Saul Cruz: Definitely having a military background, it really helps because we’re able to structure the company to be the most efficient. So finding the team, you kind of know kind of how to read people. Also, you know, being a a trainer towards the end of my career, I’m able to train my guys to be able to perform to their best and to catch on to anything that I had, might missed or somebody else had missed. So we’re able to ensure the job is done correctly.

Lee Kantor: So you think franchising is a good move for a lot of folks as they exit?

Saul Cruz: I think it gives you a solid foundation. Um, it’s hard to go out there and start a business on your own without any guidance. Especially, you know, coming from the military, you think you know it all and you’re pretty established by the time you get out. But going into the into the real world is it’s not the same concept. So I think having a, a franchise foundation really helps you kind of be your own, but at the same time you have something to fall back on. Uh, you have, uh, other owners you can reach out to and ask questions. So you have a good supporting cast like you do in the military.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that, uh, challenge, um, is kind of doing this type of networking that maybe wasn’t part of your, um, you know, what you were a specialist in, and now you’re having to kind of learn that role. Is that something that the franchisor gives you, the tools and resources to go out there and do that effectively? Or is it something that in every local market, you got to kind of figure out who the players are and, and kind of meet them on your own?

Saul Cruz: It’s both it’s they give you the foundation on the main players, but then locally you have to do your own research. You got to find out who’s doing what and kind of just start building that relationship. And word travels, right? So people know each other. So you might be asking about one company and they’re going to lead you to five more companies and partners that they’ve worked with. So it’s really both sides have to are are important role.

Lee Kantor: Right. And you got to know who the people are that can actually do the thing and not just say they can do the thing.

Saul Cruz: Correct.

Lee Kantor: That’s probably a hard part to figure out.

Saul Cruz: Yes. And you’ll start to know, like I said, word travels. And just like in the military, you know, who’s a good instructor, who’s a good leader. Well, same thing with in the business world. You’ll see who get the referrals, who doesn’t get referrals or you know, what their reputation is when they do, uh, perform their duties. So it’s it’s the same, same concept.

Lee Kantor: So, um, when you took over this franchise, is it something that you buy that territory of South Florida or South Miami or and and that’s it. Or are you do you want to like, have bigger territories like what’s kind of how you see this evolving over time?

Saul Cruz: So so so far we have another owner in the Tampa area. Um, we’re very close. Um, but you do buy a territory and you can expand as needed. But while there’s nobody next to you, you’re allowed to go out and market that area as well. So pretty much I have all of South Florida at this at this moment, and it covers roughly 2 million people, my actual territory. Um, so that’s more than enough for now. And then obviously you can always expand, which is great. You have that option available to you.

Lee Kantor: Now when you get this franchise as part of it, you have to acquire warehouse space as well. Or is that something that the franchisor provides.

Saul Cruz: That you have to get yourself so they they’ll they’ll tell you to get your, you know, your warehouse has to be within your territory. But as far as what you do, how you do it, that’s more on you. They’re going to have the basic guidelines and then you just gotta follow that. If you want to go bigger, you can, because again, if you start growing, uh, you don’t have to grow your territory. But if you’re growing as far as how many jobs you’re doing, you might need more than one warehouse.

Lee Kantor: And so that so that. Did you find what you needed? Was that easy to find in your market?

Saul Cruz: Um, it’s definitely not easy to find in Miami, but I was able to to work out a deal with a landlord and it worked out pretty good.

Lee Kantor: Did you have to kind of negotiate that before you decided on the franchise? Because if you can’t get that, then you’re kind of in a tough spot.

Saul Cruz: Yeah, no, I was able to to get this location afterwards because it’s kind of hard to get into the franchising and not know what you’re going to do. So definitely did some research beforehand. But I had a few options. And, you know, I was able to get the best one that I wanted at that time.

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

Saul Cruz: Um, pretty much just building relationships, I think is the most important part, knowing that we’re here in Miami, that we’re here to service the community and that we, you know, we’re you can call us at any time, ask us any questions. And we’re here to, to to guide a homeowner, uh, and guide other restoration companies on how they can, how we can be an asset to them and help get their clients back, you know, back in their home. That’s the most important part.

Lee Kantor: So who are those top 3 to 5 referral partners for you.

Saul Cruz: So it would be, uh, public adjusters, uh, restoration companies and um, associations.

Lee Kantor: The associations that serve homeowner associations. Oh, the homeowners association.

Saul Cruz: Yeah. We want to get into, you know, the high risers, the buildings to where you have a lot of renters and they kind of know that we’re here in case, you know, a fire breaks out on the third floor, but it spreads all the way to the eighth with soot and everything else. Then we’re here to help their help, help out the renters.

Lee Kantor: Right because, I mean, that happened to my son was in a high rise. And then there was like, um, the fire alarm thing, the, the the sprinklers went off, not in his apartment, but in another one, but it spread through the whole floor. Everybody was kind of in a in a spot. And you never know when those things are going to happen.

Saul Cruz: Exactly. Yes.

Lee Kantor: So if he had somebody like you. Right. Like if, if, if the apartment had said, oh, these are the people we recommend, then it would have made it so much easier. You had to, you know, do a lot of research because, you know, now they’re in a crisis and they don’t know who to call. Like they’re that’s stressful as anything.

Saul Cruz: Exactly. That’s the worst time to call because then you’ll have so many different companies trying to reach out to you. It’s better if you already have an established company that you trust and that you know it’s there to do the right thing that you can call at any time, and we’ll help you figure everything out for you. Right. So you’re not doing everything on your own now.

Lee Kantor: Is there a story you can share that maybe, uh, Illustrates how you work with your clients.

Saul Cruz: Um, totally. So we had a water damage situation where the water was coming from, uh, a bathroom on the second floor, and the homeowner was, uh, on vacation at that time. So by the time they realized it, the whole house had flooded. So by that time, we had to go in and get everything out of their house, bring it back to to storage, get everything cleaned out, and then, uh, we actually called the restoration company to go in there and help out the the homeowner on that side of the house. So we were able to connect the dots to help the homeowner get everything that they needed.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you work with the insurance or this is something separate than insurance?

Saul Cruz: No, we work with the insurance directly as well. So we work directly with the homeowner if they’re doing self-pay. But nine out of ten, it should be going through the insurance if they have the right coverage. Yeah that walk them through that process.

Lee Kantor: Right. And that’s one of those things like you’re your work ends with the belongings, right? Because when water is in the apartment or wherever it can get in the walls, the floor, that’s somebody else’s job, somebody else.

Saul Cruz: But we normally have those good connections and the, the referral part. So that’s that’s also crucial as well. Right. So we help the homeowner guide them through that whole process. So they’re not alone. Even if we don’t perform that we’ll we’ll get them the right leads and they can decide who they want to go with. But we’re always there to give them a helping hand.

Lee Kantor: Now, the folks who do the walls and the floors are those they typically don’t do the belongings right. They just focus in on what they do.

Saul Cruz: Correct? Normally they don’t. There’s a few that do. But, you know, those are the same people that are tearing walls that are going to go handle your delicate items and your personal, you know, right, your grandma’s personal items. Um, so that’s a little more touchy because that it could create breakage and they don’t take care of it the same. Well, nothing against them, but they do multiple things and we only specify in content.

Lee Kantor: So. Right.

Saul Cruz: It’s our specialty and we’re more delicate. And we understand what it means to somebody, to a homeowner.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. You’re going to take better care of their sign Dan Marino jersey than the guy that tears up the walls.

Saul Cruz: Exactly.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Saul Cruz: So you can reach us at one 800, uh, Scout.com. And there’s you’ll find the one 800 number. And based on your location in the United States, it’s going to lead you directly to wherever you’re you, you live. So they’ll connect you with the right, uh, business owner.

Lee Kantor: And your area of South Miami.

Saul Cruz: That’s right.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Man. Congratulations on all the momentum. And, uh, thank you for sharing your story. Doing important work. And we appreciate you.

Saul Cruz: Oh, thank you, Lee, for having me on, I appreciate it.

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

Ensuring Relevance: How ATMAE Keeps Applied Engineering Programs Aligned with Industry Needs

October 27, 2025 by angishields

Association Leadership Radio

Ensuring Relevance: How ATMAE Keeps Applied Engineering Programs Aligned with Industry Needs

00:00 /

In this episode of Association Leadership Radio, Lee Kantor talks with Walt Pozgay, Chair of ATMAE. They discuss ATMAE’s mission to accredit technology management and applied engineering programs, ensuring alignment with industry needs through advisory boards and continuous improvement. Walt highlights the growing recognition of applied engineering, the importance of industry-academic collaboration, and the value of accreditation for students and employers. The conversation also covers challenges in raising awareness, the practical focus of applied engineering, and how ATMAE fosters connections between universities, industry, and students to prepare graduates for evolving workforce demands.

Walt Pozgay is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering (ATMAE). He has also held the role of Industry Representative and Vice Chair of the Board and has served on the National Industrial Advisory Committee (NIAC) and as part of the Management and Distance Learning divisions of ATMAE. Walt works for GE

Appliances in Louisville, KY as the Manufacturing Technical Training Lead where he develops, plans, and conducts technical training for the Supply Chain organization of GE Appliances and is the Program Manager for the Maintenance Apprenticeship Program.

Walt serves on curriculum advisory boards at Morehead State University, the University of Kentucky, and Fairdale High School where he represents the voice of industry in ensuring that curriculum remains relevant and useful.

Walt holds a Certified Senior Technology Manager certification from ATMAE, a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt certification from the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and is a Certified Industrial Electronics Technician through the International Society of Certified Electronics Technicians (ISCET). He holds an Associate’s Degree in Quality Management Systems from Elizabethtown Community College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Technology Management from Morehead State University.

Walt lives in Louisville, KY with his wife Susie, who is a school librarian. They have one daughter, Clara, who works in a women’s health facility in Tampa Florida.

Follow ATMAE on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

Role and mission of the Association of Technology Management and Applied Engineering (ATMAE)
History and evolution of ATMAE from its founding as NATE in 1967
Accreditation process for technology management and applied engineering programs
Importance of aligning academic programs with industry needs through continuous feedback
Distinction between traditional engineering and applied engineering
Growth and recognition of applied engineering in the workforce
Role of advisory boards in maintaining program relevance and quality
Demand for certifications as a complement to traditional degrees
Challenges and opportunities in attracting students to applied engineering programs
Collaboration between universities and industry to enhance educational offerings and workforce readiness

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of Association Leadership Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today we have the chair of the Board of Directors for the Association of Technology Management and Applied Engineering, Walt Pozgay. Welcome.

Walt Pozgay: Thank you. It’s exciting to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. For folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about ATMAE? How are you serving folks?

Walt Pozgay: Okay, so ATMAE is an organization that goes back to the 1960s. We were actually founded in 1967 as Nate. It was for applied Engineering and Industrial Arts, and in 2008 we changed to the Association of Technology Management and Applied Engineering because we noticed that the applied engineering side of our of our organization wasn’t the public didn’t know that much about us. So we started to push that side of it a little bit harder. We are a, uh, we are a certification organization or an accreditation organization. We accredit technology programs at the universities for undergraduate as well as graduate and doctoral programs. We, uh, are certified by the Council of Higher Education Accreditation. So the watchers are being watched. And what we do is we go in and make sure that applied engineering programs and management programs for technical managers are current and up to date and applicable and useful for industry.

Lee Kantor: So you’re working primarily with universities to make sure that their programs are kind of putting out the people doing the right things.

Walt Pozgay: That’s correct. Well, we have three major pillars. We have an academic pillar, which is again, the the accreditation side, where we’re making sure that the programs are not only high quality, but they are constantly maintaining themselves. They it’s not a plug and go. They have to they have to do have a, an improvement loop so that they’re constantly listening to industry and making sure that their training becomes that remains relevant and up to date. We also have a certification process where we provide eight different certifications for industry. And then we have the industry side, which is kind of the voice of the customer. So we have a lot of industry members that, um, they’re not academics, but they speak for their industries and make sure that they’re guiding the overall organization in the right direction.

Lee Kantor: So you’re trying to close the loop, and each of the constituents are people that, um, have to kind of pay attention to each other, talk to each other and communicate what their needs are and how best to serve them.

Walt Pozgay: That’s correct. So we’re making sure that industry gets the employees they need and that the universities, um, are keeping themselves current with the programs that they’re presenting.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you finding, um, lately more demand for these kind of certifications that maybe bypassed some of the universities and folks are just trying to get certified on their own, um, rather than go through the whole college experience?

Walt Pozgay: No. Um, not so much that what we’re finding, however, is that applied engineers are finally coming into their own. Um, a lot of companies who have been very engineering centric where they, they feel you have to have an actual engineering degree, uh, are starting to realize that applied engineers, uh, have their place, and it’s a bigger place than a lot of companies thought. Uh, so the people that are actually, uh, putting in your assembly lines and the people that are, uh, helping maintenance maintain your lines and so forth. People with a more practical, uh, application sense of the engineering programs, um, they’re starting to become more recognized in the industry. Um, certification isn’t an end around in our case, uh, it’s, uh, it’s a way of demonstrating that the person has the knowledge that the program, uh, was supposed to provide.

Lee Kantor: So people who are doing engineering or applied engineering work have to have a college degree like that’s that’s non-negotiable.

Walt Pozgay: Uh, it’s. Yeah. Well, it’s a it’s it’s not non-negotiable, but it, uh, it’s an entry. It’s an entry that hasn’t been largely recognized by industry for a while. Um, they they again, we’re looking back at companies that have been around a long time, and they see the engineer as the the key technical person and nothing against engineers, but they have a different responsibility. The applied engineer, it’s more about taking that science and taking that technology and putting it to work. And a lot of the more formal engineering programs, uh, they do a great job of preparing engineers for the theoretical side, but not so much for the practical side. And so what our folks do is they come in and they they’re working engineers. They they they’re quality engineers. They’re manufacturing engineers, they’re advanced manufacturing engineers, those kinds of roles.

Lee Kantor: So but they’re the ones that are in the organization, you know, with their sleeves rolled up, actually doing some of the work where they’re they’re testing if those theories are are applicable in real, real life. Right.

Walt Pozgay: And they’re applying them and then they’re, they’re working through the problems that come about when theory actually has to go to work.

Lee Kantor: Now and then. How do you get that feedback back to the people who are doing the educating?

Walt Pozgay: So, uh, one of the requirements of our program is that, uh, or of our accreditation is that every program that’s accredited has to have an industrial, uh, support group, uh, to feed back that information. They have to have a, uh, Are they have to have? Uh. I’m sorry. The word is, is.

Lee Kantor: There has to be some sort of a feedback loop, right? Where the the knowledge kind of that is happening with the boots on the ground are actually kind of getting back to the people who are teaching the next group of people that are going to be doing that kind of work.

Walt Pozgay: That’s correct. And so every the a requirement to get our accreditation is you have to have an advisory board, and it has to be manned by people who are in industry, and they have to approve any changes to the program. They also recommend changes to the program so that that is constantly being evaluated. We’re we’re constantly polling our graduates. We’re constantly polling our the the folks that hire our graduates and those, uh, those feedbacks come back to inform the programs. Uh, and it’s a requirement. It’s not a nice to have. In order for you to keep your accreditation, you have to demonstrate that you are asking and that you are also responding to the feedback.

Lee Kantor: So how do you stay, um, nimble and and current with the, the speed that’s occurring in kind of these industries right now especially, you know, with the advent of all this new technology and artificial intelligence. Like, how do you kind of stay ahead?

Walt Pozgay: And that’s the key point of having the advisory boards. The advisory boards function as the voice of the customer to Atmae, who then goes back to the programs and helps those programs advance their, uh, their technology and advance their, um, their, their, their modernness, the modernity. They, uh, and that’s why it’s, that’s that’s the whole reason of having those advisory boards as a requirement so that they can be nimble.

Lee Kantor: Do they see them as kind of a necessary evil? Like are they kind of are they open to it like, oh, thank you. Where you been all my life? Or is it like, oh great, I got to make another change. And now this is how I do things.

Walt Pozgay: Oh no. No, it’s it’s much more the former than the latter. I mean, obviously it’s hard to stay current, but if you don’t, first of all, if you don’t and your program becomes irrelevant, it doesn’t stay around very long. Um, but the big thing is that the the goal is to get our students hired and working. It’s not just to provide them with education, it’s to provide them with a meaningful path to a career. And so if we aren’t producing students that have the skills that our, uh, industry is requiring, then we’re just wasting time. So it is not considered a necessary evil. It’s much more considered a partnership. Uh, the advisory boards are often staffed by graduates. So they know the programs. They know the professors they’re feeding back. Say, look, this is what I learned, and I didn’t really need it. So how about you take this out of the program and put this in instead? And it’s it’s this constantly evolving, constantly improving program.

Lee Kantor: So as the leader or one of the leaders in the organization, how do you kind of keep everybody, um, focused on that, that objective and being clear on how they have to work together? Like you said, this isn’t a nice to have. This is a must have. And people have to kind of embrace the change. Or is that just the folks that are attracted to engineering and applied engineering? They have that mindset anyway.

Walt Pozgay: Uh, it’s probably a little bit of both. Um, you know, our, our accreditation board is, is a is an autonomous board. I have no control over them. They control the accreditation process. Uh, and the the requirements for accreditation are quite clear. Uh, so what we do is, uh, when you get your program accredited, it’s accredited for three years. Um, at the end of three years, you go through a re-accreditation process, and, uh, it’s a site visit a team of 3 or 4, depending on the size of the program. We, uh, we will come to your site. You will submit a, a self-evaluation of your program based on the standards. Um, and then we will visit and make sure that what you said in your self-evaluation is, in fact, represented in reality. And then, uh, that’s one of the things we do at our conference. I’m actually at our conference right now. Uh, one of the main things that happens at our annual conference is the accreditation board meets and decides yes or no on continuing to accredit your program.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you finding that young people are attracted to engineering and applied engineering? Or is there something that you really have to, um, you know, work on to get more young people going down this path?

Walt Pozgay: I think, uh, they’ve they’ve always been attracted to it to some degree. Uh, I think we’re actually seeing a higher level of attraction, um, because of the hands on element and the, the relevance of the of the work. Again, I’m not in any way putting down pure engineering, but the work that an engineer does that an engineering technologist or graduate can’t do is pretty small. And it’s very high level science. And, um, the people that we’re working with are taking that high level science and putting it to work. And most of them have. Most of the people in our programs have that mindset that they want it to work, they want to go to work and they want to put it to use. And I think we’re seeing some growth in our student population. Our we have a lot of students here at our conference every year, but I think we’ve got one of the biggest groups of students that we’ve had in a while this year. Um, and that’s a good thing. That’s our future.

Lee Kantor: Now is there you mentioned a lot, obviously, about your work with colleges and universities. Does is some of the work kind of trickle down into the high schools, middle schools, so that you can, you know, keep the pipeline filled?

Walt Pozgay: Uh, we as an organization don’t get involved in the high school and middle schools. Uh, there are programs out there, um, that do, uh, and we’re a fairly small organization. We are growing, um, but, uh, there has been discussion about how we start increasing our reach. We just haven’t we haven’t pursued that yet.

Lee Kantor: And then the programs are the engineering degrees and the applied engineering degrees. Are there more of those kind of bubbling up in universities or are they kind of staying the same? Uh, like, is there growth in more colleges and universities offering a wider and wider variety of engineering and applied engineering degrees?

Walt Pozgay: There, there tends to be a growth of schools that already have engineering programs investigating having applied engineering programs.

Lee Kantor: So this is a new area. I mean, it’s obviously not a new area, but it’s an area where now colleges are saying, hey, maybe we should be kind of investing in this.

Walt Pozgay: Right. There are there are an increasing number of universities that are who have already got an engineering programs in place that are recognizing, um, the industrial need for, um, more practical, uh, more practical skill set. And so they are investigating, um, these newer having these, uh, applied engineering programs.

Lee Kantor: And then these applied engineering programs, they can’t just be taught by the person that’s doing the engineering. You need a different kind of professional in order to execute, um, the applied.

Walt Pozgay: No, it’s more like having a slightly different curriculum.

Lee Kantor: Oh, so it’s a curriculum change, not.

Walt Pozgay: A curriculum change, right? So we still have we still have engineering classes. Um, but we also have management classes. We also have, um, we also have practical classes. For instance, one of our universities, the students, when they graduate from their program, they have a FANUC phonics certification, which means they can program a Fanuc robot. Um, and to the point where Fanuc will actually give them a certification. So it’s more of they don’t spend the time in the higher level maths and the higher level sciences, uh, applying the theory. It’s more about spending time in a fluid power class and spending time in a mechanics class and spending it spending time on a PLC class. Um, and so it’s not that they can’t be taught by the same instructors that they tend not to be, because it’s an instructors with different skill sets.

Lee Kantor: But does it require then the university to then invest in labs and have stuff there?

Walt Pozgay: Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, and that’s actually part of the accreditation requirement is that they not only have labs, but the labs be relevant and kept.

Lee Kantor: Current.

Walt Pozgay: Functioning and kept current and kept modern. Yes.

Lee Kantor: And then do you? Is that something you help them with? Or you just tell them this is a requirement so they have to figure it out? Or like, do you have maybe partners with some of the manufacturers of these equipment so they can, you know, either donate or, you know, offer to them so they can practice on the stuff that they’re going to end up working on.

Walt Pozgay: That’s done at the college level and at the university level and the program level. Um, that’s not something that May specifically does. Uh, but again, that’s a function of the, of having an advisory board is that this advisory board is going to be made up of the people that are close to your university, close to your program. They’re the people that are hiring your your graduates, and they have a vested interest in making sure that those graduates are the kinds of people they want to hire, and then they therefore get involved with things like providing equipment and so forth.

Lee Kantor: Right. Because it’s in it’s in everybody’s best interest to give the student the most current equipment, and it helps the the student learn on the equipment they’re going to end up working on when they graduate. So it’s like a win win all the way around. So I mean, so you’re kind of making recommendations or giving them guidelines to follow and then the university, then in their local market kind of partners with the people that are appropriate in the local market.

Walt Pozgay: That’s exactly right. We we provide the guidelines, we provide the the rules essentially, and put the guardrails up. And then we let the universities do the work that they need to do to meet those requirements and maintain their accreditation.

Lee Kantor: Well, your work is so important. Is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates how, um, you know, when a university or like the importance of kind of I don’t want to say this is a pivot, but it’s definitely a kind of a broadening of, um, of how the university is thinking a little bit about leaning more into the applied side of things. Can you talk about how that has made an impact when they did that? Like did they graduate more people or more opportunities or the industries happier they got, you know, more of the workers filled?

Walt Pozgay: I guess a good way to to answer that is, um, I’m I’m not going to use the company’s name, but there is a company with whom I’m familiar that has historically not even interviewed applied engineers. And, uh, they, they want strictly, uh, you know, certified engineers from from certified, uh, engineering programs. And last year, this company made a pivot and actually started actively seeking out, um, applied engineering graduates and opening up their, their recruiting. And they have found, uh, it’s, you know, it’s been a much more successful recruiting tool. Uh, and they’ve actually developed and applied engineering development program for their company. So not only are they shifting from we don’t hire these people to yes, we’ll interview them. They’re actively seeking them now and bringing them into the jobs that, uh, that typically had been held by formal engineers, freeing up the formal engineers to do the more theoretical and higher level work that that they’re trained to do.

Lee Kantor: Now, is that one of kind of the things on your plate or leadership’s plate in terms of explaining to industry why it might be a good idea to to kind of open up your mind to applied engineering degree folks. And then also you have to kind of convince the universities to, um, you know, kind of have the degree so that they can get the training from the industry so that more people in the industry. So it’s like kind of a chicken and egg thing.

Walt Pozgay: Uh, yeah. It is a little bit of a chicken and egg. Um, uh, what am is, is working very hard to do is to get, uh, to get people who typically don’t hire applied engineers to understand their value. Um, and we’ve like I said, we’ve been around since the late 60s. Um, and it’s been a, it’s we have companies that have had partnerships with us for years and years, and we have other companies that still haven’t really heard about what we do. So we have been really focused on getting our name out there. We’ve been working with other organizations, uh, tag teaming, you know, they come to our conference, we go to theirs, that kind of thing, to, uh, to get the word out. Um, but largely what’s happening is industry is starting to push for it. Industry is starting to push. They’re having they’re having to push to the universities and say, hey, we aren’t getting the people we need and these are the people we need. And it so happens that the people they need are the people that we serve.

Lee Kantor: But so now, are you all on the same page that you can work together and, you know, kind of have some more synergy when it comes to this because it seems like they need you to to get the curriculum certified. But they, you know, if they are not aware or they’re not seeing the impact, then they might be hesitant or slow to ask for folks with that type of a degree. So I mean, to me, it both sides of the equation have to be dealt with. But um, I’m just trying to get like, how how do like what do you need more of? So you need more people in industry to say, hey, we need more applied engineers, so go make them for me. And then if you think that if by doing that, then the universities will go to you and say, hey, help us, you know, uh, graduate more applied engineers.

Walt Pozgay: Uh, yeah. Uh, that’s a really complex question. Um, really, it’s it’s getting, uh, the applied engineering programs that are out there to, to, uh, become accredited because there are applied engineering programs out there that are not accredited at all or accredited by us. There are, um, they could be accredited elsewhere. But, um, it’s industry recognizing the value of accreditation and the value of certification, um, is probably it’s very important. Um, and it’s, it’s some of the more important work that we’re doing is to sell that, to, uh, sell that to the industry, to get them to understand that, um. Industry is going to hire what they need to hire.

Lee Kantor: Right? Yeah. They got a problem to solve.

Walt Pozgay: Right. And and so that’s almost a natural feedback loop. You know, if you have a program that isn’t graduating people that are getting jobs, then you’re going to find that out. Um, what we provide is the the mechanism by which you can track your program to make sure that it is meeting the requirements. That’s the biggest benefit of having accreditation through us is by meeting the accreditation standards you have in place, a process of ensuring that your program remains relevant and that your graduates are graduates are going into the kinds of jobs that that they want to do and that the industry needs to have filled.

Lee Kantor: And then a student that’s interested in this, if they’re given a choice between an accredited university and a non-accredited, I’m sure they’re going to err on the side of accredited.

Walt Pozgay: Well, we would we would encourage them to. Yes. Because a non-accredited program means that the university’s deciding what that needs to be. And maybe they’re right and maybe they’re not. Whereas if you’re accredited, particularly through Atmae, then you have been through that program, has been through a vetting process, and we know that it is successful and we are ensuring that it remains successful. Uh, as long as the university continues to follow the requirements of the accreditation.

Lee Kantor: So, um, what do you need more of? So you need more conversations with folks in the industry, and you need, um, more conversations with universities. Um, those are the two kind of big buckets for you.

Walt Pozgay: Right? We need what we need is we need more conversations between universities and industry. Um, and we facilitate those. Uh, like I said, we’re at our conference right now, so we have we have about 300 educators, students and, and, uh, industry professionals that are all mingling together downstairs doing listening to talks and listening to paper presentations and watching student robotics competitions and those kinds of things. Uh, so we have, uh, that we facilitate that. But what we’re really trying to get industry to understand is the value of saying we want our graduates to come from an accredited program. Uh, and we think the accreditation process produces a good product.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more about Apma, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect with you or somebody on the team?

Walt Pozgay: Uh, you can go to. Uh, there is a, um, About Us tab that shows all of the members of the board of directors, and all of us have emails posted right there. You can reach out to us directly. You can reach out to our, uh, office and, uh, we have, uh, some folks that can put you in touch with whoever you need to be put in touch with. Uh, so, yeah, we’re we’re out there, and we’re, we’re very interested in and making these connections and getting to know people.

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

Walt Pozgay: Thank you very much.

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

BRX Pro Tip: 2 Tips for Better Follow Up

October 27, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: 2 Tips for Better Follow Up

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BRX Pro Tip: 2 Tips for Better Follow Up

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Today’s tips, we get two tips for better follow up.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, the tip is you better have a system to follow up with the people in your database. You can’t just serve somebody, have them reach out and have some sort of relationship with you, and then ignore them forever. You have to have a system of following up with people who have already interacted with you that you can’t just kind of just keep putting new people into a database without touching them periodically.

Lee Kantor: So now, once you say, okay, I buy that, then what do you do? What do you say? You don’t want to just say, hey, checking in. You don’t want to do something that has no value to them. So, the first tip is to always lead with providing some sort of value and or gratitude. So, thank them for being part of the community. Thank them for participating. So, you want to thank them in some manner, and you want to also provide more value to them.

Lee Kantor: So, what are some of the second ways to provide some more value to them? So, that’s where you create thought leadership. That’s where you share ways that people have benefited from your service. And then so combine that gratitude with providing value in a regular basis, whether it’s a newsletter. But in some manner, you should be touching these people over and over again because they might not have bought from you at the time you met them, but you don’t want to be forgotten. You want to be top of mind when it is time for them to buy whatever it is you’re selling that they think of you.

Lee Kantor: So, just remember that person. The timing just might not have been right, but they probably had a good enough experience with you that they would consider you at some future point. And you want to be that go to top of mind service when the time comes, when they need you. So, you have to follow up to be ready for that moment because you don’t know when that moment will be.

Profit Margins and Personal Growth: Tom Clapham’s Journey in the Franchise World

October 27, 2025 by angishields

Veteran Business Radio

Profit Margins and Personal Growth: Tom Clapham's Journey in the Franchise World

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In this episode of Veteran Business Radio, Lee Kantor interviews Tom Clapham of Gotcha Covered of Durham and Chapel Hill. Tom shares his journey from U.S. Army service to franchise ownership, discussing how his military background, MBA, and healthcare marketing experience prepared him for business. He explains Gotcha Covered’s window treatment offerings, the importance of networking, and lessons learned about pricing and profitability. Tom emphasizes the value of relationship-building, proactive marketing, and leveraging referral partners for growth.

Tom Clapham, owner of Gotcha Covered of Durham and Chapel Hill, is a veteran who served in the U.S. Army for eight years, brings a wealth of experience from his 20-year career in healthcare marketing, including roles at Duke University Health System and various healthcare startups.

Gotcha Covered is a full service provider from design to installation and ongoing support of the entire range of window treatment options from blinds and shades to shutters and draperies. They offer a wide array of colors and materials to fit any design aesthetic and deliver lasting value on any budget.

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

Overview of Gotcha Covered as a window treatments franchise with nearly 200 locations in North America.
Discussion of the range of window treatment products offered, including shades, shutters, blinds, and draperies.
Tom’s military background and how it influenced his business approach.
The use of the GI Bill to obtain an MBA and transition into franchise ownership.
Importance of working with a knowledgeable franchise broker and the vetting process for franchise selection.
Emphasis on financial transparency and due diligence when evaluating franchise opportunities.
Strategies for building relationships and networking within the local community for business growth.
Insights on customer retention and the significance of referral partnerships in the window treatment industry.
Plans for expanding into the commercial sector and targeting mid-sized builders.
Reflection on the challenges of maintaining confidence in pricing and the shift towards sustainable profit margins.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of Veterans Business Radio and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, ATL vets, inspiring veterans to build their foundation of success and empowering them to become the backbone of society after the uniform. For more information, go to ATL vets. Today on the show we have Tom Clapham. He is with Gotcha Covered of Durham and Chapel Hill. Welcome. Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about got you covered. How you serving folks?

Tom Clapham: So Got You Covered is a window treatments franchise. We’ve got somewhere close to 200 locations or franchises within North America, and we offer a full range of window treatments. So pretty much anything for the inside of the windows from shades, shutters, blinds and draperies and draperies are actually making a comeback. And we do motorized and non a full range of options. And uh, I like to think of myself more of a broker than a sales person because we have really good deals with dozens of manufacturers.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Tom Clapham: Um, so, you know, there’s, I think, a running joke that nobody wants to, uh, sell window treatments when they grow up. Um, but, um, I mean, I think that I’ve always wanted to get into business. I’ve always been a, um, you know, a long time listener of entrepreneurship podcast. And I did end up going to grad school for business. But the reason I’m here today is because I took a path that led me through the military, and it definitely helped prepare me for, uh, the business world and for, um, ownership of, uh, of the franchise as well. I spent eight years in the Army. Half of that was enlisted. And then, uh, the other half as an officer, and, um, did end up getting the GI Bill, which I used to get an MBA from Duke. I was working my way up the corporate ladder in healthcare marketing, and then, um, I was between jobs and, uh, met a franchise broker, uh, at a military job fair. And he introduced me to a lot of franchise options that I didn’t even know were options before that. My idea of a franchise was a Dunkin Donuts. But, uh, a ton of, uh, home services, uh, franchises are available. And, um, I think that, uh, the veteran background, you know, helped me, uh, you know, not only, you know, meet that broker, but gave me a lot of good lending options as well.

Lee Kantor: So when you met with the broker and they let you know that which most people don’t realize how many franchise concepts there are, right?

Tom Clapham: Like no.

Lee Kantor: Idea. And it can be overwhelming because when you it’s one thing to think, I gotta choose between the donut shop or the yogurt shop, but now you’ve got all of these franchises in such a variety of industries, how did you kind of narrow it down?

Tom Clapham: So, you know, you get to know the broker? I mean, a good broker will be able to figure out, you know, pretty quickly. Um, you know, based on a short list of questions, uh, I mean, I wanted to be home based. I didn’t want to have a lot of overhead or employees to begin with. Uh, and, uh, she gave me, you know, a few options, uh, to take a look at. And, um, you know, one thing that, uh, I liked about got you covered from the get go was, um, uh, part of their process. I mean, it’s a two way street where, you know, you’re not just interviewing them. They’re vetting you to see if you’re going to be a good, you know, brand ambassador for them. And so one of their steps was, hey, you know, here’s a list of, uh, seven, eight, uh, franchisees. Give them a call and, uh, you know, see what you think. And so, um, through that process, I actually expanded the list, and I ended up calling ten other, uh, ten total, uh, gotcha covered franchisees and, uh, just really liked every conversation that I had and got a strong sense that it was a, you know, really good community, um, very supportive. And one of the original gotcha covers is is right here in Raleigh, North Carolina. And I went and met with them in person as well. And, uh, um, you know, from the leadership on down to the franchisees, it’s a pretty collaborative, uh, supportive, um, almost family, family type atmosphere. So it started out as a family business. And, um, actually, I think 3 or 4 years ago, uh, it became part of the five star franchising portfolio. But that family, uh, culture is still there now.

Lee Kantor: Any advice for folks who are vetting, um, possible franchisees franchises to work in? What were some of the questions you asked? What were some of the things that you talked about with these ten franchisees when you were vetting them, and they were kind of vetting you?

Tom Clapham: Okay. So for me, I mean, from the get go, what what I wanted to, uh, put a litmus test to was, um, the financials and so, you know, without, you know, asking folks to divulge, uh, uh, info that they didn’t want to share with me. Uh, I wanted to really just get a sense of, hey, you know, I have this, uh, franchise disclosure document showing, you know, pretty strong, uh, numbers. And, uh, you know, what’s your take on that? You know, any words of caution? You know, any words of endorsement? And, um, you know, for the most part of, um, gosh, you know, the ten folks that I spoke with, I think I only got one. Hey, this is tough. Tough out here. Uh, and other than that, you know, I think it was, uh, you know, pretty much what the the numbers were saying in FD is what I was hearing from, uh, from the folks. But then, you know, other questions. Uh, uh, of course, like, hey, is there anybody else you think I should speak with? Um, one of them was like, yeah, sure. Actually, you’re a veteran. I know a veteran. Why don’t you give him a call? Um, but, um, I think, uh, you know, what’s your typical day like? Um, and, uh, you know, typical questions, I guess you would ask if you wanted to have some one on one on ones with somebody, uh, that was at, uh, um, a corporate job that you’re applying to, you know, just get a sense of the culture, the leadership, and, uh, you know, what to expect from from day one. And, uh, you know, just tips on different things from, hey, if I’m not doing my own installations, you know, how do you go about finding good installers to, um, a really good one on. Hey, um, are you paying yourself? You know, when did you start paying yourself? How long till break even? Those types of questions.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, how do you think the that having been in the military prepared you for kind of work as a franchisee, do you think you were set up for success?

Tom Clapham: Yeah, absolutely. So I think that, uh, the military was, um, really good for me in particular. I mean, I joined at a time in my life I’d already had, uh, my, I already completed my undergrad degree and, um, had worked, uh, an assortment of, uh, restaurant and retail jobs and just needed to get in gear, and so I wanted to go to grad school. Uh, but, um, my ticket to that, having put myself through undergrad, uh, myself, was the GI Bill. And so I planned on joining the military, uh, for the GI Bill in particular. Uh, but I feel like the eight years that I spent in the military was a far better education, uh, than I anticipated. So I think just things from, uh, you know, showing up, um, learning to, uh, work through problems, um, with a sense of humor. Uh, just resilience in particular. Um, definitely, um, shown up for bad days and, uh, you know, being there with a team, uh, learning to work with diverse groups and, uh, um, decision making, I’d say, you know, on the spot decision making is probably the, the main thing that, uh, you get drilled into you when you go through, uh, officer candidate training and then, uh, your, uh, your functional area schooling, uh, really not to to dilly dally and to be decisive.

Tom Clapham: Um, and, you know, whatever decision you go with might not be the right one, but commit to it and then, uh, have contingencies in place to, uh, to change course, uh, if things don’t go, uh, as well as planned in the beginning, because rarely anything goes according to plan in combat. And so you need to be able to think on your feet. And, uh, I think that was particularly true for me because what I got trained in, um, when I joined, uh, I mean, actually enlisted, uh, as a photographer and, uh, was assigned to an Intel unit in Germany, and, uh, um, was planning on doing my time and getting out and going to school. Uh, and then 911 happened when I was there and I was thinking, gosh, you know, I think being a photographer is pretty cool, but if I deploy, I didn’t anticipate being able to to do what I was doing in garrison or training. And so I, um, put in a packet for OCS and, um, I’d been a photographer with an intelligence unit, and, uh, I’d always wanted to fly. And so I said, hey, you know, let me be a pilot. Uh, the Army’s got some fixed wing aircraft, and if not, you know, fly helicopters. And I said, no, you’ve been in an Intel unit and you speak Estonian.

Tom Clapham: You’re going to stay in Intel. And so I went through three months of Intel officer training, where I learned the ins and outs of Soviet equipment for when, uh, whenever Russia came rolling across the European plains to take over Western Europe. And I graduated at the top of my class, and then three months later, I was in the streets of Mosul, um, with no training whatsoever on asymmetric warfare or how to run human intelligence operations. And, uh, it was definitely my earliest and biggest lesson in on the job training and with, uh, with window treatments. Um, you know, you get a crash course, uh, there’s, there’s a week of training, uh, at corporate headquarters. But, uh, after that, you really need to learn yourself and do the research and, uh, form relationships with all the manufacturers that, uh, that you plan on selling and representing. And so lifelong learning, I think is a core, core thing that, uh, was first introduced in the military and uh, definitely is something that, uh, is required in this role. I mean, I think that’s probably any profession. I mean, uh, definitely in the medical field, you have to do CEUs constantly. Uh, but, uh, um, resilience and, uh, you know, if, if, if at first you don’t succeed, figure it out. A lot of figuring things out.

Lee Kantor: Now, what about when it comes to training your employees? Do you feel like you benefited from some of the training you got in the military that may be transferred into some of the work you’re doing at got you covered?

Tom Clapham: Sure. That’s a that’s a great question, Lee. I’d say that, uh, um, you know, I think there’s, uh, uh, definitely some resentment of, uh, really experienced, uh, um, noncommissioned officers, you know, sergeants, master sergeants that have been in the military for decades, taking orders from, you know, a butter bar who was a lot younger than them. And I’d say probably the same held true for me coming into this industry where, you know, in my first year, um, selling window treatments, uh, I found a couple of experienced installers and, uh, um, you know, I did my best to, um, try to instill a sense of customer service with them, which, um, you know, I, I don’t install my own products. I work with, um, installers who might be working for the competitor one day and then for me the next, and so on. The technical aspects, I assumed the role of, hey, you know, I’m fresh out of office or school. You know, um, their knowledge of the product and installing it is far superior to mine. So I will respect that there. And, uh, um, really any, any guidance that I tried to provide was simply, along the lines of communication and representing the gotcha covered brand when they were in the home.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, that you’ve been doing it for a minute. Ah, is it what you expected?

Tom Clapham: I absolutely love it. Uh, I didn’t expect to love it. Uh, so I’d say. No, I’m. I’m really happy. Uh, I would do it all over again. I think it was a bit harder than I anticipated. Um, the things that I love about it are a being my own boss, um, and, um, being able to, uh, you know, meet, meet people and, uh, get to see how they live. I mean, it’s a pretty intimate job. Um, uh, it, um. It helps folks. I mean, it’s a feel good business, I think. I mean, when a job is done and done, well, you know, there’s definitely just that immediate sense of of, uh, thrill of that job well done. And, um, you know, changing that that person’s home for the better. And, uh, I love it. Um, you know what? You know, I’d say I even surprised myself in actually outperforming, um, the projections that I’d made for myself for selling. Um, and, um, these don’t sell themselves, though. I mean, there’s a lot of competition in the market. And so I think that’s probably the thing that, um, um, I’m adjusting to is, um, you know, actually, you know, trying to build referral networks. And so, you know, if there’s a competitor that’s been in the market for 20 years, they got a little bit of a head start on getting in with the local builders. And so there’s some catch up there. But um, um, what I didn’t expect was that I couldn’t just advertise my way to success. So, you know, having spent 20 years in, in healthcare marketing, I thought, okay, I’m just going to advertise my leads to me. But no, it really does take a lot of And salesmanship and farming relationships to get a steady flow of customers. So that’s part of that lifelong learning. And that’s definitely where a lot of my focus is today.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you think that, um, just as part of buying a franchise, a lot of prospective franchisees think that they’re buying an established brand. So that’s going to do some of the heavy lifting when it when it comes to marketing and advertising, that they have a brand. They’ve been talking about it. It existed for years. So that’s going to make it easier for me to come into a market. And I can kind of piggyback on that. That’s that’s part of why you pay a royalty and pay a franchise fee. And sometimes that doesn’t mean as much, um, as you as the franchisee thinks it does when they when they become the boots on the ground and they have to actually kind of drum up business.

Tom Clapham: Yeah. No, that’s absolutely true. And boots on the ground. You said it. I mean that’s that’s where it’s at. And I mean, I mentioned that there’s, uh, uh, got you covered, uh, here in Raleigh that’s been here for, for three decades. And, um, you know, one of my initial worries was, hey, how am I going to get out from under the shadow of if anybody ever says, got you covered around here, you know, they’re going to, you know, be thinking of, uh, got you covered, Raleigh. But but it’s a the inverse is also true. You know, they’ve established, you know, really good brand equity, uh, uh, adjacent to my market. And so and it does give a little bit more of, of, uh, momentum to me in my boots on the ground efforts because, uh, people have heard of gotcha covered. Um, but, um, you know, I definitely, uh, definitely think that, uh, there is an onus, uh, for anybody, I mean, uh, window treatments, I mean, um, a business owner, you know, whatever they’re selling really needs to invest their time, energy and soul into what they’re doing and believe in what they’re doing. And, you know, believe that, uh, it’s their calling. Um, I mean, I’ve been in jobs before, uh, corporate jobs where I did not believe in what I was selling. And, um, uh, consequently, I didn’t do as good a job as I could have, uh, in those jobs.

Lee Kantor: And then ultimately, your success is going to be based on how well you do when it comes to serving your community and building those relationships with the people that matter most to you, and obviously doing a good job and them being happy with the, you know, the products that you put in their home. Um, how how is that part going? Are you getting a lot of repeat business or referrals or some of the signals that, hey, this thing is going, you know, to take on a life of its own? If I can just kind of keep pumping that lever there.

Tom Clapham: Yeah. A year and a half in. Um, I just looked at this last week. A year and a half in. I’ve got, uh, three, uh, repeat customers. Um, uh, who, uh, found me, uh, through Google or or my own marketing efforts. But, um, I think the real tell is that I’m starting to get that that repeat business from referral partners. So realtors who, um, have sent me business in the past are sending me, um, customers again. And that that I think is the real sign of, hey, this is going to work. Um, because, you know, customers are only going to need window treatments.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, once in a while. Yeah. So you need the you need the multiplier. People who are the ones that are touching multiple people that are your prospects.

Tom Clapham: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So for me, that’s that’s, uh, realtors, general contractors and interior designers, and I’ve had repeat customers from all three. And my, my focus from my marketing, uh, is to find more of those folks than are in their trust.

Lee Kantor: So in your mind, the more of those people you know that eventually that’s going to hit the bottom line of your business.

Tom Clapham: Yep. Yep. Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: So that’s the ball you just have to keep your eye on.

Tom Clapham: That’s right.

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

Tom Clapham: Gosh, I mean, um, I’d say that, um, uh, there’s, uh, a lot of growth in my market. I mean, that’s one thing that I do feel incredibly confident in is that the, uh, the Raleigh-durham-chapel Hill area is growing. Uh, we’ve got a Disney community that’s coming in, and, um, um, if I look at, you know, what I’ve done and what I’ve yet to do, it’s commercial business that, um, that I really haven’t done much of across the country. Um, the franchisor says that that, um, we should see about 80 over 20 in, uh, residential versus commercial mix. And, um, um, you know, for me, it’s been about 9010, and that’s okay. I mean, um, when I say commercial, I’m not talking about, you know, big medical office buildings or anything like that. I’m looking to get in with commercial builders, uh, mid-sized, uh, um, builders who are doing, you know, three, 4000, uh, rooftop communities. Uh, there’s a lot of that going on here. And it’s, you know, trying to find those purchasing managers, you know, joined, uh, the Home Builders Association. Um, I’m in a prominent BNI group, and I visit other BNI groups in the area several times a week. Um, um, trying to get in with, uh, with some of those builders in the area.

Tom Clapham: So folks like Dickerson, Garmin, uh, David Weekley are our big names here. Uh, but, uh, you know, really, I mean, it’s, uh, it’s something where, um, I’d say that for me personally, probably the thing that I need to to do most. It’s not so much as the hunting or the farming of referral partners. Um, it’s really, you know, continuing to go out there and doing what I love and, um, uh, not be afraid to make money. Early on, I was, I think I wouldn’t say that I was afraid to make money, but I, I having listened to so many podcasts on entrepreneurship, I just had it in my head that, hey, you know, it’s okay to lose money in the beginning to, uh, to build up your experience and build up your, your branding. And, uh, um, I feel like I did myself a disservice by, uh, really running paper thin margins in order to try to get those Google reviews up. And so that’s my number one, uh, objective for my my third year is, um, actually, um, go out there and raise the margin a little bit, uh, to a point where it’s still competitive, but, uh, you know, not give away the business.

Lee Kantor: Now, if somebody wants to connect with you or learn more about got you covered in Durham Chapel Hill, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Tom Clapham: So yeah, if if you Google got you covered, um, and you’re in Durham or Chapel Hill, you’ll find me. If you’re in Raleigh, you’ll find the Raleigh team. You’ll be in good hands. Either way. It’s a great franchise, great products, from Hunter Douglas to Graber to Alta and many more.

Lee Kantor: And that’s g o t h a c o v e r.com. And then you could drill down to the community near you and Durham chapel Hill is where Tom is.

Tom Clapham: That’s right.

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

Tom Clapham: Thank you. Lee, thanks so much for having me.

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