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BRX Pro Tip: Invest in Real Relationships

September 13, 2022 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Invest in Real Relationships

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, we all have to make decisions, those of us running enterprises, where to invest our time, energy, money, resources. And I’ve heard you say over and over again, invest in real relationships.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:20] Yeah, I think that the people who really want to succeed and become wealthier, more successful, they have to invest in more and more real relationships with people who matter. And these are people that can help you, the people that you can help.

The more connections you have, the more valuable you become to the community you serve, the better your circumstances will be. You’ll have a lot more resources at your disposal. You will become a resource to more and more people. You’ll be trusted. You’ll be valued, you’ll be liked, you’ll be known. Those are all qualities of a successful person. And the more you lean into humanity and people around you and those connections, the more successful you’ll be.

And I think it’s so important to just remember, don’t prejudge or underestimate the individual members of your network. You don’t know who is going to be that person out there that’s going to be that great client, that great referral source, the super fan, who’s going to be an advisor, who’s going to introduce you to an advisor or somebody that can really move the needle in your business. Somebody out there could be an investor or future purchaser of your business or your services.

There are so many people out there that the more people you serve, the more people that get to know you and your mission and what you’re trying to accomplish, and you’re going to find that people are going to want to help you. And the more you can kind of lean into that and share and discuss, you’ll find that you are going to have a more successful business.

So a lot of people kind of are trying to build a bunch of superficial online relationships and invest a lot of time, energy, and resources on building out, you know, third party social networking followers and friends. But you need real friends and you need real people who can help you. So invest some time in real life human beings and I think you will benefit in the long run.

Marcie Smith with The Children’s Haven

September 12, 2022 by angishields

Marcie-Smith-The-Childrens-Haven-top

Marcie-Smith-The-Childrens-HavenMarcie Smith joined The Children’s Haven in 2018 with over ten years of experience with nonprofit organizations focused on education, fundraising, homelessness prevention, child abuse prevention, and childhood cancer research.

Marcie holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Birmingham-Southern College and a Master’s degree in conflict resolution from Norwich University. She is a 2022 graduate of Leadership Cherokee and was named a 2022 “Top Ten in Ten Young Professional to Watch in Cherokee County” by the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce.

She is a 2016 graduate of LEAD Atlanta. She has previously served with the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Millennial Advisory Committee. She currently serves on the state Board of Directors for Prevent Child Abuse Georgia.

Marcie serves on the Bascomb Elementary Student Advisory Council and is a Volunteer Coordinator for a Soldier Family Readiness Group with the Georgia National Guard. Marcie is passionate about social innovation, family services, community collaboration and efforts to work together to protect children and their childhoods.

She lives in Towne Lake with her husband, Nate, and children, Elijah and Hadley.

Connect with Marcie and follow The Children’s Haven on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:10] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:26] And welcome to Fearless Formula on Cherokee RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline. And our guest in the studio today is the executive director of the Children’s Haven, whose mission is to promote the health and happiness of children impacted by abuse through programs that help increase their safety and improve their educational, social and emotional functioning. I would really love to welcome to the show Marcie Smith. Hello.

Marcie Smith: [00:01:00] Hello. Thank you so much for having me.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:02] Of course. Thank you for coming. I’m excited to talk to you today because I think what you do is so important and it’s not something that I think about all the time in the back of my head as I go about my day. So I’m interested to find out what drew you to being so helpful and impactful to children who suffer abuse.

Marcie Smith: [00:01:23] Well, you know, I think that really stems from how I was raised. My my mother was always very adamant that volunteerism was just woven into our life. And she worked for defects for a while as I was growing up. So I got to learn about families who were engaged in the system and families who were in foster care and really opened my eyes at a very young age. And I went to school to study international relations. And I think I always knew I’d be in nonprofit management and.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:52] Always were drawn to it.

Marcie Smith: [00:01:54] I was, yeah, I knew that. That’s where I would end up. My master’s degree is in conflict resolution, and that’s something that I use on a daily basis. But being engaged with nonprofits and volunteerism is something that has just naturally been a part of my life. And so being able to serve our kids who need services the most and then engage with volunteers who want to give of them themselves and their time and their resources and their hearts, I think I love getting to see both ends of that work.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:23] It’s so interesting that it was something that you felt very sort of was a natural fit for you because of the way you were raised. You know, I did a little bit of that with my own kids, but it wasn’t something that I thought about a lot when I was growing up. It just it’s kind of cool that your mom sort of made that a very important part of your life. A very natural part of your life.

Marcie Smith: [00:02:42] Yes, definitely. It just wasn’t a question. So when I ended up in the role where I am, it just felt.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:47] Right. Oh, that’s awesome. So tell me a little bit about where you were before you started working with Children’s Haven.

Marcie Smith: [00:02:56] So my career has always been a nonprofit. I started right out of school actually volunteering with a nonprofit in American Samoa, and that I served as a volunteer teacher in that capacity, but really got to know the the ins and outs of a nonprofit working internationally. And then I spent some time as a director of a transitional housing program for homeless women and children. I also worked for a national nonprofit that raises funds for childhood cancer research. So got to learn a lot about fundraising and a lot about working on a bigger scale of nonprofits. But I really, really missed the community piece of it.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:35] That what drew you to Cherokee?

Marcie Smith: [00:03:36] That’s what drew me to Cherokee County. My husband and I knew that we wanted to raise our family here for a while, and so the timing was really just perfect where we made the move. And there was a position that brought together all of the pieces that I felt really passionate about, which was serving our families and serving families in a way to build strong communities. And the Children’s Haven was so community oriented with such an incredible base of supporters who really advocated for our work. So it made it really easy for me to come in as director because there were so many people who really cared about what we were doing already.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:11] So I think about it from my perspective, I have such a tender heart regarding children that I wonder what it’s like to be exposed to so many aspects of parenting and society that are kind of the darker side. What is that like for you?

Marcie Smith: [00:04:27] There’s a lot of heartbreak. We have 388 kids in Cherokee County who are in foster care today, and that number has grown over the years. Most of them are coming into care because of substance abuse, that their parents are experiencing a lot of neglect because of that substance abuse. And we are seeing physical and sexual abuse as well. And it’s very, very intense situations and a lot of brokenness and a lot of crises that we’re exposed to. So there is heartbreak there, but I think I find the balance in seeing the generosity from the community and people who really care and believe that they can make a difference. We have a lot of volunteers who support our kids and to see them give of themselves so freely, knowing that one person can really make a difference. They can help change a child’s story, they can impact them. And together we can do a lot of preventative things to to keep families strong before they reach crisis. And so I really. Well, even the work we’re doing and I think, you know, kind of over the years finding a way to strike that balance where there’s some peace there.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:31] It’s interesting that you note just one person can make such an impact, because in my mind, it feels overwhelming. But can you explain to me how you could see one person sort of helping? Because I think if you think about it, where I have the power, just me to impact someone’s life in such a positive way, it makes me feel like, well, then of course I want to do that. But outside of it, it feels overwhelming. Sure.

Marcie Smith: [00:05:53] So our foundation program is called CASA. It’s court appointed special advocates. It’s a national program. We’re affiliated with National CASA and then Georgia CASA at the state level. And these volunteers go through a pretty rigorous training to learn how to advocate on behalf of kids in foster care. And our promise to them is that we ask them to take one case at a time that gives them the opportunity to fully invest in this one child or this one sibling group, which doesn’t sound too overwhelming. They’re really thinking about serving one family to make a difference in their lives and the way that they make that difference. There are a lot of small, small ways that add up, but they have a huge impact. The kid knows that there’s one person in their life who’s going to be consistent during a very scary time that they’re in foster care, they’re away from their home and their biological family, sometimes their schools and their neighborhood friends, people that have been in their lives forever. Everything has changed. And to have one adult who says, I’m going to be with you this entire time and I’m in your corner and I only care about you. And I’m here to advocate for your best interests and the things that you care about. I think just having that connection with an adult who cares about them can really change a child’s life and they hold on to that forever.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:09] It’s it’s so impressive to think that there’s one person out there that could have that much power to impact the whole trajectory of where someone’s going in their life. I mean, it’s almost humbling.

Marcie Smith: [00:07:20] Yes. And Marcos says they come from all walks of life. We have some young parents who have toddlers at home. We have retired teachers. We have people who work 40 hours a week. It’s really neat to see that they have found time in their lives to add this volunteerism because they feel so strongly about it and they see the results from it, they see the successes, and they see those little glimpses of hope that let them know that their work matters and it matters to this child.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:48] What do you think some of the biggest misconceptions are about what you do?

Marcie Smith: [00:07:54] You know, I would say really, I think that we’re trying hard to to share the story and advocate for our parents, too. And I think that a lot of times people might jump to the conclusion that the parents have made terrible mistakes. And we’re searching for adoptive homes for these children. But truly, our goal is always going to be reunification first, if it makes sense for the family and if the parents need some time to get back on their feet, they need to go through some substance abuse treatment to gain that sobriety. Maybe they need help with counseling and resources for stable employment and stable housing. And we try to look at how can we support the parents, too? And if we if if reunification is a possibility and that’s a safe home that the child can go back to, then we really want to try to encourage that. We want to build strong families and not look at ripping families apart. And so I think that that’s a part of our story that we’re trying to do a better job of telling that we want to support our families when that is an option.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:53] So it’s not just let me let us take these kids away from you and let me find someone to be a surrogate parent for these children. It’s really the goal is to keep families together.

Marcie Smith: [00:09:01] Absolutely. We also started a new program this year to help with some prevention efforts. We felt like there could be some times where foster care could be unnecessary and we could prevent it if the families had resources in their homes. And these families would be families who are at risk of foster care involvement, but they truly just need resources. The kids are in a loving and safe place, but the parents need help. They might need parent education, they might need some coaching to get them into stable employment. And so seeing that program really take off, we’ve supported 30 families in the first year of operation. Wow. We have a staff member going into their homes every single week. And it’s really incredible because these families really just needed help to get through a crisis, to get through a rough time, and they may not have a network of support to help lift them up. And so we’re trying to build that network of support to keep kids with their families when that is a possibility.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:55] I was reading a statistic about it’s from the American Journal of Emergency Medicine that domestic violence cases increased by almost, what, 30 some odd percent during the pandemic. What was that like for you? Did you see that same statistic?

Marcie Smith: [00:10:10] We did? We we did in Cherokee. I mean, very terrifying. You know, part part of that was also looking at the timing of the pandemic. And all of a sudden, all of our children were at home. And the majority of reports of abuse and neglect come from our mandated reporters who are our teachers in schools. So all of a sudden, I didn’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:31] Think about that.

Marcie Smith: [00:10:32] Yeah. And all of a sudden, all the kids were at home and nobody was seeing them. There were no eyes on kids. And it got very quiet for a while and we knew it didn’t mean that abuse and neglect weren’t happening. It just meant that our people who are always reporting it, weren’t getting to see it.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:48] That’s so fascinating. Who would have really you wouldn’t have been able to point that out how important that that notion was without having this separation between teachers and children? And who would have thought that that is like their number one advocate right there?

Marcie Smith: [00:11:03] Absolutely. And I think that the the numbers of domestic violence cases that rose and we had higher numbers of babies who were being born addicted to substances and babies who were being seen at the hospital because of broken bones. It really reflected a lot of the stress and trauma that families have been under and a new layer of financial stress and trauma and then a new layer of mental health trauma resulting from the pandemic. And really, you know, I think our service providers have bonded together to serve families the best we can, but definitely very challenging times.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:39] Would you say that’s the most what is the most challenging part of of what you do? I mean, I would imagine there are different aspects of it because that all is so emotional. I’m just picturing myself. I always think the world is a reflection of me, right? So even though I know it’s not true, but I imagine what it would be like to see you’ve got an emotional side to yourself. You’ve got like a physical side to yourself because there’s a stress in your body that you absorb. And so I’m wondering, what are the what is the most challenging part? Is it trying to have the correct kind of volunteer or consistency? I don’t know. I’m just trying to imagine my life there.

Marcie Smith: [00:12:16] You know, I think it’s it’s it’s really challenging to have patients, patients with a broken system, as we often refer to it, patients with our volunteers who are very passionate. And we want to see, you know, we can see this child needs this and this and this. And knowing that the obstacles to overcome, like treating their mental health needs and going through therapy and a family who’s trying to overcome substance abuse by going to treatment, those things all really take time. And so our our goal for CASA in particular is that a child doesn’t stay in foster care any longer than necessary. They’re we’re always advocating for permanency, whether that is a permanent placement of reunification back with our biological family, a guardianship or an adoption. Our volunteers are going to keep trying to move things along, knowing that it takes a long time. But if they can stick with it and keep moving things along so that we don’t feel like any child is forgotten or that they fall through the cracks of the system, I think having that patience can be really challenging, but it’s so important because we do get to see those happy endings and we get to see those stories and look back at how far somebody has come when we saw so much brokenness and so much trauma. But really seeing that we can celebrate a high school graduation and we can celebrate different, different milestones and somebody’s life is really special.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:33] Do you think people don’t really consider just how important your program is? I’m thinking about how I go about my daily life, and I just assume everyone’s life is like mine. And I know it’s not true, but unless you’re really exposed to it, you don’t really kind of understand all of the dynamics. And so I think what would I want to say to someone who really doesn’t have like their finger on the pulse of of what your daily life is like?

Marcie Smith: [00:14:00] Yeah, you know, I think we don’t know what we don’t know. And what I’ve seen in my role has been so inspiring because we have such a caring and giving community. And when people find out about the work that we do, they’re drawn to at least one part of our mission. And that might be that they’re bringing in clothing items for our clothing closet. It might be that they are signing up to volunteer as a mentor or a volunteer. It could just mean that they’re coming for a work day and they’re going to pull weeds in our playground. But to me, it’s really cool to see how people when you when you know, when you understand and when you hear about these things, I feel a lot of times people will say, well, if not me, then who? And they get pulled in and they find little ways that they can help make a difference. And our community has just been outstanding at that.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:47] What is your biggest need right now? Do you have a biggest need or is it everything? Yeah, of course.

Marcie Smith: [00:14:55] So, yeah, I mean, and we always need people. We always need volunteers to fit in different ways. And that looks different for every person. But we have volunteer opportunities for kids. We have families who will come and help sort donations in our clothing closet. We have people who are committed to mentoring, and our mentoring program is just once a month and we’re serving middle school kids and it’s really been a lot of fun. We have people who are ready in their lives to take on the role of a CASA volunteer. Being a nonprofit, we are supported by donations from this community, so that’s incredibly important to our board of directors that we’re really transparent on how we’re spending those funds. And we’ve been very adamant about obtaining the highest level of transparency, and we’ve gotten the highest ratings from charity watchdog organizations. So as an organization, that’s incredibly important to us. When we’re asking people to support us financially, we want to show them that, yes, $0.90 of every dollar you give to the Children’s Haven is going directly to our programs, and we have very little administrative costs because the work is so important and there’s so much of it to do.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:57] Wow. So if you’re just joining us, I’m spending time with Marci Smith. She’s the executive director of Children’s Haven. I love the notion that you feel like when you’re giving, you’re giving and you know, you have peace. And knowing that this isn’t just, you know, $0.10 out of every dollar is going toward it. And the rest of it is what about. I’m just I’m just saying it’s like there have been obviously lots of controversies, but I appreciate that you’ve been so transparent with your program, and that’s very important. I think you’ve won some awards recently as well.

Marcie Smith: [00:16:26] We have our very proud of our team. We were the 2020 nonprofit of the year for Cherokee County from the Chamber of Commerce, and our supervised visitation program actually won the 2020 provider of the year. And that is a national recognition out of 850 different supervised visitation providers.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:43] Congratulations.

Marcie Smith: [00:16:44] Thank you. Super proud of them. Our CASA program was recognized as innovative program of the year from the Georgia CASA team. We have an incredible staff, but it operating at the highest efficiency is our goal. We want to be very professional in how we work. We work with a lot of volunteers, but our team of staff members are exceptionally professional and our board is very committed to telling our story and making sure that we are transparent and that people really trust in our mission and trust in how we operate. That’s, I think, a big part of our success.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:15] Is it a challenge to balance your life? Because I would imagine myself being so emotionally invested, it would be really hard for me to not be thinking about it at like 11:00 at night or two in the morning. It is, but.

Marcie Smith: [00:17:28] It definitely is. We I’m a big advocate for self care with our team. Our staff members are all mamas and so we are all mamas. First, we that’s the most important thing that we take care of our families first because we can’t take care of other families well if we don’t take care of ourselves in our own families first. So I try to preach that to my team, and that means that I have to also model that. And so sometimes I have to work harder to hold myself accountable. But other times I know that my work and my family life will overlap, like having my kindergartner join me for meetings.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:00] So yeah, we have a little extra member here, like hanging out and drawings and pictures. It’s really cute.

Marcie Smith: [00:18:07] His first radio station.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:09] Oh, well, that’s awesome. You’ve been very good. So how do you. So your your boundaries kind of around the ways that you can kind of, I guess sort of feed your own soul during this. What are some of your what are some of the things that you do that helped? So the show is called Fearless Formula. And so I’m always thinking of things that people are tend to be afraid of or are hesitant to do because they’re not sure how it’s going to come out. So what do you do that kind of keeps yourself in balance?

Marcie Smith: [00:18:38] Try to practice gratefulness a lot and recognizing maybe we tried something and it didn’t work, but trying to look at the positives that did come from it, even if it’s just a learning experience, I think that helps to encourage myself too. And we, you know, one thing that we did this year was we started the mentoring program. It was brand new. It was scary. We didn’t have a lot of resources or capacity to start a new program, but the need was there. And our motto through this program, development, was progress, not perfection. And if we can do a little bitty things and celebrate those little things, we finally got to the place and where we’re standing back and looking at what look what we just built. And we jumped right in and we weren’t afraid. And we used each other’s resources to really build it together as a team. And it was really cool to step back and and look at what came from that.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:30] What are some of the changes that have happened since you’ve joined? I know it used to be called Cas.

Marcie Smith: [00:19:36] Yup, just Cas.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:36] Yeah, but but they changed it to Children’s Haven not too long ago I.

Marcie Smith: [00:19:39] Want to say. Yeah. 2015. Ah, our board really looked at our cost of program has been around 30 years as of next year and had really built a strong foundation in the community. We have great retention with our volunteers. We were serving children well and really looking at the other needs and knowing that there was a way for us to grow and develop to meet some of these other needs. So in 2015 we changed the name from CASA to the Children’s Haven, and then CASA became a program under the Children’s Haven. At that time we also purchased a new building right across from Cherokee High School and opened the well star family visitation center. So those two programs I came into, they were running well and doing great and had really built a solid foundation for the organization. And I really wanted to look at with our board and our Strategic Planning Committee, the two programs that were running so well were addressing abuse and neglect after they had already happened. And how can we really bring our mission full circle and do some preventative efforts? So I’ve been there for four years, just super proud of the way the organization has grown. We have a fantastic team and we have two programs now that are addressing things on the preventative side and really we’re seeing successes from that, which is telling us that that was a space we really needed to be in.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:56] How do you prevent? Because it’s like almost predicting, right? So do you look at factors that.

Marcie Smith: [00:21:00] Yes, so yes. And we really rely on our partners too. I think having strong community partnerships is the way that we can be successful in our mission. It is so necessary. So working with the school system and with defacto our division of family and children’s services to take referrals on families who come on their radar, we don’t get to see those families in in our position, but we have people in our community who are making those calls or having concerns and even sometimes self referrals of families who just will voice, I need help, I really need help. And so having strong working relationships where we can get some solid referrals, that’s saying that these kids are safe in the home, but they need something to change and. Working through that system has really helped us, I think, to be most impactful with our in-home parenting program, where they’re getting really intensive parenting once a week. And then with our mentoring program, the children who are currently in our mentoring program are involved with juvenile court because they have missed an absurd amount of school and they’re in middle school. And there are a lot of reasons that they don’t want to go to school. And what we have seen through our mentoring program is that they’re really just craving a connection with an adult who cares about them, who is not their parents, who’s not a family member and not somebody in the school building. It’s a different adult who asked them about their day. Ask them about challenges. They also are all ears and want to know what’s their favorite pizza and what music do they like right now? And so just being able to talk to somebody who’s there just for them, I think has been encouraging. And they know that there’s somebody else who’s encouraging them to go to school and do their best.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:40] I like the fact that you encourage people to ask for help because I think a lot of people consider that a weakness. You know, that there’s something wrong with them if they can’t handle it.

Marcie Smith: [00:22:49] Well, you know, we’re seeing a lot of the families that have been in our parenting program love their kids so much. But they either didn’t have the greatest role models of parents when they were growing up. And so they really are kind of lacking some parent education that they just weren’t exposed to. But they know that they want to be better and that they need help. And I think that we’ve come a long way in mental health where people are feeling more comfortable talking about their needs. And that’s the story we want to tell to we want to say advocate for yourself, ask for help when you need it. And then knowing that if someone is asking for help, it’s our responsibility as a community to make sure we’re directing them to resources so that they can really be connected with an organization or an individual who can help to meet that need. And I think that’s how we build strong families and that’s how we keep families together.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:38] What do you think? And this is a big question. What do you think is the most rewarding for you?

Marcie Smith: [00:23:46] You know, I I think in my position, we have staff members who do direct services and they work directly with our families. And I love getting to see their faces light up when they tell the story of a child who took their first steps in our visitation room, or the child who has a 4.0. And and I love to get to see that joy that it brings them through the direct services because they also see the heartbreak. And so we all celebrate that as a team. But in my role is executive director, I also get to see I like to call it radical generosity and just.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:17] Oh, I love that term.

Marcie Smith: [00:24:18] People and businesses in our community who just approach us without us soliciting, but they just come to us and they say, we want to help. How can we help? What can we give? Here’s funding to help with this program or here’s a truckload of 1300 diapers. I mean, to me, it’s just I feel very blessed and fortunate that I get to see those sides of people. When you think the world is a doom and gloom place, to know that there are so many good people in this world and especially in our community, we we are so rich with generosity in this community and people who truly care about their neighbors.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:54] I know it’s so easy for me to see. The dark side is I always go to the dark side first. But it is so heartwarming and encouraging to know that there are people that are willing to go outside of their own circle and and look beyond their own immediate family to want to help, just as from the pureness of their heart.

Marcie Smith: [00:25:12] Yes. And there’s nothing in it for them. And so I just feel so lucky that I get to see that all the time.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:17] If there’s someone that’s listening that doesn’t has not ever considered really volunteering that way, what could you tell them?

Marcie Smith: [00:25:24] Really, there are a lot of different ways to volunteer. I think that that some people jump in and they may not know how to give of themselves or what they’re comfortable with. But I think that if you really think about how you want to spend your time and how much of your time you want to spend, and you can voice that to any organization. I feel confident that people can get plugged in and it might be that it’s one time of year that that you do something. But volunteering with a nonprofit to help vacuum and wash their windows and pull weeds helps them so much. And that kind of service just on a one off can really be truly impactful.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:00] I think people and just in small amounts that I’ve ever volunteered, it’s it’s touched me in such a way that I feel like I can’t explain it unless someone else has done it too. And then you can talk about it. But it’s hard to describe the feeling. It’s like a.

Marcie Smith: [00:26:13] Joy, you know, like, say, fills your cup.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:16] Oh yeah. It feels like, oh, that’s a great one. Great way to say it. If you could make the perfect scenario as far as funds or volunteers or, you know, like where you would like to be and even five years, what would you love to see happen if you could had all the power in the world?

Marcie Smith: [00:26:31] Yeah, I think, you know, we recognize that our team is really special and as a director and with our board of directors, we want to take care of them. So knowing that they are professionals and they are exceptionally talented and well educated. I always want to have enough funds to take care of them and know that they’re not volunteering. They are they are giving of their careers. This is what they’ve decided to do. And looking at how we grow to provide additional services and take care of our people, I think there’s a big need for additional therapeutic services and our community. And so that’s something that we would love to be able to support more families with.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:09] I mean, like emotional.

Marcie Smith: [00:27:11] Those where we have a supervised visitation program, but there’s always a need to have therapeutic supervised visitation and add another layer of care for families when they they truly need a little bit more. We also are very fortunate that we have two staff members who are bilingual, and that’s a growing need, too. So as I look at at who we’re serving and our community, I really want to be mindful that we want to increase our services for our bilingual families who need support. And so that’s something we have to look at as as we grow in the future.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:43] Are there any needs that are sort of specific to Cherokee County or are they like if you were to compare a different county here in Georgia, how how do how does Cherokee County compare?

Marcie Smith: [00:27:54] You know, we’re the seventh largest county in Georgia and we’re the second fastest growing.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:59] So I knew that I didn’t know that statistic.

Marcie Smith: [00:28:03] You know, I think a lot of people are shocked to find out that a few months ago when we were looking at how many kids are in foster care, Cherokee have the same number of kids in foster care as Fulton County did. And you think about how big Fulton is. Yes. So those are the changes in our population are going to affect our families. And I think as we also look at at housing and employment and some things like that, we try to project and be prepared for the future. And knowing that our work could change, we might need to be working harder as a nonprofit. We always say we’d love it if we went out of business because we fulfilled our mission and nobody needed us. That would be a dream world. The dream that would be a dream world. But that’s not the case. And us growing and expanding means that more people need our services. But we’re honored to be able to do that and we’re only able to do it because of our community. And we have to be very realistic about projecting and knowing what that looks like in the future.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:59] So if people wanted to contact you in any way for any reason, how could they do that? What’s the best place?

Marcie Smith: [00:29:04] Yeah, so our website is Cherokee Children’s Haven dot org. We’re also very active on social media, the Children’s Haven on Facebook and Instagram. My email is Marci with an eye at Cherokee Children’s Haven dot org and our office. Our visitation program runs seven days a week, but we have standard office hours and I think that we’re fairly reachable.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:26] You’re findable.

Marcie Smith: [00:29:27] We’re findable.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:28] Yes. Even on the social media.

Marcie Smith: [00:29:29] So, yeah, absolutely.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:30] Get away from it. Well, Marci Smith, I’m so grateful that you took some time today to come in and kind of highlight the wonderful work that you’re doing, the meaningful work that you’re doing. And I applaud your energy and effort, and I’m so excited to see where we’re all going to go as as you create such a huge positive impact on society.

Marcie Smith: [00:29:49] Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity to share more of our story. I really appreciated your great questions.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:55] Oh, thanks, girl. It’s been my pleasure. And thank you all out there for listening to Fearless Formula. I’m Business RadioX. And this again is Sharon Klein reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all create our own fearless formula. Have a great day.

 

Sheryl Vazquez with CSG Capital

September 12, 2022 by angishields

CSG-Capital-logo

Sheryl-Vazquez-headshot-bwSheryl Vazquez is the founder and owner of CSG Capital. She practices commercial real estate sales, as well as business sales, primarily in the restaurant and retail assets.

She is a member of the International Business Brokerage Association, the Carolina-Virginia Business Brokerage Association, the Durham Chamber of Commerce, the National Restaurant Association, Innovative Commerce Serving Communities, and Urban Land Institute. She is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor for business owners, and works with them to increase the value of the business years before listing it for sale.

Sheryl is located in North Carolina, and works with clients nationwide.

Connect with Sheryl on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and follow CSG Capital on Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Buy a Business Near Me, brought to you by the Business Radio X Ambassador Program, helping business brokers sell more local businesses. Now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:32] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Buy a Business Near Me. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon and you guys are in for such a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with CSG Capital backed by EXP Commercial. Ms.. Sheryl Vasquez. How are you?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:00:54] I’m doing so good. How are you?

Stone Payton: [00:00:56] I am doing well. It is such a delight to have you on the show this afternoon. I got a ton of questions. We’ll never get to them all. But before we do dive into some of those that I knew I wanted to ask, maybe it would be good mojo for for me and for our listeners to get just a little bit of an overview. Mission purpose. What are you and CSG capital really out there trying to do for folks?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:01:23] Yeah. What I love to do, right? I love working with people. I’ve worked with people all my life in anything that I’ve done. So it translates into real estate. I’ve been in real estate for about six years now, and so I am in the commercial space, primarily focusing on restaurant and retail space, and I do business brokerage in that as well. So for owners who want to sell or lease their their space, their real estate, I can also help them sell the business if they’re ready to leave that and move on to a new venture or whatever that looks like for them. I like to help people search for businesses to buy. I’m located in the Southeast, I’m in North Carolina, and I also have access to everything nationwide.

Stone Payton: [00:02:13] So how do you how’s the whole sales and marketing thing worked for for someone like you? Like, how do you find the business owners who are looking to sell?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:02:25] Right. So a lot of it. I always start with my sphere of influence who you know, because everybody knows somebody who, you know, either wants to buy or sell or buy or sell a business. In coming out of COVID. There’s a lot of people who have turned to being entrepreneurs and starting their own companies. There’s a huge amount of startups coming, and so a lot of people are looking to lease spaces in that. There’s a lot of people that are looking to exit the business. So I talked to a lot of people that I know. I post a lot on social media about what I do and I send mailers out to people and I do podcasts like this. I have email campaigns going, so I email business owners, let them know what I do, that I’m available to help them value the business, that sort of thing.

Stone Payton: [00:03:18] So yeah, in terms of valuing the business, I guess maybe a more general question for me, how do you know or how does the seller really know if their business is ready to sell?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:03:32] Right. Some some owners just they want to get out of the business and they’re just, okay, I’m ready to sell. But when you look at the numbers, they’re not ready to sell. The numbers don’t really match what they want for the business. It’s it comes down to the big why, right? So why do you want to sell your business? Is it big enough for you to just leave it behind and move on? Or do the numbers not make sense right now? And we can build value in that and you have a little time in that and you want to get the most for your business.

Stone Payton: [00:04:09] And so do you find I think I know the answer to this, but I’m going to ask it anyway. Do you find sometimes that an owner or a set of partners feel like their business is worth more than it really is out there on the market?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:04:24] That’s usually the case. I know. That’s what you’re thinking, right? Right. Right. Yeah, it’s I mean, it’s their baby. A lot of them have built it from the ground up and it is what it is today. It’s tough with COVID and how it impacted business owners and what that looks like for them. A lot of business owners have morphed into doing business a different way and so that increased value one way. But some business owners weren’t able to do that and so value decreased. They still want maybe what they put into the business they want out of it, or if they’re not selling the real estate with it, it’s just the business that can be a disappointment. Know so it’s all about the numbers is what it comes down to.

Stone Payton: [00:05:08] So if they are coachable and they come to you with one number one idea in mind, can you kind of hit the brakes and say, okay, you’re not where you want to be, but if you want to move in that direction, we can help you get there. Or I’ve got a group of, you know, crack experts in these different domains that can help you get there. Do you find yourself doing that sometimes?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:05:30] Absolutely. So I’m with the Exit Planning Institute as well, and I’m a certified CPA. So that’s a certified exit planning advisor. So if I come to owners and they want to sell and the numbers are not where they need to be, I can talk to them about building the value in their business that can take anywhere from 3 to 5 years. So it depends again on how much time and effort they want to put into it. And it’s also a team effort. You know, your whole management staff, your employees, everybody has to be on board with building that value. Where can we put systems in place to build it? What do we need to do? Do we need to acquire another business? Do we need to acquire another space? Roll out a new product? What does that look like? So it depends if the if the owner wants to do something like that. So again, comes back to their big why?

Stone Payton: [00:06:27] Well, it must be really rewarding. Invigorating work. I got to ask, what’s the back story? How did you find yourself getting in this line of work?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:06:40] It’s so funny. I used to be a bartender. I was a bartender for 30 years. So I am really good at reading people, really good at talking to people and just a great listener. So in that you go, you got to grow up at some point. So I got into real estate and I still love working with people, walking them through the whole transaction from A to Z and a lot of hand-holding. But I felt like commercial real estate was really where I wanted to be. So I got into commercial real estate because I’m all about the deal and I love working with investors. So when I got into commercial, I was introduced to business brokerage and I just fell in love with that because I love working with numbers, so. Someone else told me about the exit planning. And again, when I love working with people and taking them from one place to building value and and creating that for them, that that’s wonderful for me, you know, I feel like I’m just helping them in that way. So that’s kind of how it came up. It was introduced to me and I just took it and ran and just love it.

Stone Payton: [00:08:03] So I understand that you do quite a bit of work. And you mentioned it earlier in the conversation in the in the restaurant and retail assets arena. Was that a conscious choice? And does it continue to be a conscious choice or is that just the way things seem to be unfolding for you?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:08:20] So it’s good when you jump into commercial to kind of pick a niche. And I’ve been in restaurants for 30 years, so it was kind of a no brainer for me. I know when I’m listing a restaurant exactly what to look for. I know what the buyer is going to look for. Do you have a hood? Is it a second generation space where the grease traps, what are the walk ins look like? What’s being transferred in a contract to the buyer? All of these things that I need to look for. How is your POS system run? What’s in the business? What do we need to take out of the business? That’s personal. So I look for all of those things because I’ve been in it for so long, so that when you pick a niche, I was like, This is kind of a no brainer. I’m just going to do that. And in that, I’ve just people have come to me as a specialist for it. So and I am I know what I’m talking about when it comes to retail and restaurant.

Stone Payton: [00:09:19] Well, no, I can tell and I know our listeners can tell, just as you rattle off all of those different things. So those 30 years of bartending, they served you.

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:09:26] Well, for sure.

Stone Payton: [00:09:30] So is it is it easier do you find to to to secure listings for sellers or to find viable buyers? Or is it just two different sides of the same coin? And they’re equally challenging and rewarding.

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:09:47] You know, I feel that it’s pretty equal right now. I mean, for myself, I can’t speak for everybody, but for myself, I find that it’s pretty, pretty equal and I can help both just as easily.

Stone Payton: [00:09:59] So I shared with you before we came on air and my business partner and I. His name is Lee Kanter. We own the business radio network. We have a network of people with studios. We do national shows. And of course, I mean, we’ve been at this for, gosh, 18 years now. Well, Cheryl, I had black hair when we started. So, of course, we’ve had this conversation about exiting, how we want to exit. Do we want to exit on the open market or do we want to sell all or some of it to our studio partners? So for for folks like us, one of the things that we started kind of, you know, batting back and forth without the benefit of, you know, specialized expertise and counsel for someone like you, at least so far at this point, is deal structure, because it’s not that Lee and I necessarily need or even want someone to just write a big check and we ride off into the sunset and it doesn’t have to be that way, right?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:10:56] No, no, absolutely not. You guys want to talk amongst yourselves and definitely bring in your, you know, your family, your financial advisors, that sort of thing. Because not only is it about the business, it’s about your personal life, your financial life outside of the business. Because once you leave the business, what are you going to do? You have to write that down and in detail, write and include the people that you love around you because they’re going to be part of that plan. Right. And then how does that what does that look like? What does it look like for your team of people who are going to stay on? So are they interested in taking over and buying the business? Because that’s one avenue that you could explore. You could build the business to include other radio stations and other podcasts. I mean, it depends on how big you want to be, how long do you want to stay in it? But moreover, what are you going to do after that? You know, because if it’s just golfing somewhere, you’re going to get bored really quickly. You know, you either find a new venture to get into or something else. You know, some people, they do want to golf for the rest of their lives and that’s fine. But just know what that entails, you know? So that’s that’s what I say. First of all, you have to write out that plan. The two of you sit together and write out what that looks like and include your significant others, your family, you know, talk to your managers, your people underneath you, your group of core people around you.

Stone Payton: [00:12:35] And I’m getting the sense that don’t have that conversation three, six months before it’s something you want to do. Maybe have it as far out as well. I don’t know. You tell me. Maybe even a couple of years.

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:12:48] Yeah, couple of years. Yeah. Okay, yeah, a couple of years. Because we have to look at different things. You know, we it’s a whole strategy and it depends on where you want to go with it. So if you want to build the value, we’re going to have groups of people and we’ll meet every 90 days and come back and and have a workshop about how did that go for us? Did we build value in this area? Did we do what we were supposed to do and what we set out to do? What are the numbers look like now? You know, and just revisit every 90 days. So every 90 days can be a long time, especially when you have a goal set of where you need to be before you put it on the market. But then again, we’ll revisit that maybe after you grow the business, you want to hang on to it for ten more years, you know, you never know.

Stone Payton: [00:13:42] Well, and I’m thinking that the cleaner, the books and there’s probably some other things that’s like part of the curb appeal in this market. Like, you know, in residential, you know, you want a nice curb appeal. Part of that that’s really important. Right? And the reason I’m kind of laughing as I’m saying that just yesterday I bought a t shirt with the company credit card and I’m sure I shouldn’t have done that happened. I know the shirt looks great, Cheryl, but no, you got to clean up the you got to clean up the books. And then I’m sure there are other things that they’re looking for in those books that that suggest to them, hey, we can we can buy this and and we can run it without laying stone or at least after a period of time. Right. Those are things. There’s things they’re looking for, right?

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:14:30] Yeah, for sure. I mean, that’s that’s my job. That’s part of my job is, you know, I get all the numbers, the profit and loss statements, the balance sheets, and then I pull out, what is this? What is this? What is this? Can we add that back into the business so that the. Iyer who comes in, is not paying for that. So that’s value add that we can add back into the business. That’s part of the fun of it for me, actually. I really enjoy doing that kind of sleuthing with the business. You know, a lot of it is like car payments. That’s fine. A lot of folks pay for their car through their business. But will the car be staying with the business? No. So we add that back end personal cell phones, stuff like that, and it can get dicey. It’s like really digging. But that’s I mean, that’s part of what I love about it.

Stone Payton: [00:15:24] Well, and I’m thinking as you’re talking because I mean, this this conversation is very helpful to me personally because of the situation that Lee and I are in. But I mean, I’m getting the sense that even if we weren’t getting ready to sell or did he it was way down the road. It seems like just a great productive exercise to act like you are right and be thinking about some of these things.

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:15:49] I think that too. I mean, I’ve taken so many courses and so many classes and I always apply them to my own business. What could I be doing better? How could I be setting these in place so that, you know, where are my financials going? How is that being documented so that it’s easy to read if I want to sell or build or do whatever, you know? So I think it’s just really good to always have these conversations, talk to a business broker that you know, and try to pick their brain about how they look at numbers. And then what do I need to how do I need to apply that to my business? And I think it’s good common practice just to do that on a regular basis. It’s easier, I think, for you for your CPA as well.

Stone Payton: [00:16:38] Well, and after hearing you talk about, first of all, your business, I’m getting, the idea is far more relationship oriented than transactional. And I don’t I don’t think I really saw it that way, you know, but obviously you are building a level of trust and have a depth of relationship with buyers and sellers that I did. I didn’t see it in that frame. And I am and the reason I mentioned that is I don’t think now after this conversation, I don’t think I would feel bad about approaching a broker. And, you know, that would be a transparency. Look, we’re not in any hurry, but we’d really like some insight and perspective. They if they’re if they’re worth their salt, they understand it might be a while and they know they’re going to get the nod when we are ready. So so don’t feel right. Don’t feel bad about approaching about approaching a broker to get some insight and perspective. Right. Okay. Let’s before we wrap in, let’s leave our listeners, if we could, with a handful of pro tips. Well, number one, pro tip, just reach out and talk to Sheryl or somebody on her team. That’s your number one pro tip. But maybe just a couple of things to do, maybe to read, to be thinking about and in preparation for even a conversation with someone like Cheryl or just to start getting ready, buyers and sellers alike, let’s leave them with a couple little actionable ideas, if we could.

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:18:07] Yeah, for sure. So I think a really good book to read is Exit Rich. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of that. It’s written by Sharon Lechter and Michelle Seiler. Tucker, Sharon Lecter also writes with Napoleon Hill Foundation. So that book kind of focuses on selling your business and getting it to where it needs to be. They work a lot in M&A, so the mergers and acquisitions area of business selling, but I think that’s a good starting point for a lot of owners. A lot of people don’t know the business owners exist or what we even do, so thank you for bringing light to that aspect of it. I find myself explaining what I do to people quite often. I never mind explaining it because people need to know about it and then, you know, educate yourself on where the numbers need to go, what it needs to look like. Talk to your CPA. I know if you’re a business owner, you have a CPA in hand, you have an attorney on hand. You should you know, you can talk to them about what the books look like, what your pal statements look like, and where we need to put things, just like you said, to clean it up a little bit. So those are some things for a buyer. I think one of the best things you can do is get SBA approved because a lot of business owners will look at that like, you’re serious about buying this business, you’re pre-approved. Sba is a huge lending thing that a lot of people. Go to and they’re ready to to help you out. So I have plenty of SBA lenders that I can have people talk to. And most of us do. So I think that’s the best thing. And a lot of buyers I mean, we’re going to guide you through the whole buying process anyway. And they’re going to do their own due diligence in the process. But we we help guide the buyers as well. So. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:20:13] I am so glad that I asked. I think that’s incredibly helpful. Helpful. Counsel, thank you for that. And Cheryl, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon.

Sheryl Vazquez: [00:20:25] For having me. I’m super excited.

Stone Payton: [00:20:26] Thank you. Well, it is my pleasure. All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, Cheryl Vazquez with CSG Capital, backed by XP Commercial and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you next time on Buy a Business Near Me.

 

BRX Pro Tip: It’s Not An Apology If It Comes With An Excuse

September 12, 2022 by angishields

Access to this series is restricted to Business RadioX® Studio Partners.

BRX Pro Tip: Lean Into the Experience Economy

September 9, 2022 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Lean Into the Experience Economy

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Lee, we are fast becoming not just domestically, I think globally, what you might characterize as an experience economy in many respects. What’s your take on that man and should we be trying to capitalize on that?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:23] Yeah, I think especially as we come out of the pandemic, people are so hungry for experiences. They’re so hungry for human to human connection. And if you can create more meaningful experiences for whatever it is your business is, no matter what your service or product that you sell, if you can move your service or product-oriented business into an experience economy, you are going to be better served.

So it may not be obvious how to do it, but I think you should invest some time thinking about it. Because one of the things that we’ve seen firsthand, and what makes Business RadioX so powerful for our clients and partners, is that we’ve created an experience that is memorable and effective and relationship building and content creation. Our best work is done in person, face to face. We have ways to do our work virtually, but our best work is done in person, face to face.

We do that every day in our studios. We do it every day at tradeshows, conferences, and events. We help our clients build better relationships with the people who matter most with them, for them in an experience manner where there’s people that are seeing each other smile and laugh. They’re seeing people’s body language. They’re seeing them really enjoy what they’re doing. They see them at the end, want to take pictures and commemorate the moment in a photograph so they can then share with their friends and family and coworkers on social media and personally. So if you can figure out a way to move your business into the experience economy, I highly recommend you figure that out because it can make all the difference.

BRX Pro Tip: Over Promise and Over Deliver

September 8, 2022 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Over Promise and Over Deliver

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, a new twist on an old phrase. You’ve got a little different perspective on this and your version reads overpromise and overdeliver.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:16] Yeah, people always say under-promise and overdeliver. But James Altucher says overpromise and overdeliver, and I agree a hundred percent. I think that a lot of times, we’re trying to not disappoint people, so we are going to under-promise and hopefully overdeliver at the minimum.

But the people that are successful and that really make a difference are the ones that are going to go above and beyond. And so what, they overpromise, they set an expectation that’s high, and then guess what, then they overdeliver that. And if you can do that reliably and predictably, then you’re going to surprise and delight and overvalue, overdeliver value to your clients. And if you can do that and continuously push that value line higher and higher, you’re going to be successful.

And if you’re not pushing the value line higher and higher, you’re going to not only eventually miss opportunities, you might be going out of business because guess what, your competition is going to do that. There’s always somebody else that’s out there kind of figuring out better ways to serve people that you want to serve.

So try to be the disruptor yourself. Try to be the one that’s overdelivering value and making it harder and harder for people to keep up with you and make it more difficult for people to compare what they’re doing to what you’re doing. So I believe wholeheartedly, if you can pull it off, overpromise and overdeliver, don’t settle for under-promising and overdelivering. Go for overpromising and overdelivering.

WBENC 2022: Kayla Dang with GMI Group

September 7, 2022 by angishields

Kayla-Dang-GWBC-WBENC-National-ConferenceKayla Dang, GMI Group, Inc. 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open for Business. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:17] Lee Kantor here, broadcasting live from the 2022 WBENC National Conference, and we’re in the GWBC booth, booth 1812, if anybody’s listening, and wants to come on by and check us out. Right now, our guest today is Kayla Dang and she is with GMI Group. Welcome, Kayla.

Kayla Dang: [00:00:37] Thank you.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:39] So excited to have you here. Before we get too far into things, tell us about GMI Group. How are you serving folks?

Kayla Dang: [00:00:45] We are commercial janitorial, cleaning services, and serving through the southeast of the US.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:50] Now, how did you get involved with GWBC?

Kayla Dang: [00:00:53] My company was certified back in 2005 as a WBE certifications, and since then, I’ve been involved with GWBC.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:02] Now, what drew you to getting certified and getting involved?

Kayla Dang: [00:01:06] Well, I found out about the organization and how I could leverage my—I guess, in the to-do business with corporations and with government agency. And so, I did the researching in the organizations, and so it drew me to that, and I have certifications then.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:23] Did that help you actually—like you hope that that would happen, did that really happen?

Kayla Dang: [00:01:27] It did. At the beginning, it did not serve the purpose, because I was not involved and I did not use the certification like it should. And then, once I found out more about the certifications and what it can do for me, so I really leveraged that as my marketing tool, my proposal tool, and then target that, and it has helped me—my growth.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:51] And that’s a great lesson for other women-owned businesses to not just sign up and join, but to actually immerse yourself in it, get involved, and you’ve taken on a variety of leadership positions over the years you’ve been with them, right?

Kayla Dang: [00:02:04] That is correct. In the beginning, I mean, the certifications was not widely known as before, but now, it has a lot of leverage, has a lot of benefits to that. And you really have to get in, and be active, and be involved in organizations, and find out what is there, and what corporations, what government agency is using that, the percentage set aside, and you really need to do your homework. And once you do that, your sort of location is a great benefit.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:30] So, when you started and you weren’t getting the results you wanted, what kind of was the clue? Like, okay, let’s try to really get involved and let’s really give this a fair shot.

Kayla Dang: [00:02:41] Well, in the beginning, I didn’t know a lot of—as I tend and got more involved in the GWBC, that’s the IPO I’m with ,is the southeast, so once I jumped in, and find out about the certifications, and find out about what government agency is using it, what kind of percentage is set aside for a WBE like myself, so when I found that out, and then that’s more eye-opener for me, is for me to target that.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:07] And then, at that point, you started getting traction and started getting better results?

Kayla Dang: [00:03:12] That is correct.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:13] And then, when that happened, you were like, oh, this is fantastic now, right? This is worth my time.

Kayla Dang: [00:03:17] That’s correct. Because when I was awarded one of the contract, it was set aside for like a shelter contract, and it set aside for like a 5% for WBE like myself. And then, when the price comparisons, when you take that off, I became the lowest bidder, so I was awarded a contract.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:34] Wow. Congratulations. So then, that really kind of opened the doors, and now, you’ve kind of figured out the system and how to operate, and then that’s kind of helped catapult you to this great success that you are today?

Kayla Dang: [00:03:45] That’s correct.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:46] So, now, when you started getting involved in the leadership role, talk about your role here at this conference. What are some of the stuff you’re doing?

Kayla Dang: [00:03:54] Well, I’m one of the co-host for the southeast for the GWBC. I’m one of the eight of our organizations. So, I have a booth. My booth is 2113, so anyone’s looking for me. So, we have—we don’t just do janitorial services, we also do painting, and then we also have products, mosquito big shot products that we have pivoted during the COVID. So, we’re providing other products, and then include it with our company.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:20] So, now, who’s the ideal client for you now?

Kayla Dang: [00:04:23] Everybody is my ideal client, who’s-

Lee Kantor: [00:04:25] Any size?

Kayla Dang: [00:04:26] Any building that needs cleaning, so yes. And anyone looking for products or any services, so everybody’s my client.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:35] So, you’re based here in Atlanta. Are your clients only in the metro area or are you all over the place?

Kayla Dang: [00:04:40] The southeast.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:41] Southeast?

Kayla Dang: [00:04:41] Yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:42] So, anywhere in the southeast as a business that has a need is prospect for you?

Kayla Dang: [00:04:48] That’s correct.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:49] So, if somebody wants to learn more and get a hold of you, what’s the website?

Kayla Dang: [00:04:52] It’s gmigroupinc.com. Gmigroupinc.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:59] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today and congratulations on all the success.

Kayla Dang: [00:05:04] Thank you.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:05] You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Kayla Dang: [00:05:07] Thank you very much.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:07] Alright. This is Lee Kantor, broadcasting live from the WBENC National Conference in the GWBC booth, booth 1812. We’ll see you in a few.

 


About WBENC

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) is a leading non-profit organization dedicated to helping women-owned businesses thrive.WBENC-Logo

We believe diversity promotes innovation, opens doors, and creates partnerships that fuel the economy. That’s why we not only provide the most relied upon certification standard for women-owned businesses, but we also offer the tools to help them succeed.

About GWBC

The Greater Women’s Business Council (GWBC®) is at the forefront of redefining women business enterprises (WBEs). An increasing focus on supplier diversity means major corporations are viewing our WBEs as innovative, flexible and competitive solutions. The number of women-owned businesses is rising to reflect an increasingly diverse consumer base of women making a majority of buying decision for herself, her family and her business. GWBC-Logo

GWBC® has partnered with dozens of major companies who are committed to providing a sustainable foundation through our guiding principles to bring education, training and the standardization of national certification to women businesses in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Kevin Shea with Georgia Economic Developers Association

September 7, 2022 by angishields

GEDA 2022 Annual Conference

Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at 1:00 PM (EDT) to Friday, September 16, 2022 at 12:00 PM (EDT)
Hyatt Regency Savannah

2 West Bay Street
Savannah, GA 31401-1107
United States

The Georgia Economic Developers Association (GEDA) is a non-profit association of professionals and volunteers who are involved with the economic development of the cities and counties of Georgia.

GEDA was organized to increase the effectiveness of individuals involved in the practice of economic development in Georgia by encouraging cooperation, exchange of information, and upgrading of professional skills.

GEDA strives to achieve a closer working relationship among professionals and volunteers engaged in economic development in Georgia.

geda-horizontal-logo-1000x400

kevin-shea-headshot-square-1Kevin Shea is President of the Georgia Economic Developers Association. GEDA’s mission is to provide and promote networking and professional development opportunities and to shape economic development public policy. Shea was hired for the position in July
2014.

Previously, Kevin worked in economic development at the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Savannah Economic Development Authority. He also served at the state-level as Managing Director of the Canadian Office of Georgia in Toronto, Ontario, CANADA.

Kevin is a recipient of the GEDA Rip Wiley Award for Professional Excellence, Georgia’s highest honor for an economic developer. He is also a past Chair of GEDA. A graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Kevin earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and majored in International Economics.

Shea is also a graduate of the Basic Economic Development Course at Georgia Tech and the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Leadership Georgia, as well as the Leadership programs in Augusta and Savannah.

Kevin also worked in the field of financial services in St. Augustine, Florida, and fundraising at St. Joseph Hospital in Augusta, Georgia. A native of Savannah, Kevin is married to Anne Castles Shea and they have six children and nine grandchildren. Kevin enjoys spending time with family, reading and travel.

Follow GEDA on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Association Leadership Radio. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon and you guys are in for a real treat. In just a few moments, we’re going to get a chance to visit with Kevin Shea with the Georgia Economic Developers Association. But before we get there, please join me in welcoming back to the Business RadioX microphone with the Georgia Center for Employee Ownership. Ms.. Marie Davis, how are you?

Marie Davis: [00:00:49] I’m doing great. Stone, how about you?

Stone Payton: [00:00:52] Well, you just came in all bright eyed and bushy tailed. I can tell you’re very excited about participating in this upcoming conference. So much so that you invited us to come along and broadcast live on site. And Kevin and his team were gracious enough, kind enough to let us do that. But you’ve also chosen to be the Jim Jammy sponsor, whatever level that is. What’s got you so excited about being part of this organization, choosing to sponsor, and perhaps most importantly, going down there next week and interacting with these folks?

Marie Davis: [00:01:27] Well, when I joined the Georgia Center for Employee Ownership a little over a year ago, one of the first things we did was go to the Georgia Economic Development Association meeting in Savannah. So this will be our third sponsorship, and we’re excited about being gold sponsors this year. We really, really love the focus of the convention, which is welcome to the future, and that the future is innovation, strategic evolution, and it’s all about people. So we’re very happy to be there and excited about hearing all the stories people are going to tell through your organization.

Stone Payton: [00:02:02] Well, I can see it in your eyes. I know everybody can hear it in your voice. So let’s let’s talk to the man. Let’s get some insight on what’s going on over there. Kevin Shea. And you’re the grand poobah of the GED. Kevin, what’s your role over there?

Kevin Shea: [00:02:16] You got it? Stone Yes, I’m the president of the Georgia Economic Developers Association, or GDA, as we like to say so at least for another month anyway.

Stone Payton: [00:02:25] Fantastic. All right. So I want to hear all about the conference. But first, talk to us a little bit about mission purpose. What are you really out there trying to do for you, for your members?

Kevin Shea: [00:02:38] Well, GDA is a membership organization. We have nearly 700 members around the state. And I like to say that our bread and butter members are Chambers of Commerce Development Authority members, but basically anybody who’s interested in new business and expanding business in the state of Georgia. So our mission is that we have three, three separate missions of networking, professional development and public policy. And this conference is primarily about networking, but it’s also about the professional development and even public policy. We’re going to have some discussions about all of those and we’re really excited about it. This is the second year that we’ve been back after COVID. I think this year will be almost normal, as I like to say. And we’re very excited to have Marie and the Georgia Center for Employee Ownership back as well. They’ve been a great member and glad to have them as participants. And so really what we try to do is to help equip our members to be better at their jobs, to be better at bringing in business and welcoming new and expanding business to Georgia. So it’s just one of the ways and it’s really one of the best ways, I think, to do it, because it’s a three half day event that really allows people a chance to not only learn, but get to know other people in the business and customers, clients, mentors, a lot of different opportunities for people to enjoy themselves and really have a great time, too.

Stone Payton: [00:03:57] All right. So let’s talk a little bit more about what we can expect. And I get to say we because I’m actually going to get a chance to be down there as well. There are going to be speakers sessions, kind of an expo, some activities. Yeah. Walk us through some of the things we can expect to see and do down there, man.

Kevin Shea: [00:04:13] Okay, sure. Well, we excited to have you as well, Stone, and glad that Marie has brought you is going to be bringing you along next week. So we’re looking forward to seeing you there in person. And I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to to learn about welcome to the future, as Marie said. So it’s something where we have a theme and we have some speakers and panels that will start on Wednesday afternoon and go through Friday morning just before lunch. And we have an opportunity on Thursday afternoon to relax a little bit. Some people do their own thing, some people work, some people take a tour of Savannah, other people play golf. But it’s a little bit more relaxing opportunity that day. But we have Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning and then Friday morning and then we conclude. But it’s a great opportunity as being chaired this year by Tripp Tolleson, who’s the president and CEO of CEDA, the Savannah Economic Development Authority. And it just happens to be that we’re in Savannah while Tripp is the chair this year. So it really is a great opportunity to learn and really network, like I say, fellowship and really make new acquaintances, people that can help you do your job better and and help you to hone your skills so that you can continue to provide the services that Georgia needs in order to be the best state in the country to do business.

Stone Payton: [00:05:34] Well, it must be incredibly rewarding work, man. How did you find yourself in this role? What was your path?

Kevin Shea: [00:05:44] Well, it kind of happened just, I guess serendipitously. I had been in the business of economic development for a long time. I was at the local level well, I started out at the state level and then went to Canada, I guess at the international level. But with the state of Georgia for a few years. Then I was at the local level, then economic development until 2002 and got out of the business for a little bit, went down to Florida where we moved with one of our sons who needed some assistance and we moved down there. So move back to Georgia in 2014 and this job happened to be available. So we were actually moving back to Georgia to so my wife could take care of her ailing parents. And we did. And this job just happened to be available at that time. So it was in the same business. But I was a member before and now I’m the president and and still a member, but excited to be here. It really is a great opportunity. So we’re looking forward to this this conference. This will be my eighth year that I’ve been here and I’ll be retiring at the end of the month and somebody hopefully new and improved will come in and take my position out of that.

Stone Payton: [00:06:52] So tell us a little bit about the day to day work of the association is fantastic that you that you’re putting the event together day in, day out. Where do you and your team focus your efforts? What are you guys working on?

Kevin Shea: [00:07:05] Well, we do a lot. Since it’s a membership organization, we try to take care of our members. So any kind of request that they have interest, that they have sponsors. A ship opportunities such as Marie has taken advantage of. It’s just a great for our members to do that. And so we try to make sure it’s easy for them to do so. And my job is is leading the organization. It involves everything from operations to finance to marketing to our public policy. So I try to do a little bit of everything, I guess a jack of all trades and master of none to some extent. We’ve got a great staff that assist us with that. We also have policy efforts that during the General Assembly, which is from January through the end of March, usually we’re very focused on issues over at the state capital. We have a group with us that’s called Cornerstone Government Affairs, that’s a contract group that assists us with that. So we really appreciate all that they have done for us this year and during the off session. There’s also issues. In fact, there’s a Senate study committee that’s going to be meeting in Savannah on Tuesday before the annual conference that is considering development authorities and downtown development authorities. So we’re intricately involved with that and it’s something that will be there and hopefully having a better product because of our efforts. So I do a little bit of everything and it changes from day to day. I was working on finances yesterday even though a holiday and trying to get ready for our board meeting next week so we have to take care of them. It’s the 17 member board. We really just work hard to make sure that we are sort of like a family. That’s what I like in our association to be where we recognize each other, we appreciate it each other. We help to socialize, educate, recognize and just be an opportunity to have, have fun, learn and grow at the same time.

Stone Payton: [00:09:01] Well, I’m sure we won’t have time here to list them all, but I would love it if you would share with us some of the organizations, some of the other organizations who have chosen to support as a sponsor, and maybe some of the speakers, some of the people that we might expect to see represented there.

Kevin Shea: [00:09:19] Sure thing. Well, we have a number of different levels of sponsorship starts out with a presenting sponsor, which happens to be seat of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, which is our premiere sponsor. Then we have a number of other sponsors that are what we call platinum sponsors. We have Thomas and Hutton, we have Evans General Contractors. I think we have three or four of those guys. Web tech is another, Georgia realtors is another. And then we have lots of other sponsors, gold level, which Marie is at, and then we have silver level, we have door prize sponsors, and then we have golf, sporting clays, tennis sponsors. So there’s lots of opportunities to be involved in that regard. And the speakers we’re going to have are going to be talking about the issues that we face day to day and what’s going to happen in the future. Everybody from consultants, we have some folks from different groups. I think KPMG is one of them and we have the governor coming in via video. We have a number of panels that will be talking. Many of them are our members that will be on these panels. And so it’s a great opportunity for them to come together and hear what’s going on, cutting edge issues and best practices that we can share with everybody.

Stone Payton: [00:10:30] Well, it sounds marvelous, and I’m not surprised even a little bit, but I am definitely impressed at the level of support and participation that you and your team have been able to garner. This is going to be fantastic. All right. So let’s leave our listeners with, if we could, maybe a few pro tips to to get the most out of the conference. If I’m headed down there and we’ll spend a couple of days down there, what are some things that I should make sure that I do, maybe even in prep, but certainly while I’m there so that I, I really do get the the most while I’m down there and I’m able to come back to my ranch so that my whole team really gets some some value out of me having been there.

Kevin Shea: [00:11:12] Good question. Well, I’d say, first of all, make sure that you get there early enough to be able to get situated and participate in everything. And there is a new member orientation as well as a new member launch on Wednesday. So those that are new members should do that and really look forward to learning more about the organization, getting to meet some of the sponsors and some of the board members and the committee and chairs the shared interest group chairs. I would say look at the website beforehand and look at the sessions that you definitely don’t want to miss. Be able to circle those and highlight those so that you can be there on time for those. And then look at the list of registrants. You can go on to the website and see who are attending the conference and decide who are those people that you really need to meet. And even if you don’t know them, maybe you can come to me or Marie or somebody else who’s met them and be able to get an introduction. And we really encourage our existing members to welcome new members. So hopefully it will be something that would give them a great experience and be able to come back and learn one or two things that really would help you to do your job.

Kevin Shea: [00:12:15] Better, as you say, when you get back to the ranch to be able to share with others and also to to look at those people that, you know, that you’ve met, be able to work with them over the years from here on out. Like I said earlier, we’re sort of like a family. I like to consider a family. And it is something that really is I mean, people are very welcoming and willing to assist if you’ve got any questions or concerns and you want to share them with others. So I encourage people to reach out to the staff. I have several people that will be there with me. Brittany Love, Renee Dow and Asa Eggleston, along with me, will be happy to help you in any way we can. It’s just an opportunity that I’d say, do everything you can to be able to get the most out of it, and as Marie has done, come back several years after the first time. Hopefully you’ll be back in the future as well.

Stone Payton: [00:13:06] Well, I’m glad I asked, and I think it’s marvelous counsel to go to the website and kind of think this thing through and and don’t just don’t just wing it. Really think through who you want to spend some time with, what you want to to get from the conference, how you can contribute to the conference. So, man, I’m glad I asked, but let’s make sure before we wrap that folks know where the website is and any other points of contact that you think would be important for them, not only in preparation for the conference, but just in general stay connected with the organization and get the most from it. So let’s whatever you’re comfortable with, let’s leave them with some points of contact and definitely including that website.

Kevin Shea: [00:13:46] Okay, that sounds great. We’ll do Jeddah. Dot org is the address of the website. Jeddah dot org. And Jeddah stands for the Georgia Economic Developers Association. It’s a professional society of individual members as opposed to an organization joining. So that’s a key point of difference there. But I’d say Jeddah dot org is the best place you can go in there and get all information not only about the conference but about anything to do with Jeddah. And then phone number is something else that you can use, which is 4049624110. And there you can reach me or any of our staff again. That number is 4049624110. And lastly, you could go to info at Jeddah dot org as is an email info at dot org or my direct email address is K Shaye at Georgia dot org. That’s KSA e a at Georgia spelled out org a dot org. So hopefully those are ways that people can get in touch with us and learn more about the organization and be able to follow up from there.

Stone Payton: [00:14:56] Well, Kevin Shea, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon. Thank you for investing the time with us this afternoon and thank you for what you do. And you’re doing important work. And we sincerely appreciate you.

Kevin Shea: [00:15:11] Well, thank you, Stone. I appreciate the opportunity to meet you virtually and look forward to meeting you in person down in Savannah. And Marie, thank you so much. Marie Davis has been a wonderful member and a very ardent supporter. So we’re looking forward to seeing you as well.

Marie Davis: [00:15:24] Thank you, Kevin.

Stone Payton: [00:15:25] All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, Marie Davis with the Georgia Center for Employee Ownership and Kevin Shea with the Georgia Economic Developers Association and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying We’ll see you next time on Association Leadership Radio.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Try More and Succeed More

September 7, 2022 by angishields

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: Try More and Succeed More

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, today’s counsel, today’s topic, try more and succeed more.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:13] Yeah, I think trying things is so important in doing pretty much anything. The more things you try, the more likely it is that you will have success. It’s so funny if you look at musicians or comedians, musicians don’t only create hit songs. They have to create hundreds, if not thousands of songs that are eh, or they’re bad, or they’re okay, in order to find that hit song. They don’t just make hit songs. Comedians don’t just make funny, memorable jokes. They have hundreds, if not thousands of terrible jokes of things that didn’t hit, that didn’t work, that you forget when you remember the one that did.

And that’s really the secret of success, is just try, try, try, and you will get those successes. And when you have those successes, that’s when you need to double down and really kind of wring out the most value from that. And most people just aren’t willing to try hundreds or thousands of times to find the success. You have to have the mental toughness to try, learn, try again over and over and over until you succeed, because that is what it takes to become successful.

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