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Navigating Labor Shortages and Supply Chain Issues: Key Findings from the 2025 Business Owner Report

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Navigating Labor Shortages and Supply Chain Issues: Key Findings from the 2025 Business Owner Report
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In this episode of Atlanta Business Radio, Lee interviews Shuron Hall, a business banking executive at Bank of America Atlanta, about the annual Business Owner Report. They discuss key findings on labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, inflation, and the growing adoption of AI and digital tools among small and mid-sized businesses. Sharon highlights how AI is transforming jobs, not eliminating them, and offers advice for business owners and job seekers on adapting to technological change. The episode emphasizes the importance of strong banker-client relationships and leveraging resources like the Business Owner Report for business growth.

As Senior Vice President and Atlanta Metro Business Banking Market Executive, Shuron Hall leads a team of experienced Business Banking Relationship Management professionals serving Atlanta and the surrounding markets.

The team specializes in supporting clients with revenues ranging from $1 million to $50 million, delivering tailored solutions in treasury and cash management, lending, merchant services, equipment finance, and a comprehensive suite of other banking services to enhance clients’ experiences.

With over 20years of commercial banking experience, she brings deep industry knowledge and has managed relationships across a diverse range of sectors, including commercial, private wealth, government, not-for-profit, and institutional banking.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Russell Sage College in Troy, NY, and a Master of Accountancy from Georgia Southern University.

Connect with Shuron on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Overview of the Bank of America Business Owner Report
  • Insights from the 2024 and 2025 reports on business owner concerns and aspirations
  • Trends in labor shortages and hiring challenges
  • Impact of supply chain disruptions on businesses
  • Effects of inflation on business operations and pricing strategies
  • Adoption of digital tools and AI technology in business
  • Job transformation due to AI rather than job elimination
  • Strategies for businesses to adapt to economic changes
  • Importance of building relationships with bankers for business support
  • Recommendations for small businesses to leverage the report’s findings and resources

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program. The accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on the show, we have the business banking executive with Bank of America Atlanta, Shuron Hall, welcome.

Shuron Hall: Thank you. Lee. Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. We’re here to talk about the business owner report. So do you mind sharing a little bit about what prompted you to develop this report and maybe some of the highlights?

Shuron Hall: Sure. I would be glad to. The Business Owners Report is an annual study conducted by Bank of America. It explores the concerns, aspirations and perspectives of over 1000 small and midsize business owners across the US. The report examines the evolving business landscape, including economic outlook, concerns, and business projections. This report also explores entrepreneurs plans to leverage digital tools and major events to drive growth.

Lee Kantor: So when you were looking through the report, did anything stand out, uh, from you when you were looking at maybe the 2024 report versus the 2025 report?

Shuron Hall: There are several things that were very similar from the 24 and the 25. One of the things included talent. 43% of the employers are looking to hire, which was down from 2024, which at that point was only 52%, and today we’re at 43%. Labor shortages are affecting 61% of the respondents, which is increasing five percentage points from 2024. As a result, those impacted are working more hours due to staff shortages and rising wages to attract more competent talent. We also found supply chain to be a big driver there too. 75% of business owners say they’re currently being impacted by supply chain issues, and that’s holding steady with the 2024 result as as an impact. The way that they’re combating that is, of course, there’s going to be a rising price of the goods and services. That’s going to be up 52%, up from that 49% of 2024, and many are having difficulty sourcing products and supplies. And that’s 32% currently, up from the 29% of 2024. Lastly would be inflation. 88% of the business owners say they’re currently being impacted by inflation. That’s pretty consistent with 2024. As a result, those impacted are having to raise the price of the goods and services, and they’re having to sit down and reevaluate cash flow and spending for the rest of the year.

Lee Kantor: Now, how did you go about putting this report together? Who was polled? Is it just metro Atlanta? What what is where is the kind of geography for the report?

Shuron Hall: Well, no, it’s not just metro Atlanta. The report is nationwide.

Lee Kantor: So do you drill down for Atlanta specific?

Shuron Hall: There are some things that we do drill down to for for Atlanta. Um, perspective. Um, some of the things included some of the trends. You know, there’s more adoption of AI technology. The report showed that 90% of business owners plan to utilize digital tools in the next five years. And we’re seeing the same thing in Atlanta.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you seeing any of the, um, kind of the jobs being eliminated because of AI.

Shuron Hall: I don’t think that the jobs are necessarily being eliminated due to AI, but I do believe that some of the jobs are probably changing because of AI, because you have to support the new, you know, the new technology and advancements that are coming.

Lee Kantor: So how are businesses going about making those changes?

Shuron Hall: Uh, that’s where that hiring. And that’s also one of the challenges because of the tough labor market. Finding qualified talent that can help with that AI transition.

Lee Kantor: Now, if you were a job candidate, what would you be doing to be one of the people chosen to be hired?

Shuron Hall: Well, the first thing is, I would make sure that I started getting myself, um, really entrenched in AI because even in offices, people are using ChatGPT. Chatgpt. Um, AI is pretty much being used in lots of different forms and fashions. I’ll give you a great example. We were visiting one of our clients and, um, something that was normally done by, you know, humans, they now have robots doing some of the cutting. So that job for the person doing the cutting was being replaced by a robot. But now you need someone to program that technology. So that way that robot can do the cutting. So that’s what I’m talking about as far as the transfer, the transference of the job of the job and the labor market, it’s getting to be more technically advanced. And so those that lean into that technology are the ones that’s really going to thrive in the future.

Lee Kantor: So how are some of these, um, job candidates supposed to, uh, go about learning this? Do they have to go back to school? Where would you recommend they go to get this up? Leveling of the training?

Shuron Hall: Well, that part of it, our, our, our report did not go into. So I would probably not be able to give a lot of depth in that depth to that to that question, I would recommend that of course there is online learnings that can be done. Um, sometimes there’s on the job training that can be done and some of this is just self-study.

Lee Kantor: So how is Bank of America going about, um, training their, uh, people when it comes to AI?

Shuron Hall: Uh, we are actually leaning into, um, of course, AI and of course digital. Um, we’ve got Erica for business. Um, if you go on our, um, our website or our mobile device and you, um, encounter an issue, you can use Erica, that can help you to navigate through some of those challenges. So we to as an organization, we’re leaning into, um, digital as well.

Lee Kantor: So when you’re um, so is that a customer facing tool or is that just for internal use.

Shuron Hall: Internal and external. We have it as well. And what you’ll find is a lot of the businesses are using the adoption of AI. And it’s been and it’s actually in the last five years, more businesses are moving towards more AI generated tools to help them to be more efficient and productive.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, if you were a business owner in the Atlanta area, what would you do with this report that’s actionable in your business that you could take action today?

Shuron Hall: Well, one, each business owner is going to have to sit down and consider some of the factors that are challenges. You know, how are they being impacted by tariffs. That’s something that you’ll have to sit down and decide how are you going to handle that issue? Um, are you having a tight labor market and what type of labor are you looking for? And how are you going to market to utilize the resources that are available to you to attract that quality candidate to your position, as opposed to them applying to someone else? The other thing too, that people are sensitive to is interest rates. The current interest rate environment is impacting borrowing decisions. So these are a lot of different areas where businesses today have to sit back and kind of decide, how are these different factors impacting my business, and what are things that are controllable that I can control, and what are things that are not controllable? And how can we adjust and pivot to ensure that we are, um, moving along with the prevailing headwinds that are happening now?

Lee Kantor: Is this report primarily for the enterprise level organizations, or can small mom and pop or solopreneurs benefit from this report?

Shuron Hall: Small mom and pop can benefit from these reports. It just gives you a lot of data on what we’re seeing, um, how it is year over year changing, what things to look out for. And, um, it just helps you to be more nimble in your business.

Lee Kantor: So if you were a solopreneur or a mom and pop, uh, how would you go about, um, learning from this report and getting the most out of it.

Shuron Hall: Well, the first thing I would do is I would sit down and I would, um, if you want to know specifically about our report, I would go to Bank of America. Com you could actually go to your local Bank of America financial center, or you can reach out to one of your Bank of America business bankers, and we can sit down and talk to you about the report and some of the impacts that we have found within that report, and how we can help you to navigate some of the things that we’re seeing as prevailing headwinds.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody has a banking relationship with Bank of America, is this something you recommend them doing every year when the report comes out?

Shuron Hall: Yes I do. It’s a great way to just and as relationship managers, we’re having conversations with our clients several times a year. And some of these key themes are the conversations we’re already having with our clients. This report is also good because it gives us a high level, and because it’s not just for Atlanta, it’s nationwide. And we do do some drilling down to the Atlanta market. So that way we can know what we’re seeing locally. But then what are we seeing nationally. Because nationally it can have an impact on the local.

Lee Kantor: So if you’re a business owner right now that isn’t taking advantage of the the relationship you have with your relationship banker, can you give me some some specific tactics that I should be using in order to build that relationship to, to really benefit from that? Um, my, the human being that’s on the other side of the table, rather than just treat my bank or my banker as somebody I never talk to or see, and the money just goes back and forth digitally.

Shuron Hall: I, I love that because as relationship managers, our job is to help our clients navigate through the uncertainties. Um, you should be looking at your banker as part of your leadership team from that perspective. And if when we’re when we’re all doing it right and we do it right most of the time. We should be letting you know of the prevailing headwinds when we’re having our meetings with you, whether that’s quarterly, um, whether we’re meeting every three, four months, depending on your cadence. We, of course, try to do things in a way that’s agreeable to our clients. Some clients, you know, they’re high season might be in the first quarter. So in the second quarter we should be having conversations. So yeah, your banker should be part of that of that team of advisors that’s helping you to get you ready for the things that we know are coming so that you can prepare your business.

Lee Kantor: So if I’m going into me with my banker, what what should I bring with me to be as prepared as possible? That will give the banker enough information, uh, in order to help me.

Shuron Hall: Well, I will tell you. And this is banking and business banking. We specialize, um, in. And for my team, I’ll say specifically, we are 1 million plus. Our clients have revenues of 1 million to 50 million. And in that, in that space, we’re having conversations with our clients on a quarterly basis. Um, if you don’t have a business banker assigned to you, if you’re going into the financial center, you can have some of those same conversations with your banker in the financial centers, the relationship managers and the financial centers so that they can help you. Bank of America has a lot of data and a lot of information, and we try to help to provide guidance to our clients so that they can navigate these waters.

Lee Kantor: So what percentage of your clients are meeting with you four times a year?

Shuron Hall: Now, I do not know what percent. If you’re asking just about my team or are you asking from the.

Lee Kantor: I’m just trying to get an idea because most people I know in business, they don’t meet with their banker one time a year, let alone four times a year. So if you’re able to to create meetings with your clients four times a year, that’s fantastic. I just want to know, um, you know, you must be giving them a tremendous amount of value. If a high percentage of your clients are meeting four times a year.

Shuron Hall: Absolutely. And that’s the way we go to market. We don’t want to just be just your depository. We want to be that trusted advisor to our clients. And the only way we can do that is we have to understand your business. And that starts off with us building the rapport and the relationship where we are trusted, and we’re bringing something of value to the table.

Lee Kantor: Well, I know that’s I mean, that’s amazing. I think it’s fantastic that you’re able to do that. I’m just trying to understand, um, how other people can do the same thing because the people that I’m talking with aren’t meeting with their banker anywhere near that amount of time. So what can a person do in order to to build that relationship with their banker, that that they’d be wanting to interact that many times each year?

Shuron Hall: Well, of course, I’m going to be partial to Bank of America because that’s who I represent. But if you’re not getting that level of service from your current bank, This is a great opportunity for you to reach out to a Bank of America Business banking associates so that we can help you.

Lee Kantor: Well, if somebody wants to, um, kind of deepen their relationship with a banker or get Ahold of this report, what is the best way to do that? How does somebody connect with you or somebody on your team?

Shuron Hall: Uh, you can go to your local financial center, and they can get you connected with a relationship manager that can assist you with any of your needs. Your local Bank of America financial center would be probably the easiest place to start. Or you can go online to bankofamerica.com.

Lee Kantor: All right. Well, thank you, Sharon, for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Shuron Hall: Thank you so much for the time today.

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

Mastering Paid Advertising: Proven Tactics to Generate High-Quality Leads and Drive Growth

by

High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Mastering Paid Advertising: Proven Tactics to Generate High-Quality Leads and Drive Growth
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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee interviews Brennan Haelig, founder of Jumpstart ROI, a digital marketing agency specializing in paid ads for small and medium-sized businesses. Brennan shares his journey from the music industry to digital marketing, discusses effective ad strategies, budgeting, and client success stories, and explains the importance of lead magnets and retargeting. He offers practical advice for businesses looking to improve their paid advertising results and highlights Jumpstart ROI’s hands-on, results-driven approach to helping high-ticket service businesses generate qualified leads and accelerate growth through platforms like Meta, Google, and LinkedIn.

Brennan Haelig first business was a music management company, where he managed hip-hop artists and owned two recording studios in his college town. When that business fell apart, he lost everything and ended up homeless, living out of his studio while trying to figure out his next move. That rock-bottom moment lit a fire under him.

He realized he had marketing skills, so he taught himself how to run YouTube ads, landed his first client in January 2019, and slowly built the agency from scratch—no investors, no shortcuts, just relentless consistency and a drive to never end up in that position again.

Connect with Brennan on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Strategies for helping small and medium-sized businesses acquire customers through paid advertising
  • Typical advertising budgets for clients and the importance of effective spending
  • Challenges in tracking advertising results for brick-and-mortar businesses
  • Ideal client profiles for Jumpstart ROI, focusing on high-ticket professional services
  • Campaign timelines and expectations for lead generation and quality assessment
  • The significance of lead magnets and nurturing leads through retargeting and email marketing
  • The concept and benefits of ad retargeting in digital marketing
  • Practical advice for managing paid advertising campaigns effectively

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have founder and CEO with Jumpstart ROI Brennan Haelig, welcome.

Brennan Haelig: Haley. Thanks for having me on.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Jumpstart ROI. How are you serving folks?

Brennan Haelig: Yeah, so we’ve been around for, gosh, about seven years or so now. Uh, we’re a digital marketing agency. Specifically, we focused on paid advertising. So, uh, Facebook ads, Google ads, LinkedIn ads. That’s our bread and butter. So all of our clients are small and medium sized businesses that are wanting help acquiring more customers through all of these paid advertising channels. And I guess the long story short is that we help them do that. So.

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

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. So, you know, funny thing, before this, I worked at a brief stint of working in the music business. So in college, I went to the University of Wisconsin. I’m from Minnesota originally, and college, I started my first business, wanted to manage musicians. And so I had the, you know, the dream of going on tour and working with artists and all of that and did that for a few years. He has a very small local business in Madison. The college town that I was living in had a lot of fun. It was an absolute blast. That’s what I sort of started doing, some of the same things that I do today. So some of these different marketing skills, I kind of, you know, cut my teeth doing that in the music world. That kind of fizzled out after a few years. And I realized, you know, hey, instead of working with rock musicians, maybe I should work with, you know, businesses that might be able to actually pay a little more for these services. And what I did was I just went to all of the local bars and restaurants that I already knew from organizing local concerts and things like that, and basically just walked in and pitched them and said, hey, you know, will you let me? Do anything to help you on Facebook or Google. You know, help me. Let me run your ads. Let me post content for you. Got my first few clients that way. Parlayed that and do a few more. And seven years later, now we’ve got a team of about 20 people and over 100 clients. So that was the origin story.

Lee Kantor: And everything started with paid advertising. You were kind of bought into that as the best channel to use.

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. You know, for, for for me, it was like I had already dabbled in that when I was working with the music stuff. And at the time this was like 2018, 2019, you know, Facebook ads had been around for a while, but there was like, there still is a ton of opportunity, but it was just kind of the most lucrative way for me to offer the most value to these clients. You know, I tried to look for what skill is going to be the most valuable for them and the most valuable for me to offer. And that was it. And it kind of lent itself well, because it’s a good marriage of creativity and also being very type A, you know, logic oriented and that’s kind of how my brain works. So it just kind of felt natural.

Lee Kantor: Now what were kind of the early budgets you were dealing with.

Brennan Haelig: At that time? It was a lot of pretty small time stuff. So, you know, $1,000 a month, $2,000 a month, you know, that was that was what most of these local businesses were spending, some even less, you know, $300 a month, like basically whatever I could get my hands on just to get some case studies and some, you know, some actual client references under my belt. And I would kind of take anything on, but it was mostly pretty small time.

Lee Kantor: Now, is that like what would be the minimum nowadays for, um, I guess you were there doing primarily brick and mortar back then. I would imagine that’s different now. But, um, like what what is kind of the range that a brick and mortar has to spend nowadays to get noticed?

Brennan Haelig: Yeah, it’s a good question. You know, I would say it’s not. The threshold hasn’t increased a ton. I mean, we have currently have clients that spend $1,000 a month. You know, I usually tell people it’s not really it’s not it’s generally not worth it if you’re spending less than like one or 2KA month. Most of our clients start around that like 3 to 5 K is kind of our average clients. You know, our fees are a couple grand a month. So um, our the ad spend is always separate from that. And so for most of our clients they’re in that 3 to 5 K sort of minimum range we have, you know obviously some clients that spend a lot more than that. But if you’re like a local brick and mortar, you know, 1000 to $2000 a month is still an appropriate place to start to at least validate, hey, is this channel is Google Ads? Is Facebook ads going to be worth it business.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re doing, uh, an advertising campaign, there’s a few variables that I would imagine you have to test pretty quickly. Like, is this the right channel to get the right people in the door? And is this the right message to use to get the right people in the door? How do you kind of, um, do the the math part of this?

Brennan Haelig: Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Great question. And you know with brick and mortar it’s always tricky because it’s hard to track from the actions that happen online. Like somebody visiting your web page or clicking on an ad and target them. Quantify how many of those people actually come in the door. If you are selling something online, like an e-commerce product, or if you’re selling a service where people are visiting your website and then filling out a form or clicking on a button to call you all that stuff is trackable. So for those clients, we can quantify back to them exactly how much it’s costing them to acquire a lead, how much it’s costing them to acquire a customer, and then what those customers are worth to them. The in-store brick and mortar is a little bit trickier, and we have a couple clients that are, you know, for example, clothing stores or restaurants. Um, and so for them, it’s not always 1 to 1. And so really we have to look at their total revenue. Maybe they have something like a door counter where they can track the number of people coming in the door. And then what we can do is say, all right, you know, between, you know, quarter one and quarter two. You increase your ad spend by X amount. Do we see a correlated increase in some of those other meaningful metrics? People in the door. Total revenue. Total number of orders at your restaurant, for example. All of those metrics as well.

Lee Kantor: Now is your ideal client nowadays more digital and online?

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. Our ideal client is is generally going to be some kind of like high ticket professional service business. That’s really our bread and butter. So people selling services these might be local and also national. We have a lot of both. Um but things like businesses in the trades and home services in uh, you know, accounting law firms, it might be uh, consulting services, different B2B, uh, you know, services, industrial services, things like that. Um, but generally those businesses that are serving, you know, and charging more for their services and serving more up market are better for us just because they’re willing to pay more to acquire those customers. So they spend more on ads and they pay us more. So that’s really our bread and butter.

Lee Kantor: And how long does it typically take to kind of see if this is working, if you’re getting traction or not.

Brennan Haelig: Yeah it’s a great question. And when I tell most clients is 4 to 6 weeks. Um, but the longer your sales cycle, the longer that can take. So you have, you know, a couple clients where maybe there’s sales cycles like 12 months, you know, for some of these big enterprise deals that they’re chasing. But I’d say the vast majority of our clients within 4 to 6 weeks, you have a good understanding of, is investing in this channel going to be worth it for me? And what they should be looking for is at least some volume of consistent new leads coming into your business. Leads that are qualified, that do want what you have to buy. Maybe they’re not all closing within 4 to 6 weeks, but at least you’re generating conversations with more of your ideal customers, and that’s what you should see within that first month to month and a half or so.

Lee Kantor: Now, when these folks are coming to you initially, are they just frustrated with their growth. Or maybe they plateaued, or are they coming from maybe a different agency that they were dissatisfied like, or this the first time they’ve ever done paid ads?

Brennan Haelig: I would say it’s a pretty even split between customers who’ve never run paid ads. And they’re like, they’ve just lived off of referrals. Maybe they’re doing some email marketing, they’re doing more organic. Um, you know, maybe they they, uh, just sort of going off word of mouth and then they come to us because they want to add some fuel to the fire. That’s probably half the clients that we get. And then the other half usually are coming from having worked with either a freelancer or another agency, and for whatever reason, it didn’t pan out. Most commonly, there’s issues with communication with that agency. They didn’t do the reporting well. They weren’t as proactive as the client wanted. They, you know, basically just didn’t they didn’t have the confidence or the strategy to, like, really lead the strategic side of the campaign for the client. And so things weren’t going up to par for that client, and they want to go find a better option to take better care of their ad spend. And that’s the other half the clients that we get.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you walk me through what it’s like to begin a relationship with you? I can give you a hypothetical client, and then you tell me how you would approach working with them. Are you up for that? All right. Okay. So I’m going to hypothetically pick my company, Business RadioX and our. We’re trying to grow and expand into other markets, and we’re going to partner with business coaches. And that’s that’s what we’re trying to do. So what are some of the questions you’d ask me about implementing a paid campaign, or that you’d have to get to know my business enough so that you can kind of diagnose the challenge and come up with some solutions.

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. Are we assuming that you have not run any paid ads before?

Lee Kantor: Right. Never ran paid ads.

Brennan Haelig: Got it. Yeah. So and you mentioned you’re trying to get in touch with business coaches. Any specific niche or size of business coach, any specific industry that they work with.

Lee Kantor: Um, just general business coaches who want to be known locally as kind of a go to connector. Um, that one that are frustrated that they’re a best kept secret and they don’t want to be a best kept secret. So by partnering with us, we help them become the media locally, and then they can be the ones sharing those stories.

Brennan Haelig: Are they already actively looking for a solution? Are they not yet aware that what you offer is out there?

Lee Kantor: They’re typically going to like BNI or chamber events, and they’re just either they’ve plateaued in terms of what they’ve gotten out of it or they’re you know, I don’t know. I don’t want to say they’re actively looking, but they’re probably frustrated with where they’re at and the amount of time and effort and lift they have to be doing to get what they’re getting.

Brennan Haelig: Right. Gotcha. Okay. So yeah. So that would direct me as far as where you should put money when it comes to paid ads, I’m leaning meta or LinkedIn, one of the two. Both are going to make sense for something like this. Usually I tell people, start with meta if they haven’t run ads, and that’s why I asked about the intent and if they’re already looking because Google, if they’re already typing this stuff into Google, run ads on Google, in this case, they’re probably not. Like, sure, some people are looking for maybe, you know, something to do with radio or digital radio advertising. But, um, these coaches are not really searching for this service already, so we need to make them aware that it’s known and one of these other social channels is going to be the best way to do that. Um, LinkedIn is going to give us the option to target those coaches very specifically based on their job title. That can be a great option. Obviously, there’s a lot of, uh, networking that’s happening on LinkedIn already. So these coaches are possibly probably active there and looking at their DMs and looking to start conversations with people. Maybe they’re, you know, commenting on other people’s posts or things like that. So that might be a great option. Um, Main thing that I used to determine should we run ads on meta or LinkedIn is I look at what is the average customer value. The reason being LinkedIn is basically a more expensive version of meta ads to to dumb it down a little bit. And, uh, so I tell people is unless your average customer value is at least $5,000, I wouldn’t bother with LinkedIn. So depending on what you’re selling them, like, what do you say these customers are worth at least five K to you as a client?

Lee Kantor: Yeah.

Brennan Haelig: Okay. Cool. So LinkedIn could be a great option for us. Um, what kind of content do you already have available that we could use for ads? Do you have videos and graphics and things like that that we could be used or repurposed or edited? Um.

Lee Kantor: We have a lot of playbooks like, um, how to prospect or how to get, um, ten discovery calls in a month, things like that.

Brennan Haelig: Gotcha. Okay. Awesome. That’s great. So, um, I was gonna ask you about kind of what the what the funnel or what the conversion process looks like. So it sounds like they would sort of they would engage, maybe download one of these lead magnets. And then from there they would book some kind of sales conversation with you or somebody on your team.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. So the thinking around the playbook is that this playbook shows you kind of how we do what we do and the why behind it, but we’re targeting people who aren’t into technology because ours is a done for you process. So like we’re targeting people that just say, why don’t you do it? Probably similar to yours. Like you, I mean, I’m sure there’s people that can go on YouTube and figure out how to do what you do, but why don’t they just hire you and be done with it?

Brennan Haelig: Right. Yeah, totally. I mean, I tell people that pretty. I mean, I’ve learned how to do this on YouTube, you know, YouTube and then just doing it over time. Uh, all of this is everything that we do you can learn on YouTube, but most people just don’t want to take the time to do it, which is, you know, why? Why we have a job.

Lee Kantor: Right. Exactly, exactly. So ours is the same premise is like when they work with us, they’re getting kind of, I don’t want to say a cheat code, but they’re getting an accelerated, shortened learning curve and they’re going to get more results faster.

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so so I’m still torn between recommending either meta or LinkedIn. I mean, honestly, both can work. If they’re really not that technologically savvy. They might not be on LinkedIn or might not be checking their LinkedIn as much. So that’s my only consideration there. There’s also just so much noise on LinkedIn now. Either one can ideally really I would say test both kind of depending on budget. But I’d probably allocate like because your deal size is at least five K for these clients. I would allocate like a 2 to 3000 a month starting budget. And that would be for each platform like LinkedIn and or meta. You could pick one like meta is just so like ubiquitous like everyone’s on there. So it always works great. Yeah. Even for B2B, a lot of people ask me, Does Facebook ads? Instagram has work for B2B? Yes, 100%. We have a number of B2B clients. Very niche B2B services and SaaS products that do very well on meta ads. Stuff that you would never think would do well on meta because everyone’s on there. And Meta’s targeting is amazing and it really understands how to reach the right people at the right time. Um, so yeah, I would probably start with, you know, kind of that budget allocation on, on one of these channels.

Brennan Haelig: Um, and I would start with driving people to one of these lead magnet offerings with the goal of qualifying them and then leading them into some kind of sales conversation. So the ad is kind of promoting getting that free guide. That guide should be really valuable and it should like give them a lot of information, a lot of value so that they go, wow, this is like incredible. This service is really high quality. And then it should also maybe qualify them. So they’re going to opt in to receive that guide. So our goal is going to be to generate leads from that lead magnet offering. They have to give us their name phone email and maybe answer a few other questions. Company size company revenue what their ideal customers are. Have they done any marketing before? What are their goals? Some few other questions. Then they get that guide and then you’re going to nurture them through retargeting ads. Email, text. You or your sales team can reach out to them. Try to book that call with them if they’re qualified. Um, so that’s kind of the initial approach that I would take for something like this.

Lee Kantor: Now and then you you’re service is turnkey. I just kind of give you information and then you’re, you develop the ads and the messaging and then you’re kind of managing all the behind the scenes stuff, and we’re just adjusting based on what we’re learning from results.

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. That’s right. Yeah. So it’s done for you. So we’re able to create the content for you. Uh, we handle all the copywriting, all of the tracking set up. You know, we’re able to track and report back to you how many leads are coming from this investment. You own all the content. You know, our clients, they all own their ad account. They own all the ads that we create for them. Um, they’re basically just, you know, we’re inside of their, their ad accounts, running the ads for them. Um, but, yeah, it’s turnkey. Oftentimes we might. The only thing we might need from clients sometimes is some help with video. So like recording video, especially if it’s if you’re a personal brand or you’re the face of the thing, you know, you might need to be on camera recording some content for the ads, but we can edit all of the raw footage for you. Um, and obviously you already, you know, create some content pretty consistently. So maybe there’s stuff there that we would be able to use. Um, but other than that, we don’t really need much to get everything up and running. And then on an ongoing basis, we’re just making sure we have a consistent communication cadence where we’re meeting with you and making sure that we’re discussing. All right. How is the sales process going? How are these conversations going? Are we sending you the right leads? Are they closing? You know, all of those kind of things? Um, just a feedback loop with our clients to make sure that they’re seeing the impact from making this investment in advertising.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned, um, ad retargeting. Can you explain that to the listener? Because I don’t know if everybody’s familiar. I’m sure they’ve all experienced it when they said, you know, I want to buy that sweater. And then all of a sudden the sweater is following them around for the next couple of days. But can you explain how that retargeting works?

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, um, yeah. So retargeting is just the concept of sending targeted advertisements to people who have already engaged with your business in some way. So it’s basically any time that you’re seeing an ad more than once, you’re being retargeted by them. So, you know, you have the initial ad that you see the first impression, the first time you ever are made aware of this business or this product, and then you’re going to start to see more of those ads over time and more. You see those ads. In theory, the warmer you are to buying that product or that service. And so, you know, all of these ad channels, meta, Google, LinkedIn, they’re able to track all of the web traffic and they track your browsing history. So when you land on these different websites, that are able to track that and then serve you targeted ads based on the content that you consume online and the things that you shop for. So that’s why you’re able to see a very curated, personalized feed of content when you, uh, when you log into Meta or Instagram or when you’re browsing the internet, you see those display ads for the stuff that you were just looking at on Amazon. That’s how they get you. Retargeted.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you explain maybe the pricing is the price you pay the most for that first click, and then it’s less for Retargeted or is it the same no matter if it’s a retargeted ad or the initial ad?

Brennan Haelig: Yeah, yeah, that’s a good question. And you know, so typically, yes, like I would say it’s generally more expensive to acquire that first impression or that, that, that, uh, you know, top of funnel customer. Um, it can vary. But yes, usually it’s more expensive to get that first click, less expensive to get the clicks after that. So you generally see the cost per click. The cost for the impressions decrease when you’re retargeting people, retargeting warm traffic for example. That’s correct.

Lee Kantor: So like if you could just put some numbers to it, like say it costs $5 for the first click, what would a retargeted click cost?

Brennan Haelig: Uh, it could be as low as a dollar or two. It really depends. I mean, I’d say even a better ballpark for, for some branded. Like, maybe it costs you 1 to $2 for that top of funnel click and then that bottom of funnel click. Uh, you know, that retargeting click might be $0.30 or $0.40, you know. So oftentimes it’s like, you know, a good amount cheaper, at least half the price, if not maybe even a quarter of the price of that top of funnel first time click.

Lee Kantor: And then from uh, from a standpoint of of leaning on paid ads, that’s more valuable, really, the more clicks down the road, because then it’s a warmer and warmer lead. They they’re already familiar with the brand, you know, several clicks in.

Brennan Haelig: Usually at the conversion rate is higher. So the likelihood of that, you know, that second, third, fourth click, the likelihood of them taking action. So buying the product, filling out your form, whatever that conversion action is, the likelihood of that should be higher because they’re warmer. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: And so you build retargeting into all your campaigns. Is that just kind of just basics?

Brennan Haelig: Yeah we do. Yep. Yeah. It’s it’s pretty par for the course nowadays. In fact you know meta and Google will even do it automatically for you now sometimes. But uh, but yeah, it’s, it’s part of the strategy for all of our clients where, uh, you know, we want to make sure that we’re reaching people more than once, uh, because it’s been almost always does require more than one ad impression in order to get a conversion. So yeah, it’s something that we implement for each client.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share about, um, how you started working with somebody, maybe somebody that was skeptical or maybe hadn’t had good results before, but used you and were able to get kind of to a new level. I obviously don’t name the name of the company, but maybe explain their challenge and how you were able to help them.

Brennan Haelig: Sure. Yeah. So, um, I would say we had so a couple of our local business clients are coming to mind, but, um, one of them, actually, they’re a limousine business. Uh, they’re based in Atlanta. Actually, they’re based in Atlanta. They serve a couple different states, but they are based in Georgia. Um, they’re running Google ads mainly. So they’re, you know, they’re trying to get people that are looking for limo services, you know, executive transportation and party busses, that kind of stuff. And so, um, they run a Google Ads. And like a lot of our clients they worked with, I don’t remember if it was an agency or a freelancer, but they had somebody, you know, they had they had an ad guy before us. And there’s a lot of these clients do ads guy um, and they weren’t getting good results. They were getting a bunch of leads, and they were just not good quality. They were getting a lot of people that were just tire kickers, people that didn’t want to spend money, uh, you know, people that they would try to call them back. And they were saying, hey, you know, I didn’t fill this out. Why are you calling me? A lot of that kind of stuff. And they’re running Google ads. And so what we did was we came on, and what we do for clients in this situation is we always start with adding some value up front.

Brennan Haelig: So we will provide them a very thorough audit of what they’re currently doing. And it’s a very clear strategic recommendations for improvement. We do that for free. We do that up front. We spend a couple hours doing a comprehensive audit for them, totally for free, just to kind of make them trust us because, you know, of course they’ve had their trust broken by these people they’ve worked with in the past. So we went through, looked into their Google ad account, digged into it, and there’s always a few common issues that I see for clients like this that are running Google ads. In their case, they were running very broad keywords on broad match, meaning they were giving Google the opportunity to serve their ads to people who weren’t even specifically looking for these limo services that were looking for like Uber and Lyft and like these different transportation services. And so Google, again, like many of these platforms, they have a setting where you can really let Google do a lot of the targeting for you. So you upload a keyword and you give Google the ability to basically show your ad to anything that’s even remotely related to that keyword. Well, that would that, as you can imagine, generates a lot of low quality traffic.

Brennan Haelig: And so they were getting a lot of these low quality leads. They were also serving ads across placements that weren’t actually Google search, meaning that you have Google search. So people are actively typing in keywords and searching for stuff. You also have Google’s search partner network and display network. So these are like all the other digital real estate where Google can serve ads, but it’s not actually Google search. And so they had that turned on in their campaigns. Basically whoever is running the campaigns just kind of missed this setting or didn’t think to look and adjust this setting for them. So they were spending like 40% of their ad spend was not even going to Google search, so they weren’t even paying for high quality clicks with most of their budgets. So just throwing money away, basically. So those are the main two things we identify. There’s, you know, some other nuanced things that we identified. But really those are the key changes. Um, and the cool thing is we’re able to change those things like basically immediately. And so within a week they come on board. Um, you know, we have a pretty extensive, like, onboarding process where, you know, we immediately try to set the tone with the client that like, we’re going to communicate with you really proactively, really effectively.

Brennan Haelig: We have a recurring meeting in place. We send a weekly report every single week. So immediately the client goes from maybe they’re working with somebody who doesn’t tell them what’s going on and doesn’t respond fast to a team like ours. That is very prompt. Talk to them multiple times per week and provides them very clear reporting with exactly what we’re doing. And then we were able to immediately fix the couple issues that were causing them to get bad results. And within a week, they could see an immediate improvement in the quality of the phone calls that were coming into their business. Um, so that’s pretty cool. When we’re able to do that, it’s not always the case that clients see things that fast. But, uh, it’s pretty awesome that we’re able to, uh, you know, show them some, clear results pretty fast. Um, so that’s a good example. They’ve been a client now for 4 or 5 months. Um, and we’re looking forward to hopefully, you know, continuing to work with them all throughout next year. Uh, and their business has done really well. So we’re even expanding for them outside of Google Now into Bing ads, which surprisingly effective people don’t really think of Bing, but it works pretty well. Um, and maybe some ads for them as well. So I think that’s a good example.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there any advice you can give the do it yourselfer out there? What are some things like you mentioned? You know, checking making sure that you’re checking all the boxes that you want that you really want, not just that exist. So I’m sure doing that kind of going through line by line when you’re filling out the forms. That’s probably good practice. But is there any, uh, kind of low hanging fruit for the do it yourself or out there?

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. So I would say, you know, I’m trying to think of like the, you know, the, the few key things that I could say that are going to be the most effective. So make sure you’re using the right strategy, meaning you have Google. Whether it’s Google or Meta LinkedIn. Make sure that you’re tracking conversions, that you have that tracking set up, and that you’re telling these platforms that you want leads or purchases, not clicks. A lot of people run ads and they just optimize for traffic or clicks, which sure is fine if that’s what you want. But keep in mind these platforms are very literal. They only give you exactly what you tell it to give you, so make sure you’re using the right objective. Uh, make sure that your content so that you know both the keywords, the ad copy, the ad creative, if you’re running meta ads, is very specific to your target customer. So, you know, your keywords need to be very high intent. Go for quality over quantity. So I don’t care about having 100 keywords in the account. You could have three keywords, but if they’re really high quality keywords, that’s going to be more effective. And then your ad copy should speak directly to your target customer. So if you’re a real estate company and you want distressed seller leads, your ad copy should speak directly to that person’s pain point and to their emotions.

Brennan Haelig: You know, if you’re wanting, you know, business coaches, that coach, uh, you know, a certain type of business owner. Make sure your copy speaks directly to them. It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised. A lot of people run very generic content, and they wonder why their leads are bad. Well, your content needs to do some of that qualification for you. Um, and the last thing is, you know, don’t overlook all of the default settings. Don’t assume that all the default settings that Meta and Google choose for you are the right ones. Um, very good YouTube tutorials on all of this stuff. So that’s a great resource. But, you know, as I mentioned and gave that example by default, Google and Meta, both of them, you know, there’s all these settings now that will basically allow them to sometimes derail your campaign. You know, they’ll they’ll add all these AI enhancements to your ads. They’ll target people outside of your geographic area. Sometimes by default. So just keep an eye on that stuff. Take a second or third look through it. Watch a little YouTube tutorial. Um, and that’ll help you get set up in the right way.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team. What’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Brennan Haelig: Absolutely, yeah. So our website is Jumpstart ROI. Com. They can feel free to reach out to me there. There’s going to be a link to my calendar. They can book a call with me. I’m always happy to hop on a call and just have, you know, a consultative conversation with people. I offer free consultations to anyone who wants to jump on with me. No hard sales pitch, no obligation to move forward if you’re running ads, or even just thinking about running ads for your business, reach out to me at Jumpstart. Com. Let’s jump on a call and see if I can help you out.

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

Brennan Haelig: Yeah. You’re welcome. Thanks for having me on I appreciate it.

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

Discovering and Eliminating Blind Spots: A Guide for Business Owners Seeking Growth

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High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Discovering and Eliminating Blind Spots: A Guide for Business Owners Seeking Growth
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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee interviews Liana DeBellevue, owner of DeBellevue Consulting and former digital marketing agency leader. Liana shares her journey from running and selling her agency to launching her consulting practice, where she helps business owners identify and overcome “blind spots” that hinder growth. The conversation covers the importance of accountability, authentic leadership, and adapting to changes like AI in marketing. Liana also introduces her new Accountability Collective initiative and offers practical advice for entrepreneurs seeking clarity and sustainable business success.

Leanna DeBellevue is an international speaker, consultant, and the former founder of DeBellevue Global Marketing Agency—an award-winning firm recognized as the 2025 Business of the Year by the Gilbert Chamber and the 2024 Best Marketing Agency in the East Valley.

After scaling her agency for more than 15 years and inspiring audiences across 13 countries, she sold the business and stepped into her next chapter: helping leaders eliminate blind spots, think more strategically, and stay accountable to the goals that matter most.

She has been featured in outlets like HuffPost, appeared on numerous podcasts, and previously served on the Forbes Magazine Council. In 2023, she was honored with an induction into Who’s Who in America by the Marquis Publication Board

What sets her apart is her belief that success doesn’t have to cost you your life outside of work. As a mom, wife, and proud “Lolli,” she’s passionate about showing business owners how to chase big goals while still protecting their time, energy, and joy.

Through her consulting work, she helps leaders get clear, get focused, and take action in a way that feels aligned and sustainable—not overwhelming.

She brings years of experience, real-world perspective, and a genuine love for helping people grow. Get ready for an honest, insightful conversation about what it takes to perform at a high level without burning out, how to spot the blind spots holding you back, and how to build a business that works *for* your life instead of the other way around.

Connect with Leanna on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Identifying and overcoming “blind spots” in business.
  • The importance of accountability and having accountability partners.
  • Challenges business owners face regarding self-awareness and growth.
  • The role of honest conversations in uncovering business obstacles.
  • Insights on selling a business and the importance of company culture.
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on marketing and the need for authenticity.
  • Introduction of the Accountability Collective for business owners.
  • Strategies for maintaining work-life balance and managing workload as a consultant.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have the owner of DeBellevue Consulting, Leanna DeBellevue. Welcome.

Leanna DeBellevue: Thank you so much for having me, I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn about your practice. Tell us about your firm. How you serving folks?

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah, so I was a digital marketing business owner. I had my own agency for about 15 years. I just sold that in August of this year. And everyone kept asking me, what is next? What is next? And it took me a little, a little bit to figure it out. But I realized that business owners, we get in our own way a lot and we don’t have a ton of accountability. There’s so many blind spots And so my next step, my next chapter, is actually born out of necessity of what I see other people around me, myself included, needing, which is eliminating blind spots, just having open, honest conversations and helping each other navigate this, this roller coaster of business ownership.

Lee Kantor: Now with your clients that you have, are they I mean, they’re called blind spots or are they even aware they have them?

Leanna DeBellevue: No. You know, honestly, it’s those people that say, man, I feel like I’ve tried everything and I’m just not getting to that next level, or I’ve hit a ceiling and I can’t figure out why. A lot of times they are not sure what the issue is. They just know that it’s something holding them back.

Lee Kantor: So. So how does that kind of show itself to a one of your clients? Like what is the symptoms or signals that they might be having some issues that that there are things out there holding them back?

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah, a lot of times they don’t even know that they need someone like me until they get into a conversation with someone like me. Right. I’ll ask them, like, you know, kind of, what are your goals or what are you working towards? What are you most excited about in your business this year? Or, you know, kind of what’s that next step for you? And a lot of times people are just like, you know, man, with the economy changing, I’ve really been struggling. I can’t quite get my footing or. Man, I’m so busy. I would love to bring on, you know, someone to help kind of take some stress off me, but I just can’t. And it’s just those, those quick little moments of I really want to. But the second I hear that. But I know that nine times out of ten, there’s probably a blind spot that they’re just not able to identify that will help them kind of figure out and have that aha moment.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there anything a listener could do right now to kind of maybe have one of those blind spots appear before them? Is there some things that you recommend that they can do themselves that can kind of show them that they might have some blind spots to work on?

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I relied heavily on my tribe of other fellow business owners when I was in the middle of owning my agency. And a lot of times, you just really need someone to mirror back what you’re saying. I think a lot of times as business owners, we know what the problem is, but we’re so used to saying it to ourselves that we don’t even hear it. So a lot of times I would ask someone that I trusted. Half the time it was my husband, the other time, half the time it was other business owners that I knew, hey, this is what I’m struggling with. Will you just talk it out with me? And, you know, like I needed to hire someone. I need to hire someone. But I’m not really quite sure what that position would look like to take stuff off my plate. Right. And just really kind of. Okay, so here’s the problem. Here’s, like, I’m not I’m not seeing the connection. What am I missing? And a lot of times people can see the problem all around you. You just can’t see it for yourself. So really having a conversation and honest conversation with someone that you trust and say, what I’m going to tell you all of the details. What am I missing? Or what do you see that I’m not? And that a lot of times will start the ball rolling with identifying a blind spot.

Lee Kantor: Now, that sounding board that you’re choosing to do this exercise, is it better if they kind of know you pretty well? Or is it work better if they’re, you know, kind of more of an acquaintance?

Leanna DeBellevue: I don’t know if that part matters as much as it is typically someone who is also a business owner. Right? It’s such a different world when you’re creating something out of nothing. Most of the time, uh, it your mind shifts, uh, mindset needs to shift a little bit. So talking to other business owners I think is typically more helpful, whether it’s an acquaintance or someone you know. Well, if it’s someone you know well, you might get to the answer a little bit quicker. Um, I think a lot of times those around us know our weaknesses. Um, they don’t always bring it to our attention, but they at least notice them themselves so they can have that conversation with you.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned earlier accountability. How important is it to have some sort of an accountability partner on your team?

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah, that was a game changer for us in business. Um, it was really easy when you are the owner, to put other people off and to say, oh, I’ll get that to you later. I’ll get that to you later, and later may never come. And those are typically the things that you’re putting off, are typically the things you need to do to get the business going in the direction that you need to. So, um, I have two really good friends that every morning, um, excuse me, every Monday morning we would get on a quick text thread, say the 3 or 4 things that we were going to get accomplished that week. We would check in with each other on Wednesday. The following Friday, we had to hold ourselves accountable. Did I get things done that I said I was going to? In the six months that we did that, my business grew leaps and bounds because I finally stopped putting off the things that I was, you know, had been putting off for so long, and it was simply because I had to tell someone else that I was going to do it.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, can you share a little bit? I mean, you don’t have to say word for word what we’re in those messages, but can you give the listener an idea of what goes into one of those accountability questions? And like, if you didn’t make, you know, you didn’t accomplish what you set out to? What does that conversation look like? Do you mind sharing some of the, you know, kind of the particulars so we can kind of hear what it looked like in, you know, in real life, not just conceptually.

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, use myself for an example. Um, I needed to put, um, we were needing to create a new CRM. Um, our old CRM just was not holding any of the customer information that we needed it to. It was very limited. So I had been putting this off for about six, 6 to 8 months because I knew it was going to be a time suck for me, and I just really didn’t want to do it. And so I remember on a Monday I said to the girls, I said, hey, I’m going to research CRMs. I need to figure out which one I’m going to get to. And they lovingly questioned me on it. They said, okay, that’s not going to take a whole week. What’s the next step that you’re going to get done along with that? And I said, okay, I’m going to research it and I will make a decision on what that CRM is. On Wednesday, we had a quick check in. Literally it was a question of is everyone on track this week or is there something that, um, a lot of times something will come up during the week that maybe it’s a much larger process than you originally thought it was going to be? Or maybe you’ve come up against a question that you don’t know how to answer.

Leanna DeBellevue: But in this case, it was Wednesday. I still hadn’t done it. I said, nope, just haven’t gotten the time. They said, what? You know what time, what day and time are you going to carve out to do some research? I said Thursday, finished it on Thursday by the end of the day. Friday. I did have a decision. I said, this is the CRM we’re going to use and here’s why. You know, kind of why I went in the direction that I did and they said, great, when are you going to get it? Get it implemented? So literally, had I not just had 1 or 2 little sentences, a saying, you said you were going to do it, why aren’t you doing it? And how are you going to make time to do it? And then great, you met that goal. Now how are you going to take it to the next step or the next level? So what I’ve been putting off for, I think about eight months, I got done in about two and a half weeks.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, that goes to something that I found, um, and myself and other people is that you break promises to yourself all the time, but you keep appointments with others, like you show up when another person says, can you do this? Or here’s this thought, you’re going to respond. You’re not going to ignore that person, but to yourself. If this was all happening internally, it’ll go on forever.

Leanna DeBellevue: Yes, 1,000%. I’m great at doing what I’m telling others that I’m going to do for them. But when it came to myself, yes, I would break promises to myself daily and it was really just putting a chokehold on our growth.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your clients, um, are you having these kind of difficult conversations? Because this could be, you know, you’re you’re asking someone to change some behaviors here that are pretty set.

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah. Yeah, it’s a lot of hard conversations. Um, but I think there’s two things that I think makes it easier to have those conversations. One is that as a business owner, I have made these same mistakes. I am coming from a place of being in the trenches with them. Um, so there’s no judgment. It’s not, you know, well, you should have done this or why didn’t you do that? It’s okay. This is what you told me. This is what you said was important. I want to help you navigate this. Right. Um, I think it’s very rare to see roadblocks, um, in a business where the business owner is not, you know, kind of the most responsible for that, right? We get in our own ways all the time. Um, but I tell people there is no judgment. I just want to help you navigate. And once there’s that trust established, and they see that it’s very gentle guidance, but still, um, still pretty firm, right? Um, once they see that by taking those prompts and moving through the uncomfortableness, they get to that next goal, working together becomes easier and easier and more and more, um, fulfilling for them because they know that doing the hard thing is going to result in the the success that they’re looking for.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with clients, do you have a point of entry? That’s kind of an easy way to kind of learn how to work together?

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah. We have, um, a lot of different areas that we discuss in business. I tell people all the time, you might think that the problem is staffing, but in reality it’s a process. Or you might think it’s process, but in reality it’s it’s your offer. So we really look at the, the business as a whole. Um, and then I try and work on the things that feel the smallest first because people will start seeing that progress and it starts to build. Right then they’re really excited. Okay. Well, only took me a couple of days to see progress here. Now let me look at in this, you know, kind of this area of that area. And so by the time you’re doing really hard things, you have that momentum and you have that, um, excitement that it doesn’t feel as overwhelming as it might have in the very beginning.

Lee Kantor: So you’re trying to have an initial kind of, uh, holistic conversation to understand kind of the big picture. So then you can start diagnosing where there’s opportunities.

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah. And I really do think that most people know, um, it’s either just hard to get it out or we really don’t have time to stop and think about the problem. Right. Because you’re putting out one fire after another fire after another fire, when the reality is sometimes you just need to take a step back, relax a second, take a deep breath, look at everything, look at the landscape, and then make a decision.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned earlier that you built and sold an agency. Can you talk about what that was like to build something from scratch and then, um, exit from it? Because a lot of people have that dream, but it’s not a reality for folks.

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah. And I honestly, I had no idea that the probability of our business selling, um, I didn’t realize that, um, it would be such a, um, a hard task to take on. Um, we were told it would take about 6 to 12 months to sell. I knew for about the year before that I had grown it into where I felt I wanted to take it, like all the boxes were checked, all of the goals that I wanted to, you know, tend to accomplish, I had accomplished. And so I knew it was kind of time to pass the baton to someone who was more excited. They’ve got that fresh, you know, kind of fresh new look and take on the business. And so I did that. Partly everyone was saying, you know, we were blessed enough to win. 2024 Business Marketing, top digital marketing agency of the East Valley. 2025 we got business of the year. Everyone asked me, why would you go out now? Right? Like you’re just picking up your, you know, everything is great. But I knew it was time. I knew that I had taken it as far as I had wanted to take it.

Leanna DeBellevue: And I knew that with AI and everything else coming in. It would take a total reinvention. And I really just didn’t feel like I had that reinvention. So they, uh, we took it to a business broker. They did an evaluation. They said it would take 6 to 12 months to sell. Um, and we had a full price offer in a week with a 30 day close. So in my mind, I’d given myself six months to to a full year to kind of release this, you know, kind of business. Um, next thing I knew, 45 days later, we were we were out. And it’s been an amazing journey. Um, but I think in business, you know, when you’ve taken it as far as you want to or can, and I was just it was a timing thing. Right? We had just we hit the timing just right. But I think a lot of that goes back to having those processes in place, having those difficult conversations. I think if I didn’t have that accountability, you know, the last year before that, we wouldn’t have been in a position to sell at the value that we did.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you talk about kind of the thinking when it came to exiting? Were you did you always go, okay, I’m going to sell this to a stranger or did you ever consider I’m going to sell it to, you know, my employees? Did you? Were there other options that you kind of looked at before you landed on what you landed on?

Leanna DeBellevue: You know, I never thought I was going to give it up. I didn’t. It just. It was. A time that I just I was done. I don’t know what happened. I think all of those boxes were checked. All of the revenue goals had been met. And I think I thought something magical would happen when you got to a certain level and things would just get easier and it would just be kind of, you know, kind of take on a life of itself and didn’t need as much of my attention. And I realized that the more that I needed to, the bigger we got, the more I needed to pour into. So, um, I never thought I was going to sell it when the time came. Um, I didn’t think that our staff, um, would have the mindset. They are fantastic at what they do. Um, but I didn’t have anyone on the team that saw the company in its entirety and had a vision for it in its entirety. They each had a vision for it within their own specific areas. Um, and because of that, I knew that I wanted to find someone who had a passion for, uh, growth and for the digital space in its entirety.

Lee Kantor: Now, did you kind of actively seek out individuals that you knew, or was this something you gave it to the broker, and the broker then just started asking around.

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah, we took it to the broker. Um, and I think I was gonna give them because we were under contract with them until the end of the year. I figured that I would give them until the end of the year to see how it played out. And then potentially, if they didn’t have someone, um, that I could do, people reach out to people that I knew. Um, here in the Valley, we are one of the larger agencies. So I knew a lot of the the smaller agencies couldn’t necessarily absorb us, um, or purchase us. So I knew that more than likely it was going to have to go either out of state or to one of the really large firms. And I didn’t want it to go to a large firm because as as big as our company was, it still had a very small feel, and I didn’t want that to get lost.

Lee Kantor: So you were trying to have it be a culture fit as well?

Leanna DeBellevue: Absolutely. And that’s the number one thing. When we were speaking to potential buyers, um, the focus was on our staff and on our culture. Um, our culture was one that I’m so proud of and of everything that that we built and all of our accomplishments, all of our athletes. I think the number one thing that I was most proud of was our team and our company culture, and that’s something that I protected for your sake. And I told my husband, I don’t care what the offer is, um, or who it’s from. If it’s not going to be a cultural fit, I don’t want to to go down that road. So thankfully we did find someone that definitely had a lot of the same ideas and understood culture and wanted to protect that as well.

Lee Kantor: Now that you’ve, uh, I guess, kind of downsized your responsibilities in your life into the firm that you have now, um, have you noticed a difference on maybe quality of life or your work life balance, or was that was that ever an issue for you?

Leanna DeBellevue: It definitely was an issue for me. I think knowing that I was positioning myself to sell the last three months, um, that I was in the business before we took it to market, I started to remove myself. Um, I didn’t think it would be fair to sell the company to someone that was solely dependent on me. I wanted to test our, you know, our team, our processes and all of that. Um, so I did have a fairly good work life balance. If anything, it might be the opposite now because it is just a startup again. Um, I’m used to having a full staff that did everything. An assistant, you know, a team for this, a director for that, and different people to lean on. Now I’m back to being the, you know, the marketing department and the PR department and our, you know, our everything, right? And everything all over again. Um, that said, I’m very, very protective of my time because I know that if there’s not a balance or that balance gets thrown off, that will hurt the trajectory of our company.

Lee Kantor: So now is your work still in marketing? Does it touch that at all or you’re more of a general kind of business consulting?

Leanna DeBellevue: Um, just general business. We will look at the marketing aspect of something because that is an important aspect of someone’s business, but I don’t do any of the actual work. You know, I can oversee, like, hey, you need to look at your KPIs here or you need to, you know, kind of, you know, focus more on SEO this quarter or something along those lines. So I’ll give direction, but I’m not actually responsible for the results anymore, which has taken such a huge amount of weight off, which has been nice.

Lee Kantor: Now anything, um, any opinions about what’s happening in the world of marketing with the advent of, uh, all the AI stuff that’s going on and how quickly things are moving in that regard, do you have any ideas, any trends that you’re seeing or any shifts of how people are thinking?

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah, I think, you know, the pendulum is swinging more towards an AI driven world, which I think can be great for making some processes faster. But what I’m seeing for businesses who are getting the results that are game changing for them is they’re using AI tools as a resource, but they’re still leaning into telling authentic, value driven stories, right? Um, I think now with AI, people are starting to question more and more is this real? Is this authentic? Is this I mean, we’re seeing videos that we’re like, you know, what is this? And then we find out it’s AI. So it’s making us question, um, what it is we’re seeing. So those brands and those, um, business owners that can tell stories authentically and they’re just really seeking true connection. People are flocking to them. It doesn’t have to be all of this high tech AI generated, um, you know, business plans and marketing plans and all of these things. It really is. How are you showing up for your clients in a way that’s authentic, which is something that I think a lot of people thought AI would take us away from. But that trend of kind of pushing back a little against that and showing up authentically is, is just amazing for our clients that we work with.

Lee Kantor: So that’s that’s now becoming a point of differentiation is if you can show up authentically. I, I.

Leanna DeBellevue: Know that sounds silly, but.

Lee Kantor: Well, it’s not silly. It’s just that’s the way it used to be. Like, that’s. Yeah. You know, it used to be. That’s what, you know, you would meet face to face. You would look someone in the eye and you would do business or you wouldn’t. And it got to the point where we were scaling everything and everything was, you know, trying to scale, scale, scale that you lose some of the humanity.

Leanna DeBellevue: Yep. I think the pendulum swinging back into that humanity. I think at the end of the day, as great as some of these features are, um, we are always going to want a human connection and brands that show up with that connection. They’re hitting it out of the park every time.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, I was on your website and I saw that you’re doing something that kind of leans into that authenticity. Uh, the accountability Collective. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah. No, this is great. We’re so excited to launch this. It’s launching in January. Um, it is exactly what my girlfriends and I had, um, that brought our business to the next level. It is an accountability group, um, where we’re going to meet three times a week. Monday morning. We’re checking in. What are you getting done this week? Wednesday. We’re just going to do a quick literally a one liner. Are you doing what you said you were going to do? If not, is there anything we can help with. And then Friday did you get it done? It sounds so easy and so simple, but it’s the one thing that business owners time and time and time again are telling me that they’re missing. And then when I come in and I implement that accountability for them, they’re like, man, I wish I had had this all along. So now we’re gonna open it up and we’re going to offer it to everybody. Um, whether you’ve got personal goals or business goals that you’re trying to achieve, let’s let’s get some accountability around that and see if we can’t move that needle.

Lee Kantor: And will it be delivered in the same way that you discussed earlier through via text?

Leanna DeBellevue: Um, I think we’re going to do, um, we’re going to have a couple of different options because I know with time zones and, you know, things are it’s hard to get everybody in one space at one time. Um, we’re going to have a zoom option. We’ll have a WhatsApp option, and then we’ll have a text option. So I really don’t want there to be a reason why people haven’t, you know, why people can’t participate. Um, you know, if it’s 8 a.m. and you’re in the car drop off line, right, with your kids, and it’s not a good time to meet. Great. Just make sure that you text us by 9 a.m. what you’re going to get done. Um, some people like to have that face to face interaction. So we’ll meet on zoom. So we’re we’re opening it up to a variety of ways just to meet people where they are.

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

Leanna DeBellevue: Yeah. Great. Um, I would love to talk to business owners who know that they’re doing the job that they are called to do, whether that’s plumbing or, um, a school teacher or a marketing agency, whatever that is. But they just are missing something. They don’t know what that something is. They just need a little guidance. Um, I tell people all the time, typically the way I work with people is very short lived. Um, they just really need to get over that one hump, and then they don’t need me again until they hit that next ceiling or that next, you know, kind of area where they’re transitioning. So, um, I love having conversations with people, helping them have that aha moment and the light bulb goes off. And then nine times out of ten they know what to do after that. So anyone who’s just tired of being tired, tired of struggling, tired of not knowing what that answer is, that’s a great that’s a great person for me to have a conversation with.

Lee Kantor: And for somebody who wants to learn more or connect with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Leanna DeBellevue: Great. It’s w-w-w dot com. All of our social media handles are at Bellevue Consulting, so we can be found on almost any platform.

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

Leanna DeBellevue: Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

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

From Racing Circuits to Community Impact: The Evolution of Safeway Driving

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Franchise Marketing Radio
Franchise Marketing Radio
From Racing Circuits to Community Impact: The Evolution of Safeway Driving
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In this episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, Lee Kantor interviews Brad Coleman, CEO of Safeway Driving and former NASCAR driver. Brad shares his journey from racecar driver to franchise leader, detailing how he modernized Safeway Driving and expanded it from a local school to a thriving franchise. He discusses the importance of driver safety, the impact of quality education, and the unique, community-focused franchise model. Brad also highlights inspiring stories from families and franchisees, emphasizing Safeway Driving’s mission to save lives while offering a rewarding business opportunity.

Brad Coleman is a local Houstonian and former NASCAR driver. He began kart racing at 13 and earned his professional racing license at just 14, which meant he was already a rising racecar driver when he completed the SafeWay Driving program at 15 years old in Houston.

His racing career accelerated quickly — at 16, he became one of the youngest drivers ever to finish the Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona.

He later competed in the NASCAR Busch/Xfinity Series with teams like Joe Gibbs Racing, earning a pole at age 19 as one of the youngest pole winners in series history, and went on to race in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2008.

As part of his sponsorship obligations during his racing career, he had to speak to high school students about distracted driving — but it quickly turned into a passion when he saw the lessons genuinely making an impact on their lives.

He approached his old teacher at SafeWay Driving in Houston (and the original founder) about buying the program and the time was right. Now, he owns SafeWay and he’s committed to making Texas roads safer. And, it’s working.

SafeWay graduates have a first-year crash rate of 3.28%, while the first-year crash rate in Texas is 5.27% from other commercial driving schools. SafeWay now has 22 locations across the state (and counting!), and has trained more than 275,000 students how to drive over the past 50 years as Texas’ oldest driving school.

As a local Houstonian, husband, and father of two, Brad and the SafeWay Driving team work every day to prevent the phone call that nobody wants.

Connect with Brad on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Transition from professional NASCAR driver to CEO of a driving school franchise
  • Origin story of Safeway Driving and personal connection to the school
  • Emphasis on driver safety and reducing accidents through education
  • Modernization and rebranding of a traditional driving school
  • Development of a flexible and cost-effective operational model for franchisees
  • Community-focused approach to franchising and selecting franchisees
  • Importance of high-quality driver education compared to traditional school programs
  • Emotional impact of the business on families and communities
  • Growth strategy prioritizing quality over quantity in franchise expansion
  • Unique opportunities for franchisees to make a positive community impact while running a business

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have CEO and driving enthusiast with SafeWay Driving Brad Coleman. Welcome.

Brad Coleman: Hey Lee, thanks for having me. Good to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about SafeWay Driving and how you serving folks?

Brad Coleman: Oh man, we’re serving folks all over the place. But the biggest thing we’re doing is we’re helping prevent the phone call that nobody wants. Driving is one of those things that everyone does every day and doesn’t think twice about it, but it’s also the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do. So Safeway driving is out there making safer drivers, and it’s working. We’ve got the stats to show it, which we can go into.

Lee Kantor: Well, tell us about kind of the origin story. How did you get involved in this line of work?

Brad Coleman: Yeah. So it’s a little different than your average driving school for me. I grew up when I, when I got my driver’s license, I actually went through Safeway driving. So I’m a graduate myself. I’m a product of of Safeway driving. It’s been around for 52 years. After graduating from Safeway, I went on to, long story short, become a NASCAR driver and professional race car driver and loved going fast on the racetrack, of course, and one of our big sponsors at the time when I was racing was Nationwide Insurance, and they had obligations that US drivers had to do when we were traveling the circuit, which every weekend we are in a different city in the United States. You know, you’ll be in Kansas one week and then you’ll be in Virginia another. And they would have us go to the local high schools and speak to the teens there about the dangers of distracted driving. They’d bring a simulator, they’d have them drive, and we’d give them a cell phone and watch them crash all over the place. And, you know, it’s for for me. At first it was just this obligation. I’m like, ah, I don’t want to go talk to these high school kids.

Brad Coleman: They make me nervous. I wasn’t one of the cool kids in high school. Um, but there was this moment with one where I handed him the phone and he started crashing all over the place, and I just saw something in his eyes for a split second where something impacted him, and he had this realization of, wow, it actually is more dangerous to text and drive. And that really sparked something in me as well. Wow, I just impacted this kid and I might have just changed his life. So it it really kick started this passion for me, and I ended up loving doing those events after that and ended up talking to my dad, who was my manager at the time, and telling him about this passion. He said, well, you know, we’re not racing forever. Why don’t we go talk to your old coach Walker, who started Safeway driving where I went to driving school. Tell him about this passion and see what he has to say. And we went and chatted with him and turns out he was looking to retire and it was just perfect timing. Ended up ended up acquiring Safeway driving and been doing that for 16 years now.

Lee Kantor: Now, what was it like making that transition from, you know, kind of the professional athlete that you were to now running kind of a business?

Brad Coleman: Yeah. Well, it was the, the, the first year I was still racing, um, when, when we had taken over ownership of Safeway. So I was still in the NASCAR circuit, but we were able to have a couple races where the NASCAR was all decked out and Safeway driving graphics. So I was basically driving a driver’s ed car on the racetrack, uh, and on the back bumper. It even said student driver, uh, which I got a lot of flack for, uh, from my fellow NASCAR driver friends. Uh, but I would just point out that if they could see that that meant that I was beating him in the race so they really couldn’t make fun of me. But, uh, so we were we were still racing, uh, for, for a year. And, uh, in the meantime, just really went to work on, uh, Safeway driving as a company. My dad is is I’d call him, like, a branding expert. I mean, he he had a marketing and advertising agency for, for his, um, big part of his career. He’s he’s just really brilliant at, at the branding side of things. So he went to town and in taking what, what was your traditional driving school? You know, when you think of a driving school, you could picture it in your head, old beat up cars, um, inconsistent colors. Uh, you go into the classroom and it could be dirty and desks everywhere and overhead projectors and and stuff like that.

Brad Coleman: And and he we we modernized that and made it a clean brand. If you go to our website, you can see what it looks like and what our cars look like. They, they’re NASCAR graphics inspired. They have numbers on them, they got big decals on them and they really easy to spot, which is also safer for our drivers when they’re in their lessons, which is great. Um, so he went to he went to work really updating everything that was the business and, and making it a modern, clean brand that is an enjoyable place to be, which most people don’t enjoy going to a driving school. And, and we really wanted to change that. And for my piece, I took my my racing experience and my years and years of training of of learning how to drive a car to the best of my ability and putting that into our curriculum, which was already amazing. Uh, the guy who started it, Coach Walker, did a great job in developing this curriculum, and I just I just updated it a little bit with my experience and updated our our training for our instructors so we could have a consistent experience for all of our drivers. And, um, it ended up being being a great combo.

Lee Kantor: Now, before you got it, was it a franchise or was it kind of a mom and pop in a local community?

Brad Coleman: It was your definition of a mom and pop. It was literally Jean Walker, who was the football coach who started it, and his wife, Jean Walker, who who ran the business side of things. And it was the mom and pop. They had five locations across Houston when we ended up taking over from them. And they they worked hard every single day in the business.

Lee Kantor: And then when did you collectively decide to make it a franchise, or was this something that when you bought it, you were like, I think we can franchise this.

Brad Coleman: So we when we first bought it, that wasn’t really something. We were thinking about the franchise side of things. We, you know, it was it was from my passion of, of, um, just helping people become safer drivers that I had developed through my sponsorship obligations. And, and then my dad saw an opportunity with the business side of things. So that’s what that’s what started the the initial deal with Safeway. And then after 3 or 4 years, we, we saw man, we’re we’re making an impact in these people’s lives And and this is really taken off. Do we want to do a corporate expansion where we have corporate stores across Texas or, or do we want to look at a different model? And when we explored the franchising side of things, what really excited us about it was not we don’t want the feel of a big corporation who’s just opening up locations and, and not really a part of the community, but with the franchise model, we could find people that are in their communities and have lived there for a long time. They’ve had kids that have grown up and gone through the schools, and they care about their friends and their neighbors that want to make a difference in their community while also making money at the same time. So that’s that’s when we just knew the franchise model was what we wanted. So it could be a small business in every location we go, and there’s an owner there that really cares, that’s really passionate about it and really just involved in their community. So that’s that’s why we decided to go that route.

Lee Kantor: So is your kind of avatar for a franchisee, Coach Walker?

Brad Coleman: Yeah, that’s one of them. That’s that’s one of them. He’s, uh. Man, I would love it if he wanted to do that. He’s he’s retired at this point, but, um, it our avatar is really there’s a mix there. There is the football coaches that, uh, have been at their school for 20 or 30 years and want to make even more impact on the students that they’re with, because, I mean, everyone’s been impacted by a coach at some point. Um, I know I have, and my grandfather was a basketball coach for, geez, 40 years here in Houston. And they’re just very important. So it’s another opportunity to to start making some money and then keep impacting people’s lives. And um, we, we have people that are are salesmen. And with marketing experience, we’ve shown that that’s been really successful. They’re able to get out in their community, they’re able to talk to people and and share the mission of Safeway driving and how we’re impacting lives and how we can help them. And we have people that are in the pharmaceutical industry. We have, uh, people that are, uh, in the insurance industry. It’s it’s it’s all over the place. But we’ve seen what what’s really great is when it’s somebody who who wants to be involved in the operation, somebody who’s not looking just for a passive investment, but they want to really be a part of making that impact. Uh, and that’s, that’s who we’re seeing be most successful.

Lee Kantor: So in order, um, to be a successful franchisee for Safeway, do you have to have kind of a brick and mortar location, uh, with classrooms like you described, or is this something that you can show up and do this, you know, without that kind of, uh, investment in physical space?

Brad Coleman: Well, I think that’s one of the beautiful aspects of our franchise is you absolutely do not need an expensive brick and mortar storefront. You don’t need a big classroom. Um, our classroom is all online, so we we take care of that. We upgrade it all the time. It’s very modern and easy to use, and it does a great job of teaching the students. So our franchisees don’t have to worry about the classroom portion. What they need is what we call a drive site. So if they want to talk to a school and let them park some cars in the parking lot, they can do that. They want to talk to a church or any religious organization they may be affiliated with. They can park cars there, or we have franchisees who do deals with grocery stores where you can leave some cars in the grocery store, and then that’s the student will do the course online on their own time, whenever it works for them, on their phone or on their computer. And then when it comes time to drive, they’ll show up to the drive site and they’ll meet the instructor and do the the in-car portion of the lessons. And, uh, it’s it’s really nice. You don’t need that big, expensive build out. Um, the, the estimated initial investment for our franchisees is anywhere from 58,000 to 163,000. So it’s it’s it’s not that high.

Lee Kantor: And do they have to buy a special car or is that can they use cars they already own?

Brad Coleman: So one of the great things about our brand is the consistency between all the cars. Unlike most driving schools where it’ll be all over the place. So it’s Toyota Corollas. You got to get a white Toyota Corolla, preferably black interior. We have all our stickers, so you get them all put on the car and we’ve got the instructor brake and gas pedal on the right side. Well we’ll get you set up with a dash cam and your mirrors and and that’s what you’ll use. So yeah, everybody uses the same car.

Lee Kantor: And when you were doing this and you had in your head, okay, we’re going to franchise. What were those early kind of franchisees. What did it feel like emotionally for you to say, okay, now we’re trusting the brand and we’re going out and putting this in the wild here. Um, how did you ensure that they, you know, had a successful launch and and and ensure their success.

Brad Coleman: Well, it’s it is a weird feeling because you’re like, okay, um, hope this works because you don’t I don’t want people to, to spend this money and invest this time and this hope and then just have it be a flop. So we worked really hard to support the franchisees. We’re still doing that today, working very hard to do that. And we we still have franchisees. The very first franchisee still going strong just renewed. And he is just doing great. Um, and we’ve still got a lot of the initials and we’ve got a couple more that we’ve brought on. It’s it’s it was scary to answer your question. It was scary because there was a lot at stake.

Lee Kantor: Well, I mean, how did it compare, like when you were growing up and you were like, okay, I’m going to be a NASCAR and you and, you know, there was a lot of people like you that wanted to be driving on NASCAR and only a handful make it to the level that you made it. Um, you know, it takes something special to be you as a NASCAR driver. How do you kind of identify that something special in these franchisees? Because it’s not for everyone, but, you know, for the right person. This is a wonderful opportunity.

Brad Coleman: Yeah. It’s great question. Um, I it isn’t for everyone. And one of the things I’ll tell people, because when we have our observation days, I’ll be there and just guiding them through it, telling them about who we are and what we’re doing. And I’ll tell them my job is to try to convince you not to do this. This is this is not something that you just flip the switch and money starts rolling in. It’s something that you’re going to be a part of. It’s something that you’re going to work to build because you have to get out in your community. You have to tell people what you’re doing. You have to go to the PTA meetings, you go to the football games, you sponsor the the booster clubs and you’re really involved in your community. And, um, that’s one thing I’m looking for, is somebody who’s going to take that ownership, somebody who has the the passion and the ability to go talk to people because it’s it’s not for everybody. And, um, yeah, that’s that’s really what we’re looking for.

Lee Kantor: And it’s one of those things I think from the outside it may look like one thing, but when you’re doing it, it looks like something else. Like when you were driving professionally, no one saw all the hours you spent, you know, working on your skills and, and, and doing all the things behind the scenes that it takes to make it look easy when you’re doing it. And it’s the same thing with owning a business. It there’s a lot of behind the scenes work that has to be done in order to be successful. They have to go to those, you know, go to the the school events and they have to show up and they’re working when other people aren’t working. A lot of the times, like there’s sacrifices you have to make in order to make it work.

Brad Coleman: Yeah, that that’s exactly right. I mean, when you own a business, you are working a lot. You’re doing a lot behind the scenes that people don’t see. If if anything happens, it it it ultimately ends up on you as the business owner. So I mean, it’s the same thing with with Safeway driving. I mean, you’re out there in the community and you’re working and you’re telling people and, um, what’s great about, I mean, if you have a small business, you’re going to be doing it no matter what. But what’s great about Safeway’s opportunity is you’re really doing something that gets to make an impact in your community and save lives. Because the state of Texas, every year they take driving school data, every every new driver that a driving school trains, they’ll, uh, look at their driving record and see, okay, has this person gotten in a crash yet? So we’re able to see how safe and how effective is our program versus others. And what the data shows, according to the state of Texas, is that graduates of Safeway driving their chances of getting in a crash after graduating is almost half of what the average driving school is here. So we’re we’re super proud of that. And people that partner with us in their community get to share that with their community, actually see a difference and really save the lives of the people that they live with and their friends with while making money.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, it’s one of those things where, um, you’re going to get a lot of thank yous, uh, from your clients. This isn’t, uh, you’re not selling something that is, um, you know, kind of a difficult conversation with people. This should be something that, hey, this is going to not only going to keep your kids safer, it’s also. It might, isn’t it? Don’t some of these schools, um, save money when it comes to insurance?

Brad Coleman: Yeah, it depends on who your insurance provider is and your individual broker. But there are a lot of insurance, uh, provides discounts. But, I mean, you just look at the price of a deductible if if anything happens. And right there is the difference in a driver’s ed package, because they do in the state of Texas and a lot of states, they have what’s called a parent taught option that you that the parents can do all the training for their for their teen. And for some people that works. When you look at the data that it’s not nearly as good as going to Safeway driving. And you know, I know money’s tight for for a lot of people. And if that’s why you do that, that’s I get it. That’s totally great. I mean, um, we even offer a parent taught program because we want the parents to give the best materials they can for their kids. So if you’re going to do that, we’re going to support you in that. But you’re really not saving money by doing that. If you go with Safeway, I mean, you’re so much safer. They get set up for this skill that will that they’ll have the rest of their life. And like you said, we have people all the time who will come back and say thank you. They’re safe driver. They haven’t had any incidents or man, your training really saved them in this moment. And we do a lot of training with neurodivergent students who they’ll come back and say, you gave our family freedom. Thank you so much. It’s it’s really a cool, a cool business to be a part of and know, like, yeah, I’m I’m saving lives.

Lee Kantor: Now in the school system. There was I mean, when I was in school, in high school, they had driver’s ed classes. Do they still have that nowadays? Is that or is that something that’s kind of.

Brad Coleman: That’s something.

Lee Kantor: That fewer and fewer.

Brad Coleman: That’s really gone away. Yeah. That’s that’s something that you’ll you’ll have it here and there. But what you find is that when it’s a commercial driving school where that’s what they do, you’re going to get a better result. You’re going to get people that really care about it. And that’s not to say that when it was at the school, there weren’t people that cared. But a lot of times you’ll get a football coach or a biology teacher that like they have to do it kind of situation and they may not want to be there. And it it’s not going to be the same as going to a school where that’s all they do, and they’re constantly upgrading what they do, and they’re staying on top of industry industry trends. And and they have somebody who has tens of thousands of hours of driver training, even though it was to go as fast as I could. When you look at being a race car driver, you also have to know how to avoid crashes in order to win races, and you have to learn how to analyze your surroundings. And what are your competitors doing? How do I put myself in the best position to win this race? I mean, a lot of that translates to on the street, creating safe drivers that are aware of their surroundings and putting themselves in positions to get from point A to point B successfully.

Lee Kantor: Now, how are most of your franchisees finding safe way? Because it’s not, I don’t think, um, an obvious franchise choice for aspiring franchisees. A lot of them wouldn’t even know. The driving schools are a choice. How do you kind of attract your franchisees?

Brad Coleman: Yeah, if you look at the Google Trends, there’s not a lot of people searching for driving school franchises. It’s, uh, it is a very unique thing. And it’s it’s it’s really cool. We’ve had a lot of success in just letting our existing and former customers know that this is an opportunity. We have. A good majority of our franchisees right now were Safeway driving customers. Their kids went through, um, so that that’s really cool to be a part of because they see the impact that it made on their kids. Um, and they want that for other families. So we have a lot of that, uh, we, we have driving instructors who wanted a better system to be a part of and wanted to be a part of a school that was really making a difference. Uh, so it’s really it’s it’s not hundreds and hundreds of leads coming in. It’s it’s it’s just like running the business. It’s talking to people, it’s letting them know that we exist and the opportunity, um, and bringing them in. And what something I’m really adamant about and passionate about is I’m not looking to grow this thing as fast as I can. That’s that’s not my goal. My goal is to do a quality growth where everyone’s I mean, we’re going to work hard to help people be successful, and we want to make sure if we’re opening up in a community because this is such an important life skill that it’s going to work, and we’re going to give all the tools we can and it’s going to do a good job before we move on and open another one. We’re not we’re not just trying to mass explode this thing, so we’re taking our time with it and really wanting to make sure it’s it’s good for the communities.

Lee Kantor: Is there a franchisee story you can share that maybe someone who, um, got into it and then really made an impact in the community in a way that maybe surprised you or was rewarding when you heard it.

Brad Coleman: Oh man, there’s so many. I can’t, I can’t. There’s oh, there’s so many. If you just go read the Google reviews, which I love doing because I want to see the good ones and I want to see the bad ones as much as they hurt. Uh, and you’ll see story after story of all of our franchises of. Wow, it’s such a great experience. Um, they, they they listened and they were so patient with my son or my daughter or me, because we we’ll train adults as well. Uh, and you see that everywhere. And it just it really hits home. I mean, in channel, channel two, NBC and Houston just ran a story all across this part of Texas, of a of a student of ours who was nerd, is neurodivergent, and they had their parents talking about the impact it made on their lives and on their son’s life, being able to drive a car and get a driver’s license. And it’s stories like that. I’ll I’ll hear stories from parents like that from all of our locations, so it’s really hard to pick one, because the reason I’m doing this, and the reason all this got started, was just my passion for impacting people that are driving cars and making safer lives. And I’m super proud that all of our franchisees are doing that.

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

Brad Coleman: Yeah, you just go to our website at Safeway. You’ll see up at the top there’s a button franchising. Now you click on that we’ve got info. You fill out the form and we’ll be in touch with you. Um, we’d love to partner with you if if you’re really in a place where you’re like, okay, I want to have some more ownership of my life and my schedule and have a business, um, that makes an impact. And while making money, that’s that’s something that’s really unique about what we do. You get to save lives and you get to make money at the same time.

Lee Kantor: Have you been able to convince any of your fellow NASCAR drivers to, uh, open a franchise. You got any of them on the pipeline?

Brad Coleman: Uh, I’m I’m a little embarrassed to say most of my fellow NASCAR drivers are not as passionate about safe driving as I am. I’m. I’m kind of an anomaly. There is another race car driver who did, uh, sports car stuff and ran 24 hour Le Mans and and a lot of cool stuff, who’s also really passionate about about safe driving. So I may I may have to give him a call and see if he wants to be a part of it.

Lee Kantor: Well, Brad, thank you so much for sharing your story today, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Brad Coleman: Yeah. Thank you. It was, uh, it was great chatting with you. I appreciate it, Lee.

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

Leading the Future of Smart Security Innovation

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Leading the Future of Smart Security Innovation
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Markus Scott serves as the CEO of EyeQ Monitoring, an AI-enabled surveillance and business intelligence technology company headquartered in Atlanta, GA. He acquired the business in 2015 and has overseen the company’s growth from 15 employees to 170+, serving businesses across 37+ states.

Connect with Markus on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Spotlighting what EyeQ does and how it’s redefining smarter crime prevention
  • Capturing EyeQ’s rapid rise and the forces driving its momentum
  • Showcasing the CEO’s leadership style and decision-making mindset
  • Breaking down how EyeQ uses AI and video analytics to stay ahead in security
  • Highlighting why Atlanta is EyeQ’s home and the impact it’s making in the city

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program. The accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here for another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on this show, we have the chairman and CEO with EyeQ Monitoring, Marcus Scott. Welcome.

Markus Scott: Thank you. Lee. Appreciate you having me today.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about IQ monitoring. How are you serving folks?

Markus Scott: Yeah, uh, EyeQ monitoring. We leverage AI and traditional surveillance camera, uh, cameras today to help our customers improve security operations. Uh, and a part of our technology really helps drive, uh, safety with emergency responders. So, uh, really proud of our mission, um, leveraging AI in a really smart way to make the world better.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you talk about kind of the genesis of the idea? How did this thing get started?

Markus Scott: Yeah. You know, uh, like, uh, many folks maybe at the executive MBA program, uh, that’s sponsoring here, uh, you know, early in my career had aspirations to jump into an entrepreneurial adventure and a business that I felt passionate about, um, healthcare, education or places I spent a lot of my early career, but, uh, fell in love with security. And, uh, back in, uh, 20 1514. Really fell in love with the idea of what AI could do for the world and helping people be safer. Um, and so, uh, found this industry, uh, way back then. Uh, back then, people were, uh, really kind of supplying, uh, what, you know, might be called virtual guards, if you will, uh, to, uh, to, uh, businesses around the country and specifically instead of having a security guard walking around your property, uh, being able to augment that human intervention, uh, with surveillance cameras all feeding back to one central location that could be monitored, uh, monitored. And, uh, the threats could be responded to, um, in a more comprehensive way. But, you know, back in 20 1415, AI was really just starting, uh, to become a interesting concept. People were moving to digital cameras. Um, I was really intrigued. Our team was really intrigued by what could be possible with that specific product and helping businesses be safer and more cost effectively deploy security guards, but also what else we could see from those cameras that could allow our customers to improve their business and sleep easier at night. So jumped out form this business back then, and it’s been a wild ride for our organization since we started with 15 people back in 2015. I have 180 today serving customers across 42 states now.

Lee Kantor: So your primary customer is a business. It’s not for residential.

Markus Scott: Uh, yes. Uh, so, uh, we’re all B2B today. Um, kind of the solutions that we deploy. But if you look at our business, we’ve had a real emphasis on staying focused on specific verticals that we can understand and serve really well. And if you think about that, it’s because as we build out our AI solutions beyond security, you really have to understand what’s happening in those environments in order to build those kind of models. So today, our primary focus is really automotive dealerships, commercial properties. And we do serve multifamily. But on the business side, with just helping apartment communities drive some of this technology through those environments as well.

Lee Kantor: And when you’re serving like, let’s talk about an auto dealership. Um, you’re providing the security for the whole kind of environment, like the whole ecosystem, the whole lot, not just kind of the building where the computers are, but the entire the entirety of the operation.

Markus Scott: Yeah. Indoor. Outdoor. Um, yeah. If you think back, I mean, I’ve had multiple calls over the years, uh, when I was a little bit more closely tied into sales. But you talk about talk about automotive for a second, you know, back in 2014, um, the way that security or automotive dealerships secured, uh, those lots that typically have, you know, 20 plus million dollars worth of inventory on it is that they had guards walking around these very large areas trying to keep an eye, uh, throughout the night on it. Uh, or, uh, they might have off duty cops, or they might try to deploy a fence just so cars weren’t stolen. But it didn’t help them with other types of damage, like catalytic converters being taken. Right. Um, and so our initial application there was, hey, if we can throw artificial intelligence behind these cameras to identify, uh, behaviors that look like threats, now, we can actually see your entire property and guard against those kind of things. Talk down, live on the property. If we see a threat, escalate to police accordingly. And then what was interesting for us is we were deploying those camera systems to drive that type of solution. Customers were asking us to put those eyes and ears in other parts of the business. So if you go into an automotive dealership today, in addition to being kind of that after hours, you know, lot security for them during daytime operations, we’re recognizing repeat customers, welcoming them to the dealership, um, looking at the vehicle condition as it enters the service lane to document preexisting damage. Um. Tracking that vehicle through the service process to improve CSI customer satisfaction index for them, as well as turnover of those vehicles and all of that’s happening behind the same camera. Right? Just by deploying different types of algorithms, different analytics to identify those behaviors and aggregate it in a way that helps the customer really automate their business functions.

Lee Kantor: Now, does it work in a similar manner, like in a retail store that could prevent, like shoplifting?

Markus Scott: Absolutely. Um, now today for us in the commercial property segment, we’re really focused outside of the store for retail. Um, so we’re helping them think through not just security on the lot outside of the store, but what’s happening to the shopper before they actually enter the facility. Right. Um, and then we hand off to a lot of folks that do retail analytics indoors with shopper trends, you name it, a lot of really cool technology out there, uh, leveraging the same type of focus as us. But we do the same thing for office buildings and industrial facilities within our commercial property segment. And then, uh, I haven’t asked this yet, but in terms of apartment communities, uh, same thing in addition to safety, uh, watching areas that, uh, they really, you know, need to have kind of, uh, eyes on all the time, like pools after hours. Um, we also are helping them think through how tenants are moving through the space, um, amenities like, uh, legal dumping, uh, right, to make sure that tenants are having a really good experience, uh, moving through the community. Anything where we can be a set of eyes and ears for, uh, those property managers. Those business owners, uh, when they’re not there, uh, is how we serve those communities today.

Lee Kantor: But it’s primarily like from the the door out.

Markus Scott: Yeah, that I mean, a lot of our businesses door out. Um, but as mentioned, an automotive dealerships, multifamily, a lot of that takes us into the building, into the space as well, uh, from those same cameras, at least, and largely public or populated areas, that a typical business owner or property manager would be walking around to improve.

Lee Kantor: But if a retail store is using cameras inside those, you would be sharing those cameras with somebody who is paying more attention to different aspects of the customer.

Markus Scott: Well, we’re being asked every day to go inside of the store. What we have found over time is you’ve got, you know, a lot of, you know, large box retail partners of ours that have been thoughtful over the years about how to drive up the information that they need. That’s, you know, incredibly proprietary, as you can imagine. Um, they’re thinking about that all the time. But what has happened over the years for us with security as a leading point is that, you know, as you run into these different types of threats, right? You know, let’s talk about a shoplifter for a second. Uh, there’s so many horrible stories of employees trying to engage in those threat points, um, being hurt. Um, you know, heaven forbid, losing their life. Um, and so really, the retail sector has moved to figuring out ways to have non-confrontational intervention in those threat points. Right? And so that’s really where our conversation with retail, uh, has really started to grow, in addition to securing the outdoor environments, uh, that we’ve, you know, done for years. We’re really starting to take that hand off of those types of threats within the store. Um, and then, as I mentioned, uh, analytics that help them think through how to improve, uh, their, um, uh, uh, you know, patron experience, uh, from the moment they park their car to the moment they enter the store. Uh, there’s also places that we focus today.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your customers outside of the store and you’re, you know, trying to keep the people safe, and you’re trying to protect the the people’s, um, stuff. Uh, when did you kind of have that aha or epiphany moment where you’re like, you know what, this AI can do a lot better than maybe some of this human intervention. And was there kind of a moment or what did technology evolve to a point where you’re like, okay, now we got to go all in on this. This is the future here. Let’s, um, you know, kind of lean into this type of a solution rather than kind of hiring a bunch of people or dogs or some other, you know, intervention.

Markus Scott: Yeah. Um, you know, I think that for us, uh, aha moment, uh, was really, as I mentioned back in 2014, 2015, but the technology wasn’t good enough back then. Um, I think the realization was, hey, there’s so many customers out there that are looking for this type of solution, right? Call it remote eyes and ears, um, to be partners with them, even when the technology to do that in a super efficient way didn’t exist. Um, when we first got into the business, it was people sitting in chairs and swiveling back and forth, trying to be able to see what was happening on that property and make a decision about it. But, um, you know, AI obviously is in the last couple of years, become the buzzword for everybody and really taken off and make leaps and bounds in terms of the things that we can identify from a behavioral standpoint and analyze. But even back then, we were thoughtful about how do we do this most efficiently with human eyes and ears to ensure we’re not having failure points? We’re not missing the things that matter. Uh, we’re seeing the threats. We’re seeing the opportunities for customers to drive value. And so we were early adopters and utilizing technology, utilizing computer vision, utilizing AI, um, to be able to think how to automate that and make it more effective. More. Sure. Uh, but we still last mile to humans at the end of the day? Um, and likely for a long time, always will. Uh, there’s so many things that AI has made easier for us to have greater coverage for and make this, uh, these types of solutions more cost effective over the years. Um, but, uh, having a human that really understands that environment and what to do with that information on the front end, engineering the right solution. Uh, but in that last mile, to respond appropriately, um, is a big part of still what we do today.

Lee Kantor: Now, when in the past, maybe at the at the earlier stages of the technology, there were cameras and then there was a human kind of on site in that specific location. But I would imagine today that isn’t required. You can have one human, you know, look at a bunch of different things and just wait for triggers from the cameras to tell you that there’s something happening.

Markus Scott: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so, yeah, if you look at our business today, we’ve got about 30,000 cameras we’re connected to in the country. Um, obviously we don’t have 30,000 people looking at those devices. Um, but we are constantly looking at the video streams, uh, with that AI that we’ve built, um, into that video stream, uh, around the clock. Right. And trying to pick out the points of, of areas that we really need to investigate further. Um, on also automating a lot of the insights that our customers want from what’s happening inside of that camera view. So, um, that utilization has continued to increase over time, uh, just as the technology has gotten better. Um, and what we can see and recognize, uh, with artificial intelligence, um, has certainly become more powerful over that time period as well.

Lee Kantor: So can you share a little bit about what this looks like when something bad is happening? You mentioned kind of catalytic converters. What happens if, you know, in one of the places that you have your cameras, you see something suspicious around catalytic converters, like what is happening? Like what would occur? Like, can you walk us through kind of.

Markus Scott: Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, if you want to take about talk about catalytic converters here for a second. So yeah, you know, uh, person walks onto the property, let’s say it’s, you know, 1 a.m., uh, you know, typically what we’re looking for, uh, could be as simple as a line cross. It’s somebody enter the property, or they trespassing on the property. Right. Um, but there’s a million other analytics we can run. Are they loitering? Are they moving in a certain direction? Are there a certain number of people, or are they wearing a certain type of clothing? Uh, you name it, just to customize for that specific environment and the type of threat that we’re looking for. But once we identify that threat with the cameras and the AI running behind it, what happens for us is that alarm, as well as a live feed of that video is sent into our command center, and immediately our operators have access to view that entire property, see what’s happening, uh, really get situational awareness on how to react and respond to that. And that typical transaction for us is, you know, 15 seconds right before we’re putting eyes on.

Lee Kantor: Um, and when you say eyes on this is now human eyes are on this like it’s now we’re we’re the AI has done its job and said, hey, something’s happening. And now you’re putting actual human eyes on this to assess the next move.

Markus Scott: Exactly. So, you know, our AI eyes and ears have been analyzing that video stream 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And now there’s a ten second clip, right? That’s coming off of that camera saying, hey, this is a threat, right? And now we’re seeing what’s happening on that property. Now, from there, our agent or automation can take several steps in this kind of case. Typically what’s going to happen is that we’re going to talk down live right. The first thing although we love kind of what I’ll talk about in terms of catch videos, is really to try to prevent damage as quickly as possible. And so we can speak down, live on that property, you know, make an announcement if it’s a car shopper, right. We could make a soft announcement. If it’s clearly a crime in progress, we can push people off that property at the same time that we are escalating that threat, um, to a responding security guard or a responding officer. You know, what’s great for our technology stack as well is that we’ve created a connection back to those emergency responders. So when I say we we are really proud of part of our mission, which is driving emergency responder safety. When we escalate to responding officers versus, you know, burglar alarms, which are 90% false, when we call, we’re actually passing real time information and video to that responding officer. Right. So for any web connected device, they can drop in a six digit code.

Markus Scott: And now they’re not only hearing what our dispatcher is saying about, hey, there’s a person on this part of the property. You know, they’re doing this right now. This is what they’re wearing. We can actually send that video real time to that officer so that when they get out there, they already know what they’re going into. Right. Uh, who is this person? Where where are they on the property? What’s the threat? Do they have a gun? Um, are they, you know, a million other things that typically when they’re responding, they don’t have context and awareness to. And for our customer who’s sleeping at 1 a.m. is mentioned. Right? All of that is happening in the background. They have access at the same time to everything that we’re doing. Uh, if they want to stay engaged in that, and then the officers have prosecutable information, their real time versus waiting for a keyholder to show up. So that whole process, uh, you know, last year, I think we had 15,000 police dispatches, uh, across 9.9 million alarms. Right. So we have taken away all of that, uh, false alarm rate. Other things that officers typically have to respond to and break that down to things they really need to be involved with and then have context to what they’re responding to so they hopefully can go home safe to their families as well. And we’ve moved that crime away from, uh, from our customers.

Lee Kantor: And then when the person, when the bad guy is kind of wandering around the lot and and you’re. Human has eyes on them. Are they saying, hey, guy in the blue shirt. We we see you. Like, are you trying to get him out of there? Are you?

Markus Scott: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. We can you know, oftentimes we’ll deploy sirens or other things that we can initiate to try to move them off the property. We’ve got some really funny catch videos. Again, the main focus is the touring and moving that off property as quickly as possible. But, uh, you’ll you’ll find one which is, uh, when pandas attack, if you if you want to go look up that video, we see some really funny things, including, uh, once somebody showing up to a dealership in a panda onesie, uh, to try to break into, uh, customer cars that, uh, we saw dispatched on, uh, obviously tried to move off the property, but the police got there in time to apprehend that individual and. Quite, quite a funny, entertaining dispatch call when you’re describing that particular trespasser.

Lee Kantor: And because a lot of times, if people are just relying on alarms or sirens, things like that. The the bad guy just probably ignores some of that right there. They’re like immune to that kind of stuff.

Markus Scott: Absolutely. Yeah. And you think about it. I mean, there’s a lot of folks that, you know, think just a siren or an alarm going off or real deterrents. Uh, sometimes it is. A lot of times it’s not even our announcements. Sometimes we’ve seen people turn around and look at the camera and think it’s automated, think it’s fake or just not care. Um, uh, so it’s interesting, you know, we, we, we, we deploy all types of technology to move those threats as quickly as possible. But in the downside case, after all of that 10 million alarm, you know, synthesis, if we have to dispatch, um, uh, really proud that, you know, our officers, uh, that we get to partner with can get there more safely, more quickly, responding to the right part of the property quickly. Um, and it’s been a great, great partnership for us with, uh, with the folks that do the really hard job there at the edge.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re using cameras nowadays, are they, um, primarily kind of, um, physical cameras that are located around the, the area or are you using drones as well?

Markus Scott: Uh, great question. Um, so yeah, most of what we work with today are cameras, other types of, uh, IoT devices, uh, sensors, uh, to be able to collect that data, um, uh, that we serve across all of our, uh, solutions today. Uh, but drones are something we’ve worked with robotics as well. Um, in terms of actual kind of the next step of intervention. Uh, that’s a really interesting space that we’ve spent a lot of time in over the years with. That technology is getting better. Um, but we continue to look at how we can be a great partner for not just our partners, but the community and moving that crime away from business owners. Um, uh, quickly, uh, and using resources for our emergency responders, our public, you know, servants, uh, more efficiently, um, and drones and robotics will be a big part of that in the future.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re talking to your customers, are they typically going from a do it yourself system to you, or are they moving from somebody they previously worked with because of an issue and then going to you?

Markus Scott: Yeah. Typically across our solution set. I mean, you think about the benefit of AI. People are typically moving from a very costly manual process, um, uh, to using, uh, our type of technology. Right. Um, uh, most of what we deal with are still first time users. Um, people are just, you know, starting to dip their toe in the water and what’s possible, uh, with the data and information, uh, flowing, uh, from, uh, their businesses. Um, Uh, but we also pride ourselves a lot on, uh, the focus I mentioned of, uh, really having a deep, you know, vertical, uh, knowledge. Because when we come in where somebody used a portion of our services before, uh, we really want to be differentiated in how well we do that and driving really, really great efficacy, really, really great service. Um, and that for us really starts in understanding the, the, the, the, the environments that we’re serving. Right. The nuances of that. So vast majority are new time users exploring AI, how it can really help them save money, uh, sleep easier at night, improve their operations. Um, but we also have a lot of folks that are finding us within those industries that have, you know, experimented with other service providers that didn’t really understand that environment. And we love serving both of those folks.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, you mentioned some of the trends upcoming are kind of robotics and maybe more drones and things like that. Are you, um, experimenting with that right now? Like, Look at what stage are we in in that area? Is this kind of at the beginning of this or are we kind of are there you have a bunch of customers that are already deploying some of those strategies?

Markus Scott: Uh, yeah, absolutely. Utilizing it today. And uh, like most things, a overnight, decade long process of experimentation. So, you know, robotics is, uh, been through, uh, really a really interesting, uh, progression over the last decade as people have tried to figure out how to utilize that technology. Well, you know, our type of solution in deploying cameras around our property is way more cost effective than just deploying a guard, uh, through robotics. But, um, robotics has a place in terms of intervention and concierge that, uh, the technology is becoming more robust and easier to utilize. So, uh, with a lot of big robotic names that you would know, uh, we’ve got deployments where we’re kind of the eyes and ears behind that, as well as the rest of the property, and deploying the robot to be that first point of intervention. Uh, drones have gone through similar technology migration. You know, one of the big challenges, you know, eight years ago, uh, even when it was really starting to take off, was around power. And, um, obviously regulations from an aerospace standpoint, you know, as people, uh, have improved upon that technology and a lot of that regulation has been mapped out, it’s getting easier for folks to deploy, uh, the technology and really kind of small business environments, if you will. So we’ve got some really interesting critical infrastructure applications that we’re deploying today, uh, with partners where drones are a part of that application, right, in terms of response or tours around the property.

Markus Scott: Uh, and then we’ve got eyes on in a more significant way, or we’re serving as the remote, you know, GSoC Global Security Operations center for those environments, uh, to aggregate all that data back to and be the first responder, um, on incident. So, uh, we’re still in early innings with both of those pieces of technology just because they’ve had to go through maturation cycles. But, um, but it’s a really interesting way to solve for, um, initial response. Uh, and you see that in places like New York City, uh, that obviously have invested pretty heavily in their drone technology over the last two years here. Um, and being kind of a point of how do we get through this very difficult environment quickly, right? When there’s an emergency getting from a rooftop, you know, three blocks down the road is way easier with a drone in New York City, depending on what’s happening with traffic, uh, than an officer doing so in a police car oftentimes. So there’s going to be a really interesting, uh, world to partner with, uh, responding officers in that environment and get to places quickly, uh, just to provide greater public safety.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for the business owner that might be contemplating this? Like, how can they get it? Is there low hanging fruit where they can get an idea of how good their security is right now, and where there is opportunity to improve.

Markus Scott: Absolutely. Um, a lot of really interesting resources out there. But, you know, obviously for us, we love being thought partners. Uh, there, you know, a lot of folks are talking about AI and all types of application. It can be a little bit overwhelming, um, at times to think through how this is actually going to be effective. And I think there’s a lot of folks out there, uh, pitching, uh, AI solutions, uh, in ways that aren’t really going to be effective. But, you know, for us, uh, security is kind of the landing spot for us in our heartbeat, although we do a lot more than that today. Um, so if people need help thinking through this, uh, we love, uh, coming out, helping people think through what’s possible and give free security assessments, uh, around properties, um, thinking through what they’ve got in place, what needs are whether that applies to us or not. Um, and we’re definitely, uh, passionate about how we leverage AI with uh, with surveillance, um, in particular to solve kind of, uh, having guards, uh, more comprehensively around your property. So any business owners need help thinking through that, you know, please visit us. Iq monitoring comm. Um, we’re here around the clock, as you can imagine. Uh, but happy to be helpful as people are thinking through their security posture. Happy to help them think through, uh, deploying guards more cost effectively. Um, and really happy to talk about what that technology and surveillance investment, uh, can do beyond the security to help drive operational improvement, um, customer satisfaction, uh, revenue. A lot of really interesting things you can do with that investment, uh, to make your security, uh, investment go further.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates, um, kind of the more things that you were mentioning that aren’t the obvious things that maybe people are going to call you about. Um, can you share a success story where you were working with somebody and they came in with problem A, but you were able to kind of help them in other areas as well. That maybe surprised them.

Markus Scott: Oh yeah. Absolutely. Uh, we’ve got a lot, of lot of storylines that we’re really proud of. But, uh, you know, I’ll think through one for you guys with, uh, Atlanta Business Radio. But, you know, we’ve got a partner, uh, in the Atlanta market, uh, that, uh, has been a partner of ours, uh, geez, for almost 20 years now. Uh, I believe 2007. Um, but same kind of model that I mentioned. You know, the landing point for us was they were having security issues, uh, paying a lot of money, uh, to have folks walking around their property. Um, really a great operator, really great brand, um, uh, here in the marketplace. And so we came in to talk about what we could do with this technology. Um, uh, even in those early days before, uh, it’s gotten as good as it is today. Um, just to put eyes and ears on that property more cost effectively. And that was really the start of the relationship. But, you know, as we spent more time with them and got to know the business better, how they were thinking about putting eyes and ears on their property. Uh, that was one of our early entry points into what we really call business intelligence, right? All of the other AI driven insights beyond the security applications. And one of those things, you know, they are very, very customer focused.

Markus Scott: You know, that experience for them is everything. The returning customer is really what drives an automotive dealership profitability. But, uh, they did have a big problem with the number of just, you know, customer credits they were giving away at the door, um, specifically around damage, uh, preexisting damage on vehicles. Right. So after a service trip, customer comes up and says, man, I got a scratch on my car. Uh, they were wonderful partners and just taking care of it because they couldn’t really document what the technology that they had in place, whether it was there before or not or how to go back and find it. Um, and so we really started building out this solution, uh, for them, uh, in the Atlanta market. How could we use those same cameras to document this and turn that experience into something that was going to be positive, but also a revenue generator? Right. And because of what we were helpful in building with them. Now, when those cars showed up the first three months we deployed this technology. Uh, when those cars showed up, they could go back and search the license plate. If a customer brought up a damage issue, go back and see what was there beforehand with really good clarity, um, and turn that interaction into a really positive one, which is, hey, customer.

Markus Scott: Absolutely. So sorry. I see you pulling in here at 301. Uh, is this the scratch you’re talking about? Yeah. Nope. See it here. Looks like something happened in transit before you got here. You know what? We’re actually doing a special today. Can we. Can we actually, you know, take care of that for you. We’ll do it at a discount. Right? And that whole interaction is still positive. What’s been really interesting, in addition to what used you to be long winded, what you’re getting at. In the first three months we saved that customer $80,000. Just in terms of cost related to to the damage claims they otherwise were just writing off. But more importantly, their CSI scores went up 15% at the same time. So, you know, being able to actually improve the customer experience while driving some pretty significant revenue through your operation for us is a passion point. In addition, again, the mission for us that the base which is protecting, uh, their people and the assets they care about, especially after hours, uh, we’re proud about that mission, but it’s driven value for them in a million other ways. And that’s what we geek out about. That’s what we’re trying to do for, uh, for a lot of other businesses around the country.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of?

Lee Kantor: How can.

Lee Kantor: We help?

Markus Scott: You know, listen, uh, appreciate the, uh, the highlight here. Um, uh, we’re just getting this message out, uh, more. There’s a million ways that we can serve. We’re going to be expanding, uh, here over the next five years into new industries, we really get to know them. Uh, we’re spreading obviously, into the remaining, uh, parts of the country that we aren’t in today. Um, but, yeah, uh, love getting this message out. Love serving, uh, the Atlanta community in addition to the other places that, uh, that we serve. But Atlanta’s home, and, uh, this is super helpful, uh, just getting that message out to more business owners that we can serve.

Lee Kantor: And then one more time, the website.

Markus Scott: Website is WW IQ monitoring. Uh. That’s monitoring.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Marcus, congratulations on all the success. And, uh, you’re doing really important work, and we appreciate you.

Markus Scott: No, thank you for the highlight, Lee. We appreciate it. And, uh, best of luck to you.

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

Building Smarter Brands: The Sweet Influencers Approach to Modern Franchising

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Franchise Marketing Radio
Franchise Marketing Radio
Building Smarter Brands: The Sweet Influencers Approach to Modern Franchising
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In this episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, Lee Kantor interviews Angela Olea and Liberty Bernal, they are the powerhouse leadership team behind Sweet Influencers, the first AI-powered influencer marketing platform built by franchisors, for franchisors. Angela, a visionary founder in senior care and franchising, previously built Assisted Living Locators into a national brand and continues to be recognized as one of the industry’s most influential leaders. Liberty, a former teen franchisee turned founder, operator, and franchise executive, has spent more than two decades helping brands grow through smart systems, strong marketing, and franchisee-focused strategy. Together, they’re redefining how franchisors scale—using AI, authentic storytelling, and deep franchise expertise to create meaningful, modern growth for brands and the people behind them.

Angela Olea, CFE, is the Founder and CEO of Sweet Influencers, the first AI-powered influencer marketing platform built by franchisors, for franchisors. A visionary leader in the senior care and franchise industries, Olea has dedicated her career to transforming how businesses grow through trust, technology, and authentic connection.

Before launching Sweet Influencers, Olea founded Assisted Living Locators, the nation’s first senior placement and referral franchise, which she successfully grew into a national brand with hundreds of locations across the U.S. Under her leadership, the company earned recognition as a top senior care franchise and was acquired by Evive Brands, where she continues to serve as a brand ambassador.

A Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) and respected thought leader, Olea has been honored among Franchise Dictionary Magazine’s “50 Women of Wonder” and Franchise Journal’s “Top Influential Women in Franchising.” Through Sweet Influencers, she now empowers franchisors and small business owners to leverage the power of AI and authentic storytelling to scale smarter and engage more meaningfully with their audiences.

Liberty Bernal is the President and COO of Sweet Influencers, the firstinfluencer marketing platform built by franchisors for franchisors. She hasspent more than two decades shaping the franchise world. Liberty started as an18-year-old franchisee, went on to found and scale Liberty Fitness to 65locations in 18 states, and has since held leadership roles across development,marketing, and franchisee support.

Today she helps brands grow through strategic influencer partnerships, strong systems, and a clear understanding of what franchisees need to succeed. Liberty is known for blending strategy, heart, and execution. She brings a unique mix of high-level franchising experience, creative marketing perspective, and a passion for helping people unlock real opportunities through business ownership.

Alongside her work at Sweet Influencers, Liberty runs a coaching and consulting practice where she supports founders, franchisees, and emerging brands. She is a speaker, writer, and lifelong builder who believes in alignment, energy, and operating with purpose.

Her focus right now is simple. Help franchisors win in an evolving marketplace, support franchisees with tools that really work, and help move the franchise industry forward in a way that feels innovative, grounded, and human.

Follow Sweet Influencers on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How AI and human storytelling intersect to transform franchise marketing strategies
  • Building trust and consistency across national and local messaging through franchisee advocacy
  • Lessons learned from growing a purpose-driven franchise to acquisition and applying those principles to marketing innovation
  • Practical ways franchisors can future-proof their marketing while staying authentic and aligned

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio. And this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Angela Olia and Liberty Bernal with sweet influencers. Welcome.

Angela Olea and Liberty Bernal: Thank you.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about sweet influencers. How are you serving folks?

Angela Olea: Yeah, I’d love to to share about Sweet Influencer. So sweet influencers is what I like to call the creator OS. It is the creator operating system for built by franchisor. Both of us are franchisors, for franchisors, and it blends gen AI human expertise and a scalable growth engine to the franchisor and their franchisees to drive business through authentic influencers to their local business.

Lee Kantor: So what’s the genesis of the idea? How did this come about?

Angela Olea: Well, my history is 20 years of matchmaking, and it was matchmaking. I built a database for matchmaking seniors and senior living providers. And so for 20 years, I had that franchise with 160 franchisees across 32 states. And the tool that I built, it was a great tool, but it still required that human expertise to really deliver to the families that authentic Solutions and I sold to private equity, stayed on for a couple of years and left that business and recognized that this was a huge need. Local franchisees getting them up and getting them successful. And and this is a future. So I am building out a suite influencers to do that matchmaking, matchmaking influencers with the franchisees through the franchisor with authenticity again, that technology mixed with human expertise so pivoted from one to another. But still, you know, doing what I do best, which is matchmaking.

Lee Kantor: And so the client is the franchisor.

Angela Olea: Franchisor and their franchisees.

Lee Kantor: So the so do you target franchisees first or do you target the franchisor first?

Angela Olea: No. Target the franchisees first. And you know, however, if we’ve got franchisees in a system and the franchisor, you know, sometimes it can be a little bit franchise in general, are still pretty much old school and still do traditional marketing. And this is a future. So we know that they’re sometimes proof they need to see proof and and that success. And so, um, if they’re a little bit slow moving to lean into this, sometimes we will work with their, their local franchisee and targeted areas so that they can see proof of concept to, uh, indoctrinate it through the corporate office and go through the system. So, um, you know, we’re we’re going to get there one way or the other, but we prefer to go through the franchisor just because you’ve got mass, we’re able to do it. Um, and in a way that we can, you know, impact more, more franchises more easily.

Lee Kantor: So now when you had the idea in your head, did you think that the franchisor would be more open to trying it? Like did you think it would be kind of once you educate them, then this is kind of a no brainer.

Angela Olea: Yes. Yeah. They just really want to understand what um, Franchisors. They know that their success, their customer is their franchisees. And if their franchisees are happy and successful in making money, it’s going to make them more money and as a result, some more franchises. And so it everybody’s influenced. I mean, we’ve been using technology tools since the Alexa and hopefully mine doesn’t say hello because I said that. But um, leaning into the technology tools, um, it, it is something that they just want to understand how how is influencer marketing, how do we bring this at a local level. And that’s the the hard part is really helping them wrap their minds around how this works and how can they afford it and how can they afford not to?

Lee Kantor: Now, did you have like you had the idea? Did you have somebody beta tested to kind of validate the idea? I mean, franchising is all about validation. So did you have some kind of guinea pig there that you were like, okay, here, this is the concept. Try it out, let me know how it goes.

Angela Olea: We’ve had several guinea pigs through this, and I actually had this idea. I coined the idea in January of 2023. I knew then that I was going to create this. So I’d been baking this for two years before I launched. Um, and through I also go to all of the different, um, franchise development and franchise conferences, um, probably at least 9 to 12 a year. And during that I was able to really do a lot of discovery, find the pain points, who was using it, who was using it successfully, who wasn’t using it, which was 95% of the franchises out there. And so, um, we did develop, um, what our targeted list of Franchisers and their businesses, as well as the industries under those big headings. So we broke it into 14 different headers and then 25 under those and then a couple of those that we just really didn’t feel like they would be good target markets. And um, we started with some really challenging ones, but we’ve been experimenting and piloting and, and really learning with the franchise, um, the franchisors and franchisees as we’ve been doing it. So it’s it’s been amazing. And it really and this is where technology to tools again that human expertise and pivoting just a little bit. You just need to move that needle. If you’ve ever read that 212 um degrees, you know, it’s one little degree of change can really be the difference between, um, a lot of success and a little success, but we’ve nonetheless seen success in in all different aspects that we’ve done. But we’ve got a lot to conquer.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share maybe a story of of what that success looks like, like what was kind of their challenge, and how were you able to get them to kind of a new level.

Angela Olea: Sure. So I let Liberty take the lead on this one.

Liberty Bernal: Yeah. Um, I would love to. So I would say the biggest challenge overarching in the franchise space when it comes to influencer marketing is a franchisor may not, first of all, completely understand all that working with an influencer entails. But second of all, if they know what’s important, um, you know, in some way to do at a local level, they may just suggest to their franchisee, hey, find a local influencer and have them talk about the business. Right. And how sort of cringey is that? Because the first role of the franchisor, as we know, is to protect the brand. And so even guiding a franchisee to attempt to protect a brand with an influencer is quite challenging. Um, so with our first pilots, what we’ve done has been able to take an influencer marketing campaign from a all the way to Z. For them, that’s really the service that we offer with sweet influencers. So, um, in the Phoenix market, for example, there was a dog grooming franchisee and mobile dog grooming, and he really wanted to attract more clients to have their dogs groomed. So really it was identifying in our role. And our team finds really strong influencers in the local level.

Liberty Bernal: And these aren’t huge influencers. Lee, who might charge $50,000 per post, these are micro influencers who might charge a few hundred dollars per post, or perhaps a trade. So it’s very manageable for a franchisees marketing budget. And then the entire process is managed again through our team, through a combination of AI and real humans. So we will identify the influencers in the local level with our AI tools. Well, you know, hold the hand of the franchisee who may not understand what to do or what questions to ask. Identify the influencers, approve them, you know, sign the contract with them. Get the campaign going. You provide the influencers with the information they need to generate that great content, connect the dots, follow through to the end, and then track and measure on those important KPIs. So I would say, you know, in a very quick sense, that’s what it looks like from start to finish. And the big problem that we’re solving is the big I don’t know, you know, a lot of both franchisors and franchisees say we know influencer marketing is important. And we see marketing’s gone in that direction, but we don’t know where to start. And we come in and solve that problem 100%.

Lee Kantor: Now, it sounds like you’re running kind of a two sided marketplace where you have to have access to influencers and you have to have access to the brands. Or is the you don’t access the influencers until you need them. Is that how it kind of works?

Liberty Bernal: It’s really twofold. We have a database of influencers that we’ve already vetted and that continues to grow. So on our team we have people actually are scouring the social channels again using AI, but using their eyes and their ears and their senses to make sure that they are great influencers who don’t have any weird skeletons in their closet, for example. Um, so we have them vetted and ready to go so they’re easier for us to work with. But also if we do partner up with a brand and they have a unique selling proposition that we might not immediately have the perfect influencer for, that’s when our team, I call it influencer hunting. But we do send them, you know, again online, identifying the perfect influencer that fits the brand. Um, so that’s you’re you’re correct. We have existing and sometimes we have to find new.

Lee Kantor: And for the influence out there that might be listening, what can they be doing to attract a firm like yours or any type of firm that maybe is scouting influencers like you mentioned? Micro-influencers? Influencers. What is the like? How are you defining Micro-influencer is that you know, ten followers or is it a, you know, 10,000? Like is there a minimum like how do you define a micro-influencer?

Liberty Bernal: Well, that’s a great question. And Angela, if you have it memorized, I may call on you, but essentially my quick reference is a Micro-influencer is about 10,000, maybe 20,000 followers. Um, so there are there’s actually one even smaller lease. It’s called nano, and they might be 2000 to 10,000, and we go all the way up to what we call macro, which could be millions, right? Like the macro influencer who has 4 million TikTok followers and thousands and thousands of likes per post. So when we’re identifying the nano and the micro or we’re we’re guiding them because we do have a process, we actually we have paid media out there from our company looking for these great micro influencers, and they can sign up with us. There’s no charge, but they enter our database. We we make sure that they’re the right fit for us in general. Again, lacking skeletons in the closet kind of thing. Um, but I would suggest to any, you know, macro micro who might feel flustered, especially like, where do I begin? Or how do I grow? Um, you know, agencies are looking and certainly sweet influencers are looking to fill the database and get them, you know, essentially work. It’s what they’re doing for a living. Or maybe it’s a, you know, kind of side hustle that can grow into much more.

Lee Kantor: Now, how do you kind of determine if that influencer is who they say they are? Like in today’s world, everybody knows it’s so easy to game the system to overnight, you know, have millions of followers or at least thousands or hundreds of thousands. That’s not that expensive to get that number. How do you kind of, you know, there’s an old, uh, New Yorker cartoon says that nobody on the internet knows you’re a dog. Like, you know, how do you kind of determine they are who they are pretending to be, or at least seeming to be.

Angela Olea: That we have tools that help identify what percentage of fake followers that they have. So we’ve got every day I can look up different influencers. I can see, uh, what their engagement’s been. It looks at how many posts that they’ve done. How what are the comments? There’s a there’s a percentage, an algorithm that the AI has been trained to, um, to identify. And it looks at a multitude of their posts. You know, if they go if suddenly something goes viral, you know, how what was their history of, of engagement. So it, it has the tool baked in. Um, because that is we want to make sure that what we’re seeing, um, is authentic. And there again, that’s where we also look for the, um, the hybrid where it will identify different influencers based on the criteria that we get it, but then we want to have the the human touch as well. What is the sentiment of that person? Does it match. And then we’re we’re measuring we’re doing a B testing when we do, um, utilize to identify what is working better because the tools have it. But as we work with a brand and we continue to work with the brand, um, using the AI, it will continue to, um, get better and better at recognizing. And that’s why franchise systems, that’s why it’s so appealing working with a franchisor and their franchisees because of that recurrent learning, um, that it can do with slight adjustments based on geography, etc.. Um, and we can get better and better at what, um, what identifying what influencers really help bring them their targeted audience for that franchisee and that local market.

Lee Kantor: And then when you’re drilling down to the KPI for the franchisee, is it like awareness? Is it just brand awareness or is it I got somebody bought a cookie today you know.

Angela Olea: Great question. So there’s going to be different reasons from if somebody is having you know, what are they trying to do. Is this a grand opening that’s going to be a different type of campaign than maybe it’s a mother’s day special? Um, you know, or Black Friday, you know, something like that. If you’re a massage place and you’ve got specials that you’re running or if it’s, you know, for the dog washing, I mean, their KPI is their number one KPI is setting initial appointments on the phone. You know, that’s their number one driver of business. So what what is going to cause, um, you know, what is going to have the biggest splash, biggest impact. And that would be for that particular brand. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish. And so it’s utilizing different tools and technology to track the success of it. And you know, it’s sometimes it can be overnight success. But again, sometimes it does need a little bit of adjustment. And um, oftentimes and what I love about this, one of our, our, uh, one of our early clients, um, we were able to bring a whole new market to them. It was an estate sale company, and we were able to bring, um, their typical client was 35 and older, female. That was their, uh, estate sale hunter. And we brought in a different market that was a 20 something thrifter and whole new generation of, of, um, estate sale followers. And so that was something they didn’t see in their initial um identifier, and that wasn’t even what was in their FTD of their, their typical client.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you I mean, you talk a lot about utilizing AI. Are you utilizing it um, for kind of data and analysis. Are you using it for messaging? Like, are you saying, hey, influencer, say this.

Liberty Bernal: Actually, the main use of our AI is in searching for the right influencers. So we actually have a proprietary platform that we’ve built to do that and do it really well. Um, so the messaging, I mean, we have a team that develops the campaigns. So, you know, is AI used to double and triple check? It’s the best, of course, but our main use of AI is that, um, partnership of using the tool, the AI tool to find the influencer. And then again, our humans on our team to make sure that those influencers really are the right fit, because we’re often going into the history of the influencers to make sure that even a year or two ago or even longer, they didn’t talk about something that could potentially damage the brand that we’re having them represent now.

Lee Kantor: But the human storytelling component of it is the influencer. Being the influencer, are you kind of scripting what they do and say.

Liberty Bernal: You know, we guide them. So it’s typical in any kind of influencer marketing or, you know, UGC that user generated content, if someone is hired by a brand, they are often given brand guidelines. So that’s really important for what we do. Um, you know, to protect the brand. Certainly number one aspect of the franchise marketing is to do that. Um, so we give them guidelines. But remember that part of influencer marketing is an authentic voice. So we’re really careful to not word for word script for the influencers. We do want them to experience the product or service and talk about it in their voice. And, you know, given they have a following because of their voice. So you don’t want to take away from that. But we do give them guidelines and their campaign briefs, um, about the brand so they know what points are most important to touch on. An example would be organic, the dog washing. You know, one of the things that was really important to them was the organic washing that they do that that the chemicals that it’s chemical free, that it’s uh, the, the styling tools, etc.. And so we will put keywords in there for them to make sure that they include it maybe in their video that they’re showcasing it. It could be zooming in the picture, they could mention it. But like Liberty said, that authenticity and that fun, um, that funniness that they bring or whatever their personality that they’re bringing, that’s why we’re we’re engaging with them because we want it. It’s going to hit different people and attract different people differently. They’re going to hear it, see it, feel it differently. And by using different influencers, we’re really able to capture those different sentiments and see what what moves that needle the the furthest.

Lee Kantor: And that’s I would imagine, one of the challenges when you’re dealing with kind of corporates in charge of a brand to trust individual, authentic humans to protect the brand.

Liberty Bernal: I think that is probably the challenge for your typical CMO or director of marketing. Yes. But again, it’s um, it’s so much where marketing has gone, especially digital marketing. We do see the comfort level changing with every conversation, but it can be it can be hard.

Lee Kantor: Well, I mean, these are people that like control or at least the perception of control. And then now you’re saying, trust me on this, I’m going to we’re going to put your brand in the hands of hundreds of individuals out there, and they’re going to be great, you know.

Angela Olea: Cruise before it goes live. So it’s it’s not it, it is even though it may seem like a wild, wild west. We get to see it before it goes live because they may have missed something in there or misspelled something. It’s got to have a hashtag that that indicates this is sponsored. Um, so there there are definitely things that need to be blessed before it goes live on a post. But, um, once it goes live there, that’s when we’re able to really maximize that. It’s not just a post. It could be that we’re advertising using their, um, their site to boost it. We could have the rights to that and it could go on. The franchisee could potentially use that in their marketing and build their assets for continued ongoing. So it’s it can get a lot of mileage for, um, a small investment.

Lee Kantor: So everything has to be approved. That’s pretty that seems like logistically challenging.

Angela Olea: No, no, it’s it’s easy. Um, because there’s not a lot these are short. These are. It’s not an hour clip. These are usually, you know, no more than three minutes, sometimes a minute. Uh, they’re very short clips to, to look at and to approve.

Lee Kantor: So they’re not doing any live streaming obviously.

Angela Olea and Liberty Bernal: No.

Lee Kantor: And that’s by design. So you can can control that.

Angela Olea: Yep. And we’re using primarily right now it’s Instagram, TikTok. Um, we can use YouTube Facebook. Those are primarily the ones that that are for the audiences that we have. Those are probably the biggest social media, um, sites that for the market that we’re looking for.

Lee Kantor: Now, are your targets primarily B2C franchises or B2B or mixture?

Angela Olea: O uh, Liberty. Do you want to primarily, I think there’s there’s a mix in there. There really is a mix going on. So it doesn’t really have to be one or the other. She can imagine, you know, I guess be to see, it might initially sound like, oh, probably that focus. But we certainly see it all. And, you know, most people are on social media, right? They’re looking and they have a need. So really who we match influencers with is an audience need. So it might not initially make sense. Um, let’s say there’s a nutrition focused franchise. We don’t find nutritionists in the local area. We might just find out first, what are the demographics of the audience that makes the most purchases for this brand? We’re going to target those influencers with the right fit demographically, and that can work B2C or B2B. And this could be everything from a brand that, um, I mentioned earlier. It could be a roofing company, it could be a landscaping company, it could be, uh, as Liberty mentioned, a fitness there. There are literally everybody has an audience and something that’s going to appeal to them. Um, and where where do you intersect with that audience and what triggers that? Um, I know certainly I’m, I’m influenced. I’ve bought all kinds of gadgetry. I buy it all the time. I see something on, on line and and you know, it. It works. Influencer marketing works. So we’re tapping into that, building a moat around it, um, so that we can move as quickly and as authentically. There’s a lot of, uh, AI slash influencer marketing companies out there. They do not understand franchising at all. They don’t understand the intricacies like Liberty and I do, and our team does, and how it needs protecting and why you need what you need. And as I mentioned, even the hashtag sponsored making a mistake like that can really bring, um, penalties and get you banned. So Sell. It is something that we know to look out for and watch out for.

Lee Kantor: So how do you kind of recommend a franchisor to kick the tires on this? Is there a way to ease into this, or do they have to kind of bite off the whole thing and go all in?

Angela Olea: No, we can work with a couple of there, there. Um, we want to work with their stores. It could be a company store. We want to work with franchisees that are already that. They know how to handle a lead, that they’re a franchise system that is really tracking their KPIs. They already know their numbers so that we can truly work with them as a partner to ensure that they’re going to be nimble in how they’re adjusting and adapting to these types of leads, and that we’re measuring appropriately. And if we need to modify it, that we can be quick in how we adapt it. Um, and again, it’s we don’t want to work with brand new. Not not in the test mode. So if they want to have a couple of different markets that we’re testing it to get that proof of concept, then roll it out. We are 100% confident and comfortable with our model to do that.

Lee Kantor: So they can test it in a couple. You can pilot it in a couple markets just to see if it’s going to deliver what you promise it.

Angela Olea: Absolutely. You said that very well. I’m a wordsmith. Whatever. Whatever language I was speaking. You translated that beautifully. Thank you.

Lee Kantor: Now, when a company says, okay, I’m in, I’m going to do this. Is this something that they can tell it’s working pretty quickly, or is this something that has to build over time?

Angela Olea: They can tell. They can tell it’s working. I mean, the most basic way you can tell it’s working is engagement. So the lovely thing about our social media channels is you can see views, you can see likes, you can see engagements, DMs, and oftentimes if there’s any product or service, we can assign an influencer a promo code. And with that promo code, whomever the viewer may be who wants to try out the service, they can use the promo code and it’s very easily trackable. We do have other methods of trackability, but it’s it’s marketing at its finest in that sense, because it is so darn trackable and even the ability to see views alone. Instead of sending a mailer and you wonder who opens it, right? We literally can see who opens it, so to speak.

Angela Olea: Lee, one of the things that some may have a bigger sales cycle. So in one instance it could be very, very fast. Say we had a promo code for pizza and we’re running, you know, or the estate sale. I mentioned the estate sale. They have a three day run at a site. And that sale as soon as they post at 7 a.m. when that sale goes live, um, at 7 a.m. on a Friday. And we can see that that run for that weekend. But then there’s a long term value. As I mentioned, they’ve got now repeatable customers. They’ve got people that are following them and joining. But if we have, say, a cabinet company that their average ticket price might be 25 to 35,000 and this might be a kitchen remodel, um, cabinetry that’s going to be a little bit longer of a sales cycle where they’ve got to set the appointment. They’ve got to. But did we get their phone to ring? Are they getting the appointments? Um, and so that sales cycle is going to be a little bit longer just because of the price tag. But they’re also going to see that, you know, return on their investment. Um, you know, obviously if your average ticket price is I’m just going to say $30,000, you know, that’s going to be huge versus a pizza, which it might be, you know, $18. So you’re going to do volume with one faster. One’s going to be a little bit longer longer term because you’ve got that appointment cycle quote, etc..

Lee Kantor: Now what’s kind of the challenge that your franchisors having right now where you’re you’re the answer for them? Are they just being frustrated or they feel like they’re missing out on leveraging influencers and AI and storytelling the way that you’re doing it? Like, what’s kind of the pain they’re having right before they hire you?

Angela Olea: Yeah, they’ve got off brand messaging, so if they’ve tried it, they’re going to see that. They’re guessing at, you know, what is the messaging. They’ve got one off campaigns. Um, they’re going to see that that creators are ghosting them, that it’s a it’s a volume. It’s, you know, we call it the suite elite. Our, our influencers that we’ve vetted, contracted, etc.. Um, and then also are they’re, they’re not really untrackable on their results. They’re not tracking them. They don’t have the tools like we do where we can see live what the engagement rates, the comments that that it all of that happens, um, you know, real time that we’re able to see it and share that reporting with the Franchisers.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Angela Olea: Yeah, it’s sweet influencers. My sweet influencers, plural dot AI. And uh, yeah, we can set up a call and tell them how, uh, learn more about them, create a brief and, you know, share with them what we think. Um, and, and what’s a next step for rolling it out?

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

Angela Olea: Thank you for having us.

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

 

The Nearly Motivated Mindset with Chris Castanes

by

High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
The Nearly Motivated Mindset with Chris Castanes
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Chris Castanes is an award-winning insurance agent, author, podcaster, and engaging speaker. With more than 30 years in sales and marketing, he shares sharp insights and humorous “dumb stories” in his newest book, Nearly Motivated. He also serves as president of Surf Financial Brokers, a life and health insurance agency.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How to get your message to the masses
  • How to make a networking event work efficiently for you
  • Why humor is helpful in sales
  • How is selling like dating

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is gonna be a good one. Today on the show, we have speaker, author, business owner Chris Castanes, and he is with Surf Financial Brokers and you can find him at Chris Castanes. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Castanes: Thanks for having me. Lee.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. Let’s start with your business. Tell us a little bit about Surf Financial Brokers.

Chris Castanes: Surf Financial Brokers is a life and health insurance agency that basically just run more or less virtually. At this point. We have a website and set it up to where people can either get things straight from the website or they can set an appointment and if they need help, or if they want to talk with me or one of my other insurance agents, and we just do it that way, we ever since Covid, we’ve been working that way. And it’s and it’s been pretty good and we’ve, you know, licensed in about 6 or 7 states. So we help out a lot of people with life insurance and disability and long term care and cancer insurance and dental and vision and all those fun things like that.

Lee Kantor: And, um, that experience kind of led you to your speaking and writing career.

Chris Castanes: Well, before that, I was already writing books. I wrote my first book, 2017, and I’d been speaking a little bit around the same time, so they just kind of worked side by side. And when I’m with a client on an insurance client, I kind of throw out that I’ve written some books, and if I’m with a helping someone, a sales agent, I might mention that I sell insurance. So, you know, they just kind of work together like that.

Lee Kantor: So was this kind of orchestrated? Like, had you always had these desires as you were kind of building your career, or did they kind of just evolve as you were kind of, uh.

Chris Castanes: It just kind of happened. The first book was was really more of a lark. That was just something I wanted to do and write a book. And then when I did it, I said, oh, maybe I should do a little bit more speaking on that subject. And so I started doing that and was going out and talking to some sales groups and, you know, real estate offices and things like that. And, um, eventually wrote a second book after Covid or during Covid. I actually was blogging a lot. And then I turned that blog into the second book. And, um, so, you know, it just kind of worked. That worked out. It wasn’t something I had planned out, but it worked out pretty good.

Lee Kantor: So a lot of your writing is about kind of, um, marketing, selling things like that, right?

Chris Castanes: Yeah, it’s mostly tips. Uh, sales tips, uh, how to network properly, how to, you know, work a room. Uh, marketing tips, advertising how to save money. You know, just getting your head in the game. All kinds of little topics. Uh, and we cover a lot of that on my podcast as well. And, um, so, you know, try to keep it short and sweet and give you some things that you can do now. Not a long game for the most part, except for networking is usually a long game. But that’s how we we let you know that in advance.

Lee Kantor: So now as kind of, uh, theme throughout or maybe just an element of all of your work is humor. Um, how did you stumble upon using humor in something that a lot of people would think is serious? Uh, business selling in and helping people in the manner you do?

Chris Castanes: Yeah. So I’ve, I’ve always kind of been, I guess, the, the funny guy. And, um, years ago I did some stand up comedy, uh, locally here in the North Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach area and, um. And when I realized that that wasn’t the most lucrative career move in the world, I just kind of pivoted a little bit and I just incorporated it into my sales talks now. So I my books have some funny stories in them. Uh, when I talk to a sales organization, I gave a talk last week at the local chamber of commerce and throw in a couple of funny examples of things that have happened to me and, you know, people, people here sales talks and tips and tricks and things. And sometimes you see their eyes glaze over, but when they when they laugh a little bit, it helps, uh, it makes them retain the information a little better, especially if they have a funny example to go by. And as far as the insurance side, you know, with my with my insurance agency, we’re really talking about some pretty serious subjects when we talk about life insurance and disability and things like that, you know, like, you know, let’s talk about what’s going to happen if you die or if you get seriously sick or something to that effect. So it just kind of lightens the mood a little bit if you can throw a little bit of humor. You don’t want to be over the top funny, but a little bit just gets their guard down a little, you know, and people get defensive when they’re around salespeople. So if you can just get their guard down just a tad, you can you can just feel the tension in the room drop a little bit.

Lee Kantor: Now do you recommend that just everybody try humor or is this something that, um, you got to kind of have a gift for?

Chris Castanes: Uh, anybody can can have a little bit of humor. Uh, it’s just a it’s a judgment call most of the time. And most it’s good to be able to read the room and understand if someone wants to hear a joke or if they might think something’s funny. And like I said, it doesn’t have to be a routine. It can just be a couple of little jokes that you throw in even. I’ll give you an example, as I have a, um, if I’m working with someone and I. I’m taking the name of their spouse down. You know, I’m just taking a fact finder and I’ll say, well, what’s your husband’s name? And they’ll say, Bob. And just really innocuous. I’ll just go, like, was Bob behaving this week? And that just kind of they giggle a little bit and they’ll go, oh, he’s trying or something. That’s just very small humor, but it just helps lower the temperature in the room. And so that’s all it takes. It doesn’t take a over the top joke or a comedy routine. Just a little comment. Very not going to offend anybody. And something like that gets people, oh okay, you’re that guy. You’re gonna ask me how my if my husband’s behaving. So it just makes people relax a little bit.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned a couple of times now reading the Room. Do you have any advice or, um, tips around how to read a room? Are there things you do and don’t do or things you look for.

Chris Castanes: I don’t really know if there’s a skill set there. That’s just something you have to be able to do. You know, if you walk into someone’s home and they’re obviously stressed out about something, that’s not the time to, you know, it’s better to ask a question like, hey, is everything okay? Um, rather than dropping jokes. Um, but then sometimes they’re just, you know, they’re just light and you can tell that they’re happy to be there, or they’re just looking forward to getting it over with. If we’re going to talk about some business and, um, you know, or I’ll call on a business, I’ll might be out. I say it’s a new business. I walk in just to say hello and introduce myself. And they you have to kind of pick up. You can kind of pick it up real quickly, but it’s not going to be a sign on the door saying we’re in a bad mood today or anything. So it helps if you can just figure it out. But most people know that ahead of time. I think I would hope so.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned your business now is pretty virtual. Um, do the people you work with are they also having virtual, um, relationships, or are their relationships more face to face and in person?

Chris Castanes: It depends. Um, you know, I’ve got one, one agent that works for me. She don’t work for me, but she works with me. And she does a lot of Medicare supplements. So a lot of the people that she sees are in person because it’s an older clientele. They’re not really, uh, you know, skilled or comfortable doing zoom calls. And then I’ve got other agents that that’s all they want to do because they’re talking to somebody three states away. And so it just depends on who you’re dealing with and what the audience is and, and, and who your customers are going to be that day. And how how comfortable the agent feels also. So with my own personal production, a lot of it is over the phone. Zoom calls. But at the same time, if it’s somebody locally here, I’m more than happy to get in the car and meet them at a coffee shop, or go to their home or business wherever they want.

Lee Kantor: And then is the is that kind of the way the industry is evolving? Is there kind of a mixture now an insurance person is going to have kind of a a portfolio of virtual and in-person relationships as they grow their book of business?

Chris Castanes: It might be I haven’t really studied it. Um, but I do know that, you know, we’re doing a lot as a society. We’re doing a lot of stuff online. I mean, even today as we’re recording this at Cyber Monday, um, and we do a lot of, you know, people buy car insurance all over the phone or online or they’re doing banking online, and they’re more comfortable with that than they were, say, ten, 15 years ago. So it’s it I think in a lot of ways, people will get on the computer in the middle of the night. You know something? They couldn’t get to sleep because they remembered that they, their spouse has been nagging them about dental insurance or something. And they can go to the website and look up different plans, and they don’t have to. Some people just don’t want to talk to an agent. So I try to make it as comfortable for everybody. You know, it’s really what the what the client wants. And logistically, if I can physically be there, I’ll do that. But if not, we’ll do a zoom call and figure it out. Or sometimes it’s just a phone call. We don’t even get online. So whatever the client I can, however I can get the client, uh, situated is whatever I can do best for them.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your work, are you like, who is your ideal, um, kind of reader of your books or listeners to your podcast or, you know, buyers of your speaking services? Like who is that ideal client for you?

Chris Castanes: Um, I prefer Helping people who are like entrepreneurs, small business owners, solopreneurs. Those are the people that, um, I can relate to because I’m like that myself. I’m also a 1099, you know, contracted an agent. And so I like working with realtors, uh, other salespeople, mortgage brokers, people who are out there that are paying their own bills that, um, and they’re trying to figure it out as far as marketing, um, joining networking groups, things like that, getting their head in the game, just a lot of that kind of tips and tricks and you know, how to how to make a brochure on your own on a budget so you’re not having to spend a lot of money. Because a lot of times for us solopreneur kind of people who work from home, it um, any, any money you spend comes really out right off the off the top. And it it. We have to be very careful with our budgets and when it comes to marketing and advertising, and I try to just help out in that way, you know, give them some direction. I don’t have a giant corporation funding me in the background. I don’t have anybody giving me money for marketing or advertising. So I can relate to that. And I understand what they’re going through. So I try to help them out and give them that kind of, you know, information that whatever I can share with them.

Lee Kantor: And when you’re when you’re sharing kind of a go to market strategy, are you, um, helping them kind of build those in-person relationships or are you helping them build those online relationships or some combination?

Chris Castanes: It depends on what they’re what they’re working on. So if they’re, you know, if I get a real estate office, of course they’re going to mostly be in person because they have to go out and physically show a home. Um, but then sometimes I’ll get somebody and they’ll say, well, I’m really trying to go more virtual. What I what advice do you have? And if I, you know, if I can help them out there, I will, um, you know, it’s just a matter of trying to figure out there again. What’s that? That, uh, salesperson or business owner, what are they trying to do? And you have to sit down with them and ask questions. And just like selling insurance, you know, you do a fact finder and just find out, you know, what’s your goal? Where do you want to be in three years? Where do you want your business to be? What is the market look like? Asking all these questions and then trying to figure out something to help them out as much as possible? Um, but most of the time when I’m speaking to, say, real estate groups, we talk about networking, how to get out there and find people. A lot of these people have never had a formal sales training class, and if they pick up my first book, they might get one right there. Hopefully. So we’ll see what happens.

Lee Kantor: So let’s let’s break it down. So for the first the for the group of people that are listening or the individual that’s listening that wants to build more in-person relationships and to grow their business through kind of face to face marketing and networking. What advice would you give them? What’s the low hanging fruit for an individual in, um, in that situation?

Chris Castanes: Yeah, in that group I would tell them, you know, go to your local networking, uh, groups if you can find them, or Chamber of Commerce, uh, anything like that. And the battle there is usually like trying to find people to talk to. That’s usually the hardest thing is, you know, especially when you’re first starting out, the you probably spend 80, 90% of your time just prospecting and trying to get your pipeline filled. And then what do you do? You know. Do we? How do you find those people? Where do you market them? How do you, um, approach them? So in my case, for instance, I’ll take people that I meet online or in person at networking events and just invite them out for some coffee. And usually they’re like I said, they’re small business owners, they’re entrepreneurs, they work from home. And so I’ll just say, hey, you know, I’m, I’m an insurance agent, but I also want to learn about your business. Why don’t we meet for ten, 15 minutes at a cup, you know, get a cup of coffee. I can tell you what I do, and I really want to hear about what you do. That usually will work.

Chris Castanes: You can get about. I don’t know, it’s probably about a 30% batting average. 40%, if you’re lucky on that. And you can you know, it’s just the goal is is micro goals. You know, like the first goal is to join the network group. And then from there try to set some appointments from that and to remember that when you’re doing these things, not to dismiss people summarily and say, well, that guy’s not going to help me, because that person, even though they may not be interested in what you’re selling, knows other people who may be in the market for what you’re selling, and then you want to make yourself as referable as possible. So that’s the kind of information we try to share with people when we when I go out and talk or, you know, have a book signings or anything like that, or I speak to a group, uh, we just try to go through the process of what they’re doing, and it’s all, uh, not every industry is going to be the same, but there’s generally the same skill set that’s transferable. It’s just you have to tweak it a little bit from one industry to the next.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, you mentioned that it’s the beginning of December and, um, we’re in the beginning of not the beginning, but we’re in the kind of the holiday events, a season and a lot of chambers of commerce are having kind of end of year get togethers. How would you recommend attacking, um, a chamber mixer at the end of the year where everybody’s being brought together? Is that a sales opportunity for you? Like, how would you kind of, um, strategically go about getting the most out of that event?

Chris Castanes: Yeah, I pretty much the same way as I do any other time of the year, honestly. Um, my what I’ve learned over the years is that people will go to chamber mixers or after hour events, and they’ll bring a stack of business cards, and they’ll deal them like they’re dealing poker. And and then they go home and they go, man, nobody called me. I gave out all my cards and, you know, blah, blah, blah, and they’ll complain when actually you have to take it at a different angle and say, I’ve actually done this. I’ll say, I don’t even have any cards with me. Can I get your card After I’ve talked to someone for a few minutes, I’ll say, can I get your card? And I’ll just give you a call in the morning tomorrow morning, and we’ll set an appointment and we’ll go get some coffee, if that’s fine with you. And that right there alleviates a whole lot of, uh, problems, because the next day when you call them, they know who you are. They know why you’re calling, uh. And they’re more than happy. You know, when you leave there, they already know that they’re going to you’re they’re going to get a phone call to go get some coffee in the following week or two.

Chris Castanes: So if you do that approach and just say, how about giving me your card? I’ll give you a call in the morning. We’ll we’ll grab some coffee and we’ll, you know, just see if we can network together, try to make it non-threatening. Don’t say, I want to sell you something. Just say, I want to learn about your business or what you’re doing and go from there. That’s the first goal is just to make that appointment. Then at that appointment you can dig a little deeper. So that’s the way I’ve always worked. It That is just to, uh, put the ball in your own court instead of giving them a business card and knowing that when they get home, it’s probably going to go into the trash. Um, and also what I’ll do is I’ll go home and I’ll immediately look them up on LinkedIn or another, you know, some networking site if I can, and see if I can connect with them. That helps to just kind of gives yourself a little bit more credibility.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you enter into one of those events, at any given one event, are you looking to meet 20 people? Ten people, five people, two people. Like, how do you like what’s a good event?

Chris Castanes: Well, and it depends on the size of the event. So I went to a, um, a mixer a couple of months ago, and I think there was probably about 20 people showed up. And it was not, not a, not a huge turnout. So I was like, okay, if I can get 7 or 8 cards here, you know, if I can get 7 or 8 business cards, that’s kind of doing something, because a lot of those people I’ve already talked to. If it’s a bigger event, I might aim for 15 or 20 cards. And you know, there again, they know I’m going to call them. And out of that 15, I might book 10 or 12 appointments. So it’s just, you know, you have to kind of gear it and be a little realistic. If I go to something and I’ve already talked with half the people I know, I’m not, it’s not going to make, you know, setting a goal of ten people and five of them I’ve already talked to. It’s not really going to be too realistic, but it’s just set your, you know, set your goal. Look at look around, see who’s there. And you go, man, it’s really bad weather. Nobody’s going to show up for this one. So just kind of make that quick adjustment on the fly. It’s you know there’s always you fight the what do they say live to fight another day sometimes.

Lee Kantor: Now what about online. Do you have a strategy maybe around LinkedIn since a lot of your folks I would imagine are, you know, on LinkedIn, are business people using LinkedIn.

Chris Castanes: Yeah. I like to, um, go on LinkedIn and look for people there. Like I said, I’ll drop them a note and basically the same approach, just say, hey, you know, thanks for connecting. Once you get them connected with you, the new ones. Um, if I, if I have, I’ll give them a week or so. I don’t want to come right out of the gate and start pounding them over the head, but I’ll just drop them a note and I’ll say, hey, we’re both local, you know, let’s grow. Go grab a cup of coffee and I can share my work with you, and you can tell me more about what you’re doing. Maybe we can network. And that’s all I’ll say. And I get about 10% of those will come back and say, yes, that’s fine. And and I’ve either I’ve either gotten sales or referrals which are just as good for me. So it really helps in that regard. Not, uh, having to go out and prospect too much and wear out my car and all that and burn gas. If I can sit at home and meet, set 3 or 4 appointments just from LinkedIn, that works just as well for me, so I enjoy it. Um, it takes a little bit of practice. It takes a little bit of getting used to how things are on LinkedIn. You’re not going to get as high of a batting average and success rate, uh, virtually or online. But you still it doesn’t cost you anything, so it’s just as good for me.

Lee Kantor: So do you have kind of a daily discipline when it comes to LinkedIn or even in person or a monthly kind of, uh, do you kind of build a schedule that says, okay, every day I’m going to spend 15 minutes on LinkedIn, or every week I’ll spend an hour, like, do you have kind of a regimented schedule when it comes to this, uh, networking, whether it’s virtual or in person?

Chris Castanes: Uh, well, virtually what I do is I just get up every morning and, and I have a bunch of different things I do online and I’ll. But when I get to LinkedIn, I’ll, um, look to see I always have at least five LinkedIn. What do you call it? Connection requests. I always keep about five of those floating, and once they get about five, 5 or 6 days old, I’ll take them out. I’ll withdraw that invitation and they’ll just get recycled again in about 60 days. And the ones that say yes, like I said, then I’ll come back to them in about a week and just drop them a note and ask them if they want to grab some coffee. But in person, uh, I don’t really go out prospecting that much anymore. I unless it’s a networking event and I keep my calendar pretty much filled with any and all free networking events I can find. I’m not a big fan of the ones that cost an arm and a leg. But we have so many free ones around here and you can make anything. A networking event. I’ve networked at weddings and, you know, all kinds of stuff like that, but you can, you know, if it tomorrow. I’ve got, um, one in-person networking event and one online networking event. So I try to keep my my schedule filled with those things and any kind of zoom calls people want to make. We have groups that we’re in. Linkedin has some awesome groups that, uh, have their own little groups there online. So you can get online and talk with people that and, you know, other countries sometimes. Not that I have a lot to offer them, but uh, specifically to insurance. But I can also say, hey, by the way, I’ve written a couple of books, might help you out. And I’ve had people in England and Europe buying my books, which is interesting.

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

Chris Castanes: Um, I’m, you know, anybody who wants to just visit my website and kick kick the tires or listen to the podcast. I’m. I’m always appreciative of everything. I try to just be grateful for whatever comes to me. And, uh, I’m always happy to reach out and help other people. That makes me feel good, especially this time of year.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to connect, what’s the coordinates? What’s the best way to get Ahold of you and connect?

Chris Castanes: Oh, LinkedIn is awesome. You can just look me up. Chris Castano’s I don’t think there’s a whole lot of Chris Castano’s out there and and, um, just look me up. I think it says humorous sales speaker or something on my profile, and, um, I’m I’m always happy to connect with people on there as long as they’re not trying to sell me something. You know, that’s the that’s the thing when you get these random connection requests and, and literally as soon as you say yes, you start getting inundated with, with things into your inbox from them. It’s typically a bot. And don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to connect or disconnect or whatever they call it. Um, but yeah, everybody else, if you’re, you know, legit and you want to connect, I’m happy to connect with you.

Lee Kantor: And that’s, um, Chris Casanas c h r I s c a s t a n e s.com is your website.

Chris Castanes: Yeah, yeah.

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

Chris Castanes: Well, thanks for having me. And if I can help you guys out, um, please let me know. And, uh, and I and I’ve been listening to your podcast, I appreciate it. It’s you’ve got a lot of good information out there for people.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you very much. All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Rebooting Your Body: Tara Turnure’s Personal Transformation and Entrepreneurial Journey

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High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Rebooting Your Body: Tara Turnure's Personal Transformation and Entrepreneurial Journey
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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee Kantor interviews Tara Turnure, founder and CEO of Beauty Drip. Tara shares her journey from model and TV personality to wellness entrepreneur, inspired by her own postpartum health struggles. She discusses Beauty Drip’s innovative, peptide-powered wellness therapies, the importance of personalized care, and building a brand through authenticity and consistency. Tara also offers advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and influencers, highlighting the value of persistence, adaptability, and kindness in both business and motherhood. The episode provides insights into launching a luxury wellness brand and balancing entrepreneurship with family life.

Tara Turnure is the founder and CEO of BeautyDrip, a luxury wellness and beauty brand redefining the future of health through science-backed, concierge-style solutions. A former model, TV personality, and entrepreneur, she brings a distinctive blend of creative vision, media experience, and evidence-based wellness expertise to her work.

BeautyDrip stands at the intersection of beauty and biotechnology offering clients transformative, personalized protocols that help them look, feel, and live their absolute best.

Her journey to founding BeautyDrip began after giving birth to twins, when she faced a series of challenges familiar to many women: hormonal imbalance, insulin resistance, weight gain, and chronic inflammation.

Despite decades in the beauty industry, she found few effective answers until she discovered the power of functional medicine, GLP-1 therapies, and targeted peptide protocols. After losing more than 40 pounds and reclaiming her vitality, Tara launched BeautyDrip in 2024 to share this science-driven, high-touch approach with others seeking sustainable transformation from within.

Before founding BeautyDrip, she built a successful career as a model, television host, and digital creator. As the founder of The Model Mama, a lifestyle and wellness platform with over 125,000 followers, she has become a trusted voice in beauty and holistic wellness, partnering with global brands including Revolve, YSL Beauty, Daxxify, and Four Seasons Hotels.

Crowned Miss Washington USA in 2009, Tara made pageant history when she passed her title to her fraternal twin sister, Tracy Turnure, the following year. Her background in broadcast media, brand partnerships, and luxury marketing continues to inform her unique approach to building conscious, aspirational brands.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing and Communications from Northeastern University and lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Erik Lawler, and their three children. Today, she is not only reshaping the wellness industry but building a movement rooted in empowerment, education, and elevated self-care.

Through BeautyDrip and her media platforms, she continues to inspire women to embrace science, self-knowledge, and sophistication in their pursuit of wellness and confidence.

Connect with Tara on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Building luxury wellness Brands in the age of transparency and trust
  • Overview of peptide-powered therapies and their delivery methods.
  • The impact of postpartum body changes and fatigue on Tara’s career shift.
  • Collaboration with Dr. Emily Pasek and the development of customized wellness protocols.
  • Customer experience and the importance of personalized consultations.
  • Challenges faced during the launch of Beauty Drip and leveraging existing platforms.
  • Future plans for brick-and-mortar locations and community engagement.
  • The significance of using the term “patients” in the context of Beauty Drip’s services.
  • Insights on building a personal brand and the importance of authenticity in content creation.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have the founder and CEO of Beauty Drip, Tara Turnure. Welcome.

Tara Turnure: Hello. I’m so happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Beauty Drip. How you serving folks?

Tara Turnure: Yes. Well, that is an excellent question. So Beauty Drip is a luxury wellness and beauty brand. And we help all of our patients just look and feel their absolute best from the inside out. We offer peptide powered therapies and we’re all about supporting our patients with this comprehensive wellness approach to taking all of our products.

Lee Kantor: So in the name, it’s called Beauty Drip. Does it mean that there’s IV drips? Is that how you deliver the service?

Tara Turnure: Yeah. Well I know it does sort of sound like that, but actually all of our products we have like seven different peptide products, we have two GLP one compounded products, and then we have just straight peptide compounds and everything is delivered to the comfort of your own home. And it’s a self-administered injection. Five out of the seven are self-administered injections. We also are renew product which is NAD+ comes in two forms. So it’s a self-administered injection or if you prefer, a nasal spray, which is just as effective, we have that mechanism as well. We also have our new beauty mints, which are comprised of the copper peptide, which is called the beauty peptide, which reboots like the collagen and elastin in your skin. And it makes your hair, skin and nails just incredibly strong and more vibrant and grow faster and also gives you this cognitive boost. We also have our methylene blue capsules that are like the most incredible energy booster. It’s like drinking caffeine, but without the jitters. You get this like immediate cognitive alert boost after you take them. And those are capsules.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your back story? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Tara Turnure: So I’m sort of a self-proclaimed beauty and wellness expert because I was a model for like 20 years, and then I worked for Fox Sports on camera. I was the sideline reporter. And then I had a talk show in LA called The Model Mama Show. So I’ve always sort of been in a line of work, essentially, where I have to sort of look and feel my best because I’m showing up to be, you know, in front of the camera. So I sort of I feel like I’ve literally tried every diet, every beauty product under the sun, and I know what works and what doesn’t work. And after having twins, I have three kids. I have a ten year old Henry. Um, and then I have boy girl twins that are five. And after having them in the height of the pandemic, um, I just was like super frustrated with my body because I’ve always been someone who could sort of manipulate their body in any way. You know, to like, look and feel good or, you know, do these little tweaks and lose 5 pounds to get ready for a shoot. But post 35, I feel like your body’s different, your hormones are different, insulin levels are different. And so I was on this quest to sort of figure out how to reboot my body, because what I normally did to sort of lose weight and feel better and regain my energy just wasn’t working. So, um, I was introduced to Doctor Emily Pasek, who’s our medical director at Beauty Drip. She’s incredible. All of our patients love her. Um, and she is a naturopathic physician, so she’s all about sort of, you know, incorporating products into your routine that, you know, already exist in your body. But, like, perhaps they’ve been depleted. Or as you get older, your stores get depleted because all of us have peptides and GLP ones, you know, already in our body.

Tara Turnure: But as we get older, our supplies diminish. And so she sort of came up with this protocol for me. Um, on this like compounded GLP one products and, um, these like custom blend supplements that we now sell at Beauty Drip. Um, and I lost 40 pounds. My body just felt like it functioned the way that it was supposed to, and I never had more like natural energy. My inflammation was gone. And so I just had this lightbulb moment like, okay, I feel like I’ve cracked this life coat because these products truly work. They’re incredibly safe. They’re, you know, science backed, like all these peptide powered products have been, you know, on the market and incredibly well tested for, you know, 50 plus years. None of this is new. But, you know, all of these products are now very popular. There’s an incredible demand for GLP one and peptide therapies. Um, but I think people don’t know where to get them. And like the biggest thing with peptides is you really want to know your source and you want to know that it’s coming from, you know, a sterile compound pharmacy that is adhering to the highest standards of safety and protocol. So when I was bringing Beauty Drip to life, I did so much research to find the right pharmacy partner. Um, we work with Strive Pharmacy, which is the, you know, biggest and most successful compound pharmacy or pharmacy in the country. And they supply all of our compound products to patients. Um, and we just have an incredible relationship with them and trust all of our, all of their products. And that was something that was really important to me.

Lee Kantor: So what how does it work to work with you? Because, um, for your individual success, you had, um, Doctor Emily working with you. Is that does she work with all of your clients? Is that part of the protocol? Like the first step is having a conversation with her?

Tara Turnure: Yes, exactly. You nailed it. Yeah. So our customer journey is, um, it sort of goes like this. So people, um, I mean, we do a little bit of both, like some people just, you know, right off the bat, want to schedule a consultation? It’s called a comprehensive wellness consultation with Doctor Emily Pasek because all of our products are pricing includes a 45 minute in-depth consultation with her. And then you, you know, received unlimited and ongoing support from her throughout the whole process. So you can either start by having a consultation with her and she sort of reviews your medical history, talks through sort of your wellness and beauty and just longevity goals, and helps customize, um, a peptide protocol that will work best for you based on your goals. And then she sort of directs people to our website, so they order what she recommends. And then people fill out this, you know, medical questionnaire with all their health history. They fill out, you know, they go through the whole patient onboarding process with her. And then once, um, she does all of that paperwork and has all those conversations and kind of comes up with a custom plan, then we submit our, um, prescription orders because all of our products, except for our custom blend supplements and our detox, um, with supplements is prescription requires a prescription. So then we send it to our pharmacy, and then the products are shipped directly to people’s home.

Lee Kantor: Now, does that initial, uh, conversation or consultation require a blood draw? Like, are they, um, is there any blood work required in order to do this, or is she just basing her, um, diagnosis or recommendations based on just what the people are telling her.

Tara Turnure: Yeah. So, um, everyone is a little different. I mean, we don’t require labs at the onset, but some people have, like, recent labs that they like to share with her so that they have kind of a baseline of levels. Um, but if you want to sort of have her call in, you know, a comprehensive blood work panel beforehand, she’s happy to do that. And we have done that for a number of our patients. Um, that’s why we really sort of the whole business model around beauty drip is really to provide this like concierge level of comprehensive wellness care so that, like whatever the patient needs to really feel empowered and supported, we can make that happen.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you started working with her at the beginning, did you do a blood draw Or was everything she was telling you just based on what you were telling her?

Tara Turnure: Yeah. I did not do a blood draw at the onset because my you know, I think a blood draw makes maybe a little bit more sense for people with more of, like, complex medical health history. But mine was really, I think, a little bit more obvious. Like I was really starting this journey to lose postpartum baby weight, um, and just kind of mitigate my, like, chronic fatigue and inflammation and hormone levels because, you know, there’s a lot of indicators for, you know, those levels being off other than just blood levels. So like, you know, I was having night sweats, which is like, you know, a really clear indicator that your hormone levels are off. And so she’s like so well-versed on all of those indications that if you talk ineptly with her about sort of what you’re experiencing, she can really help identify the problem.

Lee Kantor: So when you decided to kind of launch the company and it was going beyond you. Um, what were some of the challenges you had on launching kind of a wellness brand like this, or was it did you did you just kind of piggyback on your existing wellness brand that you had pre twins?

Tara Turnure: Well, yeah. So I have, um, an online platform called the Model Mama where I create content for brands. And I also consult with brands on like social media strategy. Um, and I, you know, still shoot campaigns for brands as a model and spokesperson. Um, so it was very different. I mean, Beauty Drip and the model mama are two different entities. Um, you know, I have two companies now, one being Beauty drip and one being the model mama. Um, but my experience sort of building that online platform definitely helped launch Beauty Drip, just because I already had the visibility and the connections and the community, really to sort of like tell about our business, um, because we’ve only beauty drip has been, you know, officially live since July of 2024. We already have like 250 patients, which is pretty incredible. Um, and we haven’t done any, you know, paid media, paid advertising. Our growth has been totally organic through word of mouth and personal referral. And, you know, we’ve been doing like some strategic partnerships with influencers and other markets and other brand activations, um, to sort of gain visibility. But that’s just what’s been so exciting is just kind of utilizing my platform and community with my presence online. You know, as a model and a TV personality and then content creator with my model mama platform and really kind of introducing my brand to that community. Um, and that’s been incredibly effective.

Lee Kantor: So do you, uh, what’s on your roadmap? Are you gonna have brick and mortar? Are you going to franchise the brand, or do you do events like what are some of the things that are on your roadmap as you grow?

Tara Turnure: Yeah. So our for sure long term goal is to, you know, have some brick and mortar locations. We’re actually in conversations with a medi spa actually in the south um outside of Atlanta, Georgia, um, that wants us to come in and sort of rebrand their med spa and kind of be our flagship beauty drip wellness beauty Medspa center. Um, and so we’re sort of considering that opportunity for early 2026, which would be incredibly exciting. Obviously, Atlanta is a little far for me because I live in Seattle. Um, so, you know, we definitely would love to have a, um, a physical location closer to where we are all located. But, um, I think having any kind of like, physical presence store would just allow us to sort of deepen the connection with patients and like, offer, you know, really comprehensive wellness, you know, education events and, you know, really I want beauty drip to be this destination for luxury, wellness and elevated beauty and be like the key to longevity. So I think, um, kind of building that brand around the customer experience would is the goal, but like being able to do that in person would be even more effective.

Lee Kantor: Now you refer to your clients as patients. Is it because of the medical component or is that did you was that strategic in your kind of branding? Like what was the thinking about, you know, what language to use when it came to your clients?

Tara Turnure: Yeah. Well, so they technically are patients because, you know, we have, you know, in order to, you know, legally bring beauty to life, we have to, you know, treat all of our customers as patients, right? Like, we have a, you know, electronic health record system where we’re documenting everything. Everything is totally HIPAA compliant. Um, and, you know, Doctor Pasic does everything by the book. So, you know, Technically, I guess, like, you know, technically you would be a customer. I guess if you just purchased product that didn’t require a prescription. But I would say 99.9% of all of our customers are patients because they are getting prescription products from us.

Lee Kantor: Is that how it works at Medspa? They call them patients who?

Tara Turnure: I don’t know, that’s a good question. I, I don’t think at Medspa they necessarily call them patients. Maybe they do. But yeah, we just I think, um, you know, I’ve been working so closely with Doctor Pasek for so long, um, that she’s rubbed off on me. So now, now I just refer to customers as patients, and, um, I think it’s like, also part of our, like, concierge level care. We just, like, want to make everyone feel incredibly supported Did and like they have everything that they need to be successful. So I think referring to them as patients just feels a little bit more accurate now.

Lee Kantor: So the whole experience is all done virtually online because like you said, you don’t you don’t have a physical location yet.

Tara Turnure: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You can go on our website. Um, if you want to dive in and experience, you know, our offering and sort of start the process.

Lee Kantor: But in order to to get any of the products or services, you’re going to have to have a conversation with Doctor Pasek.

Tara Turnure: Yes. You’re going to be onboarded as a patient, but people can go on our website and purchase product and then they will immediately get, you know, the emails and the correspondence to be onboarded as a patient. So like you can start the process by going on our website and, you know, purchasing product. And then in order to actually receive product, you have to go through the onboarding process.

Lee Kantor: Right? So you can join the community just by going to the website. But in order to get, uh, some of the stuff, you have to have the conversation.

Tara Turnure: Correct? Yes.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned kind of your success story in the amazing 40 pound weight loss and, and kind of the rebooting that you received. Is there any other stories you can share about, um, some of the patients that have gone through the beauty drip experience? You don’t obviously don’t name their name, but maybe share what they came to you with and how you were able to help them get to a new level.

Tara Turnure: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Um, well, one story really stands out in my mind. Um, it was we were, um, we were introduced to this particular patient because we had already, um, helped her mom sort of level up and lose weight and just feel better. Um, and so she introduced her daughter to us, um, and this young woman was, you know, in her mid 20s, and she’s a personal trainer. So she’s someone who obviously, you know, wants to display confidence in her own voice and body in order to, you know, help other people, like, look and feel their best. And she was sort of stuck dealing with some hormone imbalances and some, you know, chronic inflammation. And she had gained 20 pounds. And, um, Doctor Pasek helped her pretty quickly, but totally, you know, safely lose 20 pounds. Um, and she wrote us the most incredible email that honestly made me cry. She was like, I was about to kill myself because I was so frustrated with my body, and I didn’t know how to show up for my patients because I felt like I didn’t really even know how to help people because I couldn’t help myself. And you guys really helped me fall back in love with my body and made it function the way that I know that it’s ultimately supposed to. And Beauty Drip is such an incredible, you know, add on product to a healthy lifestyle. And she now shares all of our products with her personal training clients as well, because she had such incredible results. And yeah, her email was just super emotional and really moving because, you know, she basically was telling us that we saved her life and helped her sort of rediscover, Scrubber. Um, you know, her purpose and passion for not only herself, but her career. Um, and that was. Yeah, that’s definitely one of my favorites, for sure.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, a lot of your business, you’ve had a lot of experience as a digital creator. As an influencer, is there any advice you can share for other business owners out there listening that wants to pursue that path, or partner with digital creators and influencers? Are there some do’s and don’ts, some things that you can recommend from having been involved in this space for so long?

Tara Turnure: Yeah, that’s a that’s a good question. I mean, I would say, um, you know, I think so many people have really amazing ideas whether they want to start something or build something and they just, you know, procrastinate or overthink. You know when to start. And I think you just I mean, there’s no rule book, right? When you’re like, even the content creation world is so unique because everybody’s journey to get there is unique and entrepreneurship is so unique. So it’s like it just you just have to start and you really have to be incredibly resourceful and incredibly persistent because, you know, you’re basically kind of reinventing the way something works, you know, from the ground up and you want to just do it right. But there’s mistakes that can be made along the way. But that’s truly how you grow and learn. Um, and I would say in terms of like wanting to work with digital creators, like from a brand standpoint, um, I think I think that it’s really important for brands to, um, you know, look at creators style. Like, I think what makes successful influencers is when you have like a cohesive message and brand so that like when a brand is hiring you, they have some idea of like what they’re getting, you know, they they’re like, oh, I really want to like for me, for example, I really want to work with her because, you know, she loves being a mom. She’s an entrepreneur, she has a strong beauty background. So like, we kind of know what her esthetic is and what that’s going to look like. And she obviously knows what’s gonna resonate with her audience. So I always like working with brands that, you know, really trust that I know what I’m doing, and they’re not trying to sort of tell me how to create the content. They’re like, you know, we want to partner with you, so just do it the way that, you know, will resonate with your audience. Dance. And I think that when you go into any relationship and there’s that like trust there, it just works better.

Lee Kantor: So how do you recommend, uh, an aspiring influencer kind of build up, I guess, an audience so that they can attract brands that, you know, can pay them something at least to continue to grow. Like it’s a chicken and egg thing. I mean, you were fortunate to be a model and a television host, so maybe you you kind of had a cheat code to get there first. But if you were starting from scratch and didn’t have that as part of your background, is there any advice in that area?

Tara Turnure: Oh yeah. Absolutely. So I agree, I think having the visibility as a model and the media connections definitely helped. But when I started. So just to give sort of some perspective. So now, you know, I have obviously a lot of Instagram followers. But when I was sort of pivoting in my career when I was pregnant with my son, who’s now ten. Um, I sort of dove into social media and I started with like 10,000 followers. And, um, my Instagram at that point was really just sort of like a portfolio for my modeling experience, my TV experience. But it wasn’t personal or there was no branding or messaging behind it. So when I was pregnant with my son and I was sort of in this weird limbo in my career where I wasn’t pregnant enough to be a maternity model, and no one wanted me on TV because I was pregnant, I was like, I’m gonna dive in and figure out this whole social media thing. And I was like, well, what would I want to say? You know, if I’m going to create content and I’m going to be in control of the messaging, like, what do I really want to share and how do I want to share it and what do I want to say? So I sort of came up with that’s how I came up with the model mama. Um, because I really struggled when I was pregnant with my son. Just I was having this, like, major identity crisis because up until that point, you know, I was traveling all over the world as a model and on TV. And then, you know, my body was changing and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to my career after I had a baby.

Tara Turnure: Um, and so I sort of was like having this weird internal dialog just like, wow, where am I going to go from here? And what does this mean? So and I just had this moment of realization where I was like, If I’m feeling like this, I guarantee a lot of other women have a lot of these same questions when they’re pregnant or after they have a baby. So I kind of came up with this concept for the Model Mama that was all about sort of sharing that transition to motherhood. Um, and really like how to love yourself and the transition and the body and how to pivot in your career. So I basically, you know, kind of came up with this like core messaging. And so when I started to really create content that was around this like model mama presence, it was like, you know, it was all really consistent. And so I think when people are starting an Instagram or they want to become a content creator, I mean, one, it’s about creating quality content, content that’s going to resonate with people, but also just like being really consistent with, you know, the brand and the messaging and like what you’re putting out there. I mean, I created content when I first launched the model, mama, I, um, you know, I didn’t have any brand deals or anything. Like I kind of basically stepped away from my modeling career and my TV career to just totally focus on building this model. Mama brand and I wrote, you know, original blog articles that were published once a week.

Tara Turnure: And I did all this kind of organic content creation for like a year where I was just, you know, trying to think of, like, content that really mattered to me, that I could put out there so that people would really know what my content was all about and the message I was trying to get across. So I didn’t even try to get paid, you know, partnerships until after I basically had like a proof of concept. So I always that’s like my biggest piece of advice for aspiring content creators or influencers is like, you basically want to really spend, you know, at least six months, if not a year, really. Just like focusing on the content creation, like don’t worry about, you know, getting a paycheck because it’s really just about like showing your capability of creating content that will really resonate with people. And then you can have like examples to show. Right. And like, um, people are already sort of intrigued by, you know, what you’re doing. Obviously, I was in, you know, a fortunate position where I could sort of not make money for a year, which I know is hard for, you know, people. Um, most people. But, you know, you just have to sort of be creative in that way where you just you want to be a content creator because you’re really trying to convey a specific message and create content that really is inspiring and resonates and like is getting your messaging across. And I think that’s how brands really identify creators that they want to, you know, pay money for now.

Lee Kantor: When you were starting, did you just hit on that correct persona in the right rhythm and the type of content that worked, or was it something where you posted something and it’s like crickets and then you’re like, well, now I’m getting nervous, and then you post something else and it gets a little better and you’re like, okay, maybe I do more of that. Like, was there some iteration happening or did you.

Tara Turnure: Yeah. Yeah. Well, so yes, exactly. So when I launched when I kind of, you know, was pregnant with my son and decided to dive into this content creation thing, just to give kind of perspective, it was funny. I had 70% male audience and 30% female, and I was like, wow, this is going to be interesting because, you know, I had a lot of male followers because I was on Fox Sports and because I was a model. And, um, but my audience that I was really sort of speaking to was women, right? So I actually had to lose a lot of followers and gain the right ones. And, you know, I just kind of knew that that was the goal. And I just, you know, kept my head down and plugged away because I was like, yeah, I know that probably this, you know, all my male followers don’t really care about, like me being pregnant or me posting, you know, pictures of me and my baby. Um, so I have to sort of just be patient and try to attract a different audience. That’s really gonna appreciate the content that I’m putting out there. So I think but that’s why I think consistency is so important, because I think when you are consistent with the content that you’re putting out there, you’re going to draw in the right audience.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you remember that moment where it kind of shifted, where you’re like, okay, I got it now. Now the audience is the people that I want. Um, and the people that maybe were initially attracted to my content are kind of maybe they’re there, but they’re getting there’s more of the other and I’m attracting kind of that women community, the, you know, the people that are pregnant or they’re going through pregnancy or they want to be pregnant. That crowd is more who I’m looking for, and I can feel kind of the shift occurring. Do you remember that moment where you’re like, I think, I think I got it now?

Tara Turnure: Yeah, I think, um.

Tara Turnure: I mean, I’m trying to think that’s a really good question. I think, um, I think, you know, I mean, well, now for, for instance, now I have 70% female audience and 30% male.

Lee Kantor: Right. You’re on the other side now. Now you have momentum.

Tara Turnure: Side, which thank God. But yeah, I think um, I think it was more like the culmination of when I, like, launched. So I kind of, you know, I pivoted in my Instagram right when I was pregnant and and then over the next two years, I was developing this platform called the Model Mama. And I remember I kind of officially launched my platform, Mother’s Day 2018, and I it was just so well received, and people were so engaged with that announcement that I just, I remember then feeling like I was doing the right thing.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I mean, it was a brave thing. What you did was brave. A lot of people would want to risk. I have an audience of what you had, you know, tens of thousands of people. That’s hard by itself. And you’re putting it at risk and hoping that you get a different 10,000 plus people. That’s brave. I mean, that’s a risk.

Tara Turnure: Right? I almost had to, like, not look at my numbers, you know, like, for a while, because I had to just trust that it would, you know, the shift would happen. Um, so I kind of just, I didn’t really pay attention to, you know, losing followers or gaining followers over the course of that, like two year process. Um, I was just, I mean, one I was distracted because I was a first time mom, and so I was just sort of, you know, navigating that wild transition of life. And then two, I just, you know, I knew that I really wanted to build this platform the right way. So I had hired, you know, some web developers and marketing experts that helped me sort of bring my vision to life. Um, and just everyone says, obviously it’s easier said than done, but you know, that you just have to be patient and be consistent. So I just I really tried to focus on the end goal, you know, and not get caught in like the day to day or the frustration of, well, no one really responded to that post. You know, I mean, luckily I just had a lot of other really positive distractions in my life, like a new baby. My husband was cheering me on. My family was cheering me on. But, um, but yeah, I kind of just. But I do remember that moment, though, where I kind of announced that the model mama was live and I had 50,000 followers then, and that was really when I noticed just this, like, incredible, engaged community that felt really aligned with what I was sort of on a mission to create.

Tara Turnure: So, um, and yeah, obviously you’re so nervous, right? Anytime you launch anything you don’t want there to be crickets or people would be like, what? But, um, yeah, it was really well received. But it was really, you know, I, I sort of put, I put so much time and energy into building it the right way and really, you know, I launched it with all this, you know, kind of backlogged content and articles that I had written so that on launch day, you know, it’s not like people were just showing up to read one article. It was like they were showing up to read like ten articles and see all of this content that was, you know, hopefully inspiring and relatable, but like, you know, resonated with them and what they were going through. And, um, yeah, that was kind of like that was the real. And then, you know, shortly thereafter, I was interviewed, um, in this studio in LA about the model mama and the launch of this, you know, platform. Um, and they loved my interview so much, they asked me if I wanted to have my own show. So then I started my own. It’s called the Model Mama show. When we lived in LA, I lived in LA for like ten years, and, um, it was so much fun and that, I think really helped me draw in and even more loyal and engaged audience because basically, I sort of identified women that I wanted to have on my show that worked in different industries. So, you know, there was like this woman who I had met through friends that had, um, this fashion company, and she was designing women for or clothes for women in various stages of their life.

Tara Turnure: And she’s pivoted kind of from a corporate career to sort of being an entrepreneur. And I had her on my show. And then, um, Lauren Ireland, who’s the founder of Summer Fridays, I had her on my show because she had just Launched her Summer Fridays Jet lag mask and um, also was a new mom. So like, we talked through kind of how she pivoted in her career and and that was so fun. And I did that show for about a year and a half. Um, but then when we moved to Seattle, where my husband and I are from, I was traveling back and forth to LA from Seattle for a while, but then I found out I was pregnant with twins in August. Let’s see, when was that? 2019 and it was just too much to still do that. And then the pandemic happened. Like the plan was for sure to continue the show and, you know, resume it once I had the twins. But then, you know, the world changed so much. So then I really just dove in more to doing everything kind of centered around the content and my Instagram platform and the model. Mamma.com. And then, um, but I think my goal all along. Honestly, after working with so many brands was like, I really want to build my own brand because I feel like I know exactly what I would need to do to make it successful. After working so closely with brands and also I was like, I’m making all these other brands so much money, I feel like it’s my turn.

Lee Kantor: Exactly.

Tara Turnure: And I know what I’m doing. So I just, um, so then when I had this lightbulb moment like, oh my God, I feel like I’ve tried everything and anything under the sun to lose weight, feel great, have, like, sustainable energy, look younger. Um, when I, like, cracked this life code, as I keep calling it, which is this these peptide therapies, I was like, wow, this is like the real deal. This really works. And like, I want to bring this to life in a really meaningful way. That’s very elevated and luxurious because that’s kind of my, you know, my experience really is working with, like, high end brands. Um, and so yeah, so that was kind of the vision. And I just dove in head first. But that’s kind of how I am. Obviously, I’m sure you get that from our interview, but.

Lee Kantor: Well, congratulations.

Tara Turnure: Ask for forgiveness than permission.

Lee Kantor: Exactly. Gotta keep moving. Take action. Don’t wait. Um, yeah. Congratulations on all the success and the momentum. You’re doing such important work, and we appreciate you.

Tara Turnure: Oh, that’s so nice.

Tara Turnure: Well, I love it. You know, I mean, I think the key to being successful in anything, right, is you really. You have to love what you do. And people ask me that all the time. They’re like, well, how do you have three kids and have these two businesses? And, you know, I volunteered in my son’s classroom yesterday before our big holiday party last night. And my girlfriend was like, are you nuts? Why are you doing all this? And I’m like, to be honest, I do all of it because I love all of it. Like I. I love being a mom. I love being involved in my kids life. I love, you know, getting to know their community at school, helping. I think teachers are doing God’s work and they’re the most important people on planet Earth. I could never be a teacher, so I’m so grateful that people do that. Um, but I also love I mean, I love our team at Beauty Drip. We work so well together. We have so much fun. And I also love my team that helps me run my social media platform. I mean, we we just yeah, we have fun. And I mean, yes, there’s moments where it’s stressful and, you know, I mean, even at this stage, like just an example. This is funny. Like, you know, I, we were trying to shoot all this holiday content for my platform and for Beauty Drip and I rented this like what looked like online, this beautiful, you know, white, uh, photo shoot studio in downtown Seattle, and I checked references like, I know two people that had shot there prior. And you know, it’s if you’ve ever done a photo shoot, you know, that there’s a million moving parts and you have to bring in all this stuff and there’s just just a photographer assistant’s clothes, like all the props, like, it’s just it’s a big undertaking.

Tara Turnure: And so we show up at this studio and this was two days ago, and, I mean, the studio looked nothing like the photos. It was so dirty. It smelled bad. I mean, it was supposed to be white. It was like, covered in dirt. I mean, you couldn’t even sit anywhere. And it was just one of those moments where, you know, when you show up and you’re, you know, leading the charge. Right? Like, I could have freaked out and panicked and made everybody stressed out, but I think. I just had to be like, okay, well, we’re not shooting here. This is not gonna work. And we’re gonna pivot and it might, you know, push out some of our deliverable dates, but I’d rather do it right than wrong. And I’m, you know, obviously in this world of branding and esthetics. So I’m not gonna, like, deliver content that’s less than what was promised. So, you know, it’s funny, that’s just like the life of an entrepreneur. But I think being a mom has helped me be way more easygoing because you can you can plan every little detail of parenting and kids, but there’s always some wrench that’s thrown into the mix. And I think being a mom has also made me a better entrepreneur. And I think being an entrepreneur has made me a better mom because it just helps you be more easygoing.

Lee Kantor: Right? It teaches you patience, and you got to choose your battles and you got to kind of make it happen, figure things out on the fly. I mean, that’s every. It’s the same for parenting and the same for running a business.

Tara Turnure: Right. And also, I think people, you know, like I called the studio manager and, you know, I could have been really spicy and pissed and not nice, you know, and but it’s like, what is that gonna do? And how is that going to help anybody get to the goal? Right. So I think it’s also just like, I think you can also be nice along the way. You know, I think there’s a lot of people that think they have to not be nice to get things done or across the finish line, and I don’t agree with that at all. I think, I mean, I think it’s one thing to have a vision and to be organized and decisive, but and to, you know, be a leader and lead the charge. But I think you can be nice and have fun along the way and still be incredibly successful.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, well, if somebody wants to learn more. One more time. The website. Best way to connect.

Tara Turnure: Yeah. So our website is beauty Co. So Co. And they can also find us on Instagram at Beauty Drip Co. And then me on Instagram is just at Tara Turner. Um they can also go to the model if you want to read all of that fun lifestyle fashion beauty content.

Lee Kantor: Well Tara, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Tara Turnure: Oh, thanks for having me. This was really fun. I really appreciate it.

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

Elevating Performance Through Intentional Energy and Awareness

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High Velocity Radio
Elevating Performance Through Intentional Energy and Awareness
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In this episode, Lee Kantor interviews Rachael Schmidt, author of COMMON SIXTH SENSE. She breaks down how simple awareness can transform the way you navigate workplace stress and even spark deeper life shifts. She shares practical micro-actions like intentional planning, strategic energy breaks, and setting healthy boundaries. She discuss how to work with colleagues who have “narrow lenses,” and how tools like the Blue Line Decision-Making method can help you defuse negative energy and make clearer choices. Finally, Rachael explains how developing a “common sixth sense” can strengthen workplace culture and elevate productivity.

RACHAEL SCHMIDT, author of COMMON SIXTH SENSE, is a mindfulness-based self-development coach, mentor, and educator with more than twenty years of experience helping people awaken to their fullest potential. She has worked with teenagers, Fortune 500 leaders, and everyone in between, guiding them to live more authentic and connected lives. She teaches mindfulness integration at the graduate level and is the founder of the consultancy, Common Sixth.

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Stress emerges as an issue of energy mismanagement, along with practical approaches to correct it
  • Greater awareness supports navigating work stressors and can lead to meaningful life shifts
  • Mindful micro-actions — such as intentional daily planning, strategic energy breaks, and boundary setting — enhance workplace stress management
  • Effective strategies exist for working with team members who operate with “narrow lenses”
  • The Blue Line Decision-Making Tool provides guidance for handling negative energy and making clearer choices
  • Developing a “common sixth sense” strengthens workplace culture and boosts productivity

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is gonna be a good one. Today on the show, we have the author of the book Common Sixth Sense, and she is with the company Common Sixth, and she is Rachael Schmidt. Welcome.

Rachael Schmidt: Thank you. Thank you so much, Lee.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Let’s start with the company, Common Sixth. How are you serving folks?

Rachael Schmidt: So Common Sixth is a resource for people who want to get back to themselves. So I do a lot of mindfulness integration when it comes to organizations. Or I do a lot of work here with Florida Atlantic University. That is where I take mindfulness concepts and I integrate them into the curriculum. And so I work not only with large organizations like a university, but my true labor of love is one on one clients, people who are feeling disconnected, people who are feeling like they’ve become too dependent on external resources and they need a path back to themselves. So the company itself, I’ve been doing this for over 25 years now, has really evolved and come to bring a much larger platform, which is how the book came about, is from my clients telling me, hey, you really need to bring this message to a much larger audience. So although I wear a lot of different hats, the the main messaging is how do we get back to ourselves?

Lee Kantor: So what’s the origin story? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Rachael Schmidt: Well, I’ve always been a naturally intuitive person. And so it really organically came about from people asking my advice and perspective on things. So I ran my. My business as a referral business still is solely a referral business. Now I have the book, which just launched last week, but I found a way to leverage my natural abilities and serve others. And so it was the collision of those two things that has kept me on this path for so long.

Lee Kantor: And then when did you kind of turn it into kind of a business where you said, hey, there’s a need out there in the marketplace, and I can fill it with what I know and what I believe.

Rachael Schmidt: Well, that was pretty apparent from the very beginning, Lee, because I saw how people would respond to these personal epiphanies, these aha moments, this this realization that I already have everything I need within me. And I’ve just gotten a little bit off track. So I saw immediately that the need was out there. That was quite obvious. Um, still is, still is. Um, but in terms of creating the business, it was just something that I organically rolled with because I could see the effect that it would have on people in terms of enhancing their lives, opening their mind, creating more awareness.

Lee Kantor: Now, I understand that you saw there was a need, but was the public saying, were they self-aware enough to say, I have a need and I have challenges, and this is the path that I think is going to unlock some of this other angst or suffering that I’m going through.

Rachael Schmidt: I don’t know if they thought ahead of time, this is the path, but what I do know is that they were curious. They were curious enough to say, let me see what this is all about. And when you expose yourself to mindfulness, when you create those present moment experiences, your awareness will grow. And so it wasn’t so much about people saying, hey, mindfulness is the way. And I’m aware of that as much as it was people saying I need something and I am willing. So it was more about a willingness to explore and I would say still is. We are inundated, oversaturated with self-help resources. We’ve got more than we’ve ever had, and yet people still feel disconnected. They still feel too dependent on external influences like other people, technology, environment. So I think that the willingness is there and that is where all the magic happens. So you have people who collectively may feel disconnected, disassociated. They are certainly willing to try and to try something that might be out of their wheelhouse. And of course, a lot of my businesses, well, all of my business really, at this point, except for the book is referral business. So of course then they share with others their experience and that’s what brings in more business.

Lee Kantor: So what are some of the symptoms a person might be having where the path through mindfulness might be the solution?

Rachael Schmidt: They feel like something’s missing and they’ve been searching and they’ve been trying. And yet it still feels like something is missing. And that missing piece is most likely a reconnection with the self. They are feeling the pressures of today’s fast paced culture climate. They are feeling overwhelmed. They are feeling like, uh, they have to pick a side. Polarization. The pressures they are feeling stressed. They are feeling anxious. They are feeling like they have tried many different things and those things have been unsuccessful for them.

Lee Kantor: Now, when a person is working with you as an individual, what is kind of those initial conversations look like where you’re helping them kind of learn about mindfulness? Because I would imagine this is the first time that they’ve ever kind of dug in this deeply. But, um, maybe I’m wrong about that, but what are those? Kind of, uh, what is their pre-work is their homework. You give them, like, how does an onboarding and kind of the early sessions look like with you?

Rachael Schmidt: The early sessions are going to look like me getting a baseline Line A where a group or individual’s mindset might be. Their perspectives, their attitudes. The energy that they put off. So I’m gathering a lot of Intel in my conversations from clients and groups. And for example, I work with a lot of graduate students at Florida Atlantic. And so I’m going in and I’m gathering my own Intel based on many of those factors. Uh, and then I am exposing them to concepts and seeing how they respond. Concepts like breathwork, meditation, energy, awareness, intuition. So I’m introducing these concepts to them to kind of see where where are we, where are we today and where do we need to go? A lot of authentic conversations. Lee.

Lee Kantor: So you’re having a lot of authentic conversations with them, and are they typically quick to be vulnerable and, and, um, share or is this something you have to kind of go layer by layer in order to really get the most value out of the relationship that you’re building?

Rachael Schmidt: I found that generally people feel that the experience is very refreshing. They feel like it’s unique and they feel like there’s a longing that’s being met. They may have never had these kinds of conversations before. Certainly when you look at the work I do with the university, certainly not in education. Have they had these kinds of conversations? So they are very receptive. Now there’s always one that I got to really extract from, but they always come around. That’s what’s so incredible about this type of work because the work is not for me. The work is for you. So those that actively participate really are getting the most benefit from the experience and the work. But I have generally found that people, they have described the experience as just kind of taking that big deep breath and saying, I just needed to be reminded of all these things that I have long forgotten about.

Lee Kantor: So you think some of this is just innately you just know this. Your intuition is kind of directing you in this way, and you just kind of slowly move away from what, you know, at your core.

Rachael Schmidt: It is 100% innate. And this is what I write about and talk about in my book, Common Sixth Sense, is that we have forgotten about our most incredible, valuable tools. We have suppressed them, our intuition, our our breath. My gosh, one of the most powerful tools we have in our toolbox that we’ve just shoved down so deep that we just it’s all but forgotten. Our ability to manage energy. We have so many incredible innate gifts that we are not using to our advantage to create more peace in our life, to strengthen our relationships, to grow professionally. All the things. Absolutely, 100% Percent innate. You came with these tools.

Lee Kantor: But so how do how are we as a human species, um, taking these innate things and then kind of burying them like no one is telling us, breathe more shallow. Don’t take deep breaths. You know, rush, rush, rush. Like no one is kind of formally telling us that. But it seems like that’s the behavior that we’re exhibiting.

Rachael Schmidt: Well, we have to look at the systems that we live in and experience, and we have to take responsibility for those systems. Those systems are not designed for us. Our work environment, our our home dynamic, um, our, our work environment. They’re not designed specifically for the individual. So we have to take energetic Accountability in all of those systems, the systems are going to behave as the systems behave, right. So that’s the the the kind of why is this happening is because we’re participating in systems that are fast paced or negative or unhealthy or whatever it is in your life. You have to take your power back within the systems. And you’re right. Nobody is saying, you know, uh, breathe more shallow. We do here. Hey, take a deep breath. Just breathe. Take a break. Okay, fine. Take a deep breath. Now what? I’m in the now what department over here. We all know that it is so valuable to take to stop and take a breath. Lee, we take 20,000 breaths every day. Have you even been aware of a single breath you’ve taken today? Right. This is for everyone to contemplate. 20. You’re doing something 20,000 times a day, and most of us aren’t even aware. So we need to take our breath. And then what? What comes next after we take a breath? Well, usually we find ourselves taking a deep breath when we’ve been jolted or triggered. We are anxious, stressed out. We take our deep breath.

Rachael Schmidt: We return to our body. Now what? Well, now you’ve got to take the most connected action to keep you in line with your most authentic, connected and peaceful life. So let’s just use a real world example. We get jolted. Somebody says something that is very triggering to you. I called a wave. I called a jolt. You take your breath, you recognize that something did not resonate with you. And what I would recommend is that you do not take any action until you feel like you have returned to yourself, so you’re going to get that out of body feeling. When you get that jolt, you’re going to use your breath to come back into your body, and then you’re going to make a decision from a connected state of mind, because otherwise it is just a reaction, and a reaction is a disconnection. So we hear these things take a deep breath. Are we using them to empower our lives or are they just things we know? Oh yeah, I know. I’m supposed to take a deep breath. I really never do. But I know I’m supposed to. How can we incorporate these tools into our daily life to get ourselves recentered, to get back into the right state of mind, the right state of body, the right state of spirit, so that our next step is more in alignment with who we really are and the life we want to live.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your clients, this is though some of the activities that you’re actually doing where you’re making kind of these, um, lessons very actionable. So we’re like where you maybe even get to the point of actually scheduling or you’re going to, um, create habits around these kind of actions built around some of these mindful mindfulness techniques like deep breathing.

Rachael Schmidt: Yeah, we talk a lot about micro habits because those are much easier to integrate into our lives. So maybe a micro habit for somebody would be simply becoming aware of their breath. I’m going to spend the next week just paying attention to my breath, seeing how it works for me, how it works against me. Um. What ignites it? What? What calms it down? Just having that awareness is going to give you information. And information, as we know, is powerful not only for awareness, but for self-awareness. For someone else, it might look like, I just want to sit with myself for five minutes a day. No agenda, no expectation. Just sit with myself for somebody else. They might want to try out a, you know, get on YouTube and try out a meditation of some somebody else might want to journal for five minutes a day. Somebody else might want to set an intention. The micro habits are very, very important because they ultimately create our habits. So start small. The one thing that I would recommend that people do when they are starting micro habits is just to become aware. The first assignment is always just about awareness. We’re not trying to accomplish anything. We’re not trying to make big life shifts. We’re just trying to become aware. Maybe the epiphany for someone after they start implementing their micro habits is to say, wow, I, I really have become so much more aware of my thoughts, my attitude, uh, how I give my energy away to people without my consent, how much energy I waste on things that I don’t want to waste on anymore. The type of care I give myself. There’s so many reflective questions that come about when we just begin to have awareness. So start with a micro action. Think small, think daily. You know, we don’t want to reserve our self-connection and awareness for a yoga class or a Tuesday. We want to incorporate it into our everyday life.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with organizations when it comes to this type of work, how does that how do they implement this like throughout the company? Or does it start with maybe individuals or teams? And also how do they kind of measure the results or the success of a program like the ones you’re talking about?

Rachael Schmidt: It always starts with the key players, because we know that our mindful leaders and this is research are less stressed and They’re more resilient. They’re more adaptable, uh, less reactive, less impulsive, more intentional. I mean, and this is just the benefits of mindfulness, right? So you incorporate that in to the key leadership and you’ve got more inclusion, more collaboration. Um, we know that our mindful leaders are more self connected. They have higher emotional intelligence. And they are highly skilled at creating corporate and organizational cultures that thrive. So the key leadership is really where I like to put the initial focus because, uh, they’ve got a big responsibility, and that is to set the energetic tone of their organization or for their teams. So in terms of measurability. That is, within the individual. So the feedback that I get from people through self surveys and whatnot are all individually based. So we need our leadership to be mindful. And by the way, for anyone who’s listening and doesn’t know what is mindful, it’s staying present on purpose without judgment. Being fully present. So we all know what it feels like to interact with someone at work, especially a key leader who is present versus one that is not. So the, um, the individual, uh, I always say, like, if you can manage your energy. You benefit and every person and every environment that you come in contact with will benefit as well. It is a beautiful top to bottom trickle down, because those those key leaders that I work with initially are going to set the tone.

Lee Kantor: Now how if you’re an individual contributor, an organization, how do you recommend dealing with somebody who maybe isn’t there yet and is exhibiting some other behaviors that are causing you stress, and that you’re trying to use some of these tools and techniques in order to alleviate some of this stress that you’re feeling.

Rachael Schmidt: You have to manage your energy first. Right. You’ve got to get back in your body. You’ve got to come from a place of connectedness. And when you do interact with people who will call them energy vampires, just as a general term, you really have to decide how much of your energy you’re going to give away to that type of a person. And then you’ve got to make really difficult decisions, because a person like that can really throw off the energetic tone of the entire group. So it’s a tough decision that a leader is in when it comes to these type of scenarios. But they must protect themselves first. So I’m, I am a a big pusher of well-being and self care and all those types of things. So for somebody who is really taking care of themselves and is really connected to themselves, these types of situations are much easier to navigate because they don’t absorb all of that negative energy from the particular person. They have really good boundaries in place, energetically speaking, and there they would. They’re just more highly skilled at determining, um, what they will allow and what they won’t.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re, um, going about your work, is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates how impactful the work can be? Is there do you don’t have to name the individual, but maybe share the challenge they came to you with and how you were able to help them get to a new level?

Rachael Schmidt: Well, I would love to tell you about some of the graduate students that I work with. Um, I co-teach capstone, which is a is the last step before they are going to graduate. So for those that don’t know, a thesis is usually a one year research capstones like one semester. And this is in the criminal justice um field. So these, these students, by the time they come to me, they have not done really any public speaking or those types of things, and they are typically petrified about it. Okay. And so they’ve got to spend the whole semester researching and preparing, and then they’ve got to deliver their capstone research presentation to a room full of 60 faculty members. So it’s they’ve got they come to me and they are stressed. They are anxious. Um, they are at the tail end of their education and, uh, they just don’t have a lot of steam in their tank. So in this 13 week period, we do mindful exercises to prepare them for this presentation. So it’s less about how do you give a formal presentation? And it’s more about let’s go back. Let’s go back to the basics and get your breath under control and get your energy under control and reunite you with yourself, your authentic self, so that you can find more passion in the work that you’re doing and the research that you’re exploring.

Rachael Schmidt: And it is really incredible to see this group of people every semester go from those first couple weeks of just being so outside of theirselves, so anxious, so stressed to being so grounded and passionate and confident Because they have taken some time to reunite with themselves. And it’s a beautiful journey to witness, to send off this group of students every semester, to go follow their professional pursuits and see the evolution. It’s not about changing them. The work that I do is never about changing you. There’s nothing about you that needs to be changed. You’re you. Whether you listen to this podcast or don’t, you’re still authentically you, but just to extract it. And so it is. It is just and I feel so blessed that that I can go on this journey with people and see how much they shift and evolve and become empowered just by connecting with themselves.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more about your practice or get Ahold of your book, uh, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Rachael Schmidt: You can connect with me at common six. That’s six. And please explore Amazon to find my book. Common $0.06.

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

Rachael Schmidt: Thank you so much, Lee. I really enjoyed chatting with you. Wishing you all the best.

Lee Kantor: All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio

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