Business RadioX ®

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

Women Rising in Finance & Leadership

by

High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Women Rising in Finance & Leadership



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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee interviews Staci LaToison, an award-winning impact investor, global speaker, and bestselling author who founded Dream Big Ventures to help career-driven women advance through professional development, community, and investment opportunities. After 22 years leading global teams at Chevron, she launched Her Money Moves, a podcast sharing inspiring stories and practical strategies to strengthen women’s financial futures and leadership impact. Recognized with multiple national awards for her work in empowerment and investing, Staci also serves on several boards, including the University of Houston, Houston Hospice, Discovery Green Conservancy, and Angeles Investors.

Staci LaToison is an award-winning impact investor, global speaker, consultant, podcast host and bestselling author, founded Dream Big Ventures, a multifaceted platform focused on empowering career-driven women through professional development, community engagement, and investment opportunities.

With over 22 years of experience at Chevron managing global teams and billion-dollar budgets, including pivotal roles in China and Angola, she launched Dream Big, aimed at empowering career minded women to go places in their careers they never knew possible. Through her podcast, ‘Her Money Moves,’ she delves into inspiring journeys, offering practical tips and strategies to bolster women’s financial futures.

Emphasizing the impact of women in leadership, ‘Her Money Moves’ demonstrates how empowered women can advance industries, uplift communities, and drive the global economy forward. Under her leadership, Dream Big has orchestrated impactful workshops and invested in women-led businesses, fostering a vibrant community network.

Her dedication to women’s empowerment and financial inclusion has been acknowledged with several prestigious awards, including the 2024 Top 100 Latinos from Latino Leaders Magazine, the Mendoza Ventures Funder of the Year, Houston Business Journal Women Who Mean Business in Energy award, Chase Latina Executive Achievement Award, and the L’ATTITUDE Ventures Game Changers award, the Angeles Investors New Member of the Year award as well as the Top 30 Influential Women of Houston Awards.

Staci serves on multiple boards, including the University of Houston, Houston Hospice, Discovery Green Conservancy, Angeles Investors and is a member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association and the prestigious Women Presidents Organization.

Connect with Staci on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Inspiration and personal journey behind writing the new book Money Moves
  • Early experiences and path that led to becoming involved in finance and money management
  • Core strategies and actionable insights that readers will take away from the book
  • Key financial blind spots and lesser-known challenges people face when improving their personal finances
  • Overview of Dream Big Ventures and The Dreamgirls Foundation and their work empowering women and youth through financial literacy and entrepreneurship

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 we have award winning investor, podcaster, corporate leader, author, and founder of Dream Big Ventures, Staci LaToison. Welcome.

Staci LaToison: Hi. Thank you Lee. Happy to be here and excited to share a little bit about what I’ve been doing in my mission with your audience.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn more. So tell us a little bit about Dream Big Ventures. How are you serving folks?

Staci LaToison: You know, I I’m a single mom of two and had a corporate career at Chevron for 22 years, which, you know, I’m very grateful I learned so much and grew and oh my gosh, the amazing opportunities that I had. I was an expat and in China for five years and in Angola, Africa. So my family and I, we got a chance to travel and see the world. And I was managing billion dollar budgets and managing global teams. So I mean, it was incredible. But what I realized is, man, you know, after all this time, I’m always telling my children to chase their dreams. I said, why am I not doing the same? So in 2021, I started Dream Big Ventures, especially after learning that only 2% of VC venture capital funds are going to women and underrepresented founders. And I think actually it’s even less than that now, unfortunately. But I was like, you know, I’ve always been a person that I don’t like to talk, I do, I take action, and I’ve always been very like very, very passionate about equality, especially as a woman and, you know, working in a male dominated industry. So I decided to go out here and start investing in women and underrepresented businesses. So I’m an investor in five different venture capital funds, which are either women led or, you know, investing in women founders like portfolio. Um, Angels Investors Fund is for Latino startups. And I also invested in a women owned bank in Houston called agility Bank, a women owned winery and vineyard and a luxury boutique hotel in California. So these are just missions that, you know, I can wake up every day living in my purpose. I know that I am really Elevating our community because we’re often underestimated and overlooked. And, you know, I have a now, my daughter is 13 years old. And I mean, nothing is more important than being a role model for her so that she can see that anything is possible.

Lee Kantor: So now is your work primarily just looking for your next investment, or do you provide kind of a community or an incubator for these up and coming emerging companies that you’re even considering?

Staci LaToison: Yeah. So it’s a little bit of all of it. It’s really just grown. It started off as just investing, and then my contacts and my network is just so invaluable. It’s a treasure and it’s global. So it’s kind of also turned into how to support other women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. You know, women who’ve I’ve been in their shoes. And you know, the reason why I started my podcast? Her Money Moves, is because, you know, if you see her, you can be her. And I never saw. So I’m Puerto Rican and Cuban. I had never seen a Latina in the C-suite at Chevron and in most oil companies. And then like then I look abroad and it’s in most industries, you know, even in the beauty industry is male dominated. Isn’t that crazy? And so, um, yeah, my my podcast, Her Money Moves, I interview women CEOs and business leaders and corporate directors just so that like my daughter and this, you know, this new generation and, you know, all of the women can see these very accomplished, incredible powerhouse women who are trailblazers, but they also share strategies and they share the challenges that they went through. And so, um, I’m very, very proud and passionate about the podcast. And then that turned into also summits, because then people who are, you know, engaged in the podcast, they want to meet in person, they want to meet the women who I’ve interviewed on the podcast. And so we had our second annual summit this past September in Houston. And, you know, even had the CEO of crumble and, um, you know, the founder and CEO of Nopalera and many other women who I’ve, um, interviewed on the podcast. And, I mean, it was the energy was just incredible. And, and it’s really, really proud to have my parents there and have my children there. And, um, and to be able to share this, that kind of, um, environment, you know, with so many people and so many women.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, as you build your community, are you focusing on women who want to be entrepreneurs. Are you focusing on women who want to kind of, uh, climb the corporate ladder? Which, uh, who who is, you know, kind of the avatar for your ideal community member.

Staci LaToison: Oh, it’s it’s both of those things because, I mean, that’s that’s me, right? I mean, 22 years, I was a corporate leader climbing up the ladder and so many things that I didn’t know and didn’t realize until I left and became an entrepreneur. And even just learning about money and investing that I didn’t know. I mean, I would just go to the bank and, uh, do you know, deposit money and withdraw money and never understood how important it is to have a relationship with your banker like I do now that I’m an entrepreneur. So, um, and I didn’t I never knew that I could invest in venture capital and that I could multifamily unit homes, and I could invest in a winery and storage units and just all these things, you know, because I wasn’t exposed to it. So that’s what I’m doing is, you know, opening up the door and just bringing awareness to women who, you know, corporate leaders, women who are entrepreneurs, um, single women, single mothers, you know, anybody who wants to join.

Lee Kantor: And then when you’re having these conversations with the leaders of companies that are led by women, what are some of the things you’ve learned that you might be able to share today? What are some do’s and don’ts when you’re building a, you know, a firm from nothing?

Staci LaToison: Oh, how much time do you have, Lee?

Lee Kantor: All the time in the world for you?

Staci LaToison: Wow. You know, I have interviewed women who sold their businesses for $1 billion. You know, for me, the biggest lesson in that was that to learn their story, that, you know, they didn’t come from a well-to-do background. Um, they really put their their heart in their hustle every single day. And, uh, and that it takes time. I think that’s the biggest, the biggest lesson that I have learned as an entrepreneur, um, you know, always been very an overachiever. And I want things now and done right away and, um, you know, and, and big visionary. But it actually, you know, it’s a marathon. It’s not a race. And especially if you want a company that is going to be sustainable. Um, you know, it’s it’s like it’s baby steps every single day growing your team. Um, but, you know, continuing to stay focused on sales, how important that is without revenue and profit, you know, you really don’t have a business, um, you know, being a good leader and just continuing to believe in yourself because you’re going to get so many no’s. So you have to stay resilient and know that no means next opportunity.

Lee Kantor: Now let’s talk a little bit. You mentioned it briefly. Kind of the financial side, the money side, the revenue side. Um. Was that kind of the impetus, um, for you to write your new book, Money Moves? Did you want to really make sure that that message got out there and that that there’s a real understanding that you have to get this component right if you want to grow anything?

Staci LaToison: Lee, I wrote this book because financial literacy is lacking in our communities. It’s not in our it’s not in the curriculum in our schools. It’s we don’t talk about it with our families at home. And yet every single day of our lives, we have to make a financial decision. So this book is a tool to equip the general population because there are some gatekeepers. There’s lots there’s people who work in finance who know how to navigate very well, but the majority of the population doesn’t. And that’s why so many people are living paycheck to paycheck and they are struggling and, you know, having to rent their entire lives, having to work their entire lives with no retirement, no savings. So this is my my mission and my gift to the world to give some tips and raise awareness. And I believe this book should be in everyone’s hands. Every student, you know, college students, they go on campus and they’re just, hey, fill out this credit card application. You can get free money without any training, without any education behind it to let them know, like what they’re getting into. And then they end up graduating with debt, you know, and feeling ashamed about it. So and this is to help fix that, to build confidence, financial confidence. Because, you know, we need to know it. We know so many other things. You know in school they teach us geometry and algebra and like when do we ever use that. But every single day of our lives we have to make a financial decision. So this is to help normalize money talks. We should be talking about it with our kids. We should be talking about it with your partners. You should be talking about it with your friends. Um, so that’s what that was the impetus for me writing Money Moves.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think it’s such a disservice that they don’t teach the power of compounding when it comes to finance, uh, at a very early age. So, so people understand that that is going to pay off the sooner you start getting that habit ingrained into your lifestyle? Yes, the bigger impact that’s going to have future you is going to never be mad at present. You. If you’re investing in the future because of the power of compounding.

Staci LaToison: Absolutely. Future you is going to be so grateful. Thank you for passing on those new shoes or that Starbucks coffee and that, you know, and thank you for instead investing it because, wow, it has multiplied beyond your imagination because you made smart money moves.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, you mentioned that some of the ways that you serve your community are through writing this book, obviously through your podcast, through the summit, um, and investing in emerging, uh, companies. How do people typically kind of plug into the community? Is it is it first through the podcast and then they kind of see all the other things? Or is there do you do things like in person, uh, Person where you’re based on a regular basis or have kind of virtual meetups, like how do you kind of get create the engagement amongst your community members?

Staci LaToison: Yeah. So the Her Money Move summit, we held it in Houston the last two years in person, and I’m going to be bringing it on the road, um, taking it to New York and LA. Um, and, um, you know, so we can reach where our audience is, um, and also going to universities. So I’ve been doing a lot of in-person book signings with different organizations. Um, you know, for like Latina Equal Pay Day, I, we did a golf outing with a lot of Latina, um, associates. And so that was amazing. Um, I’m also on the board of Angela’s investors, and we have quarterly investor summits. So, you know, I’m usually there to, um, either hosting and recording the podcast or hosting, you know, a book signing. Um. Oh, and then in August, um, the C.J. Stroud Foundation. So the Texans quarterback, C.J. Stroud, he has a foundation that because his mom, you know, was a single mom and oh my God, their family is so amazing. So, so amazing. Um, and I interviewed her on the podcast, but I spoke at the event and each of the single mothers who were there got a copy of the Money Moves book. So I’ve been working with various organizations to ensure that their, um, community gets a copy.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, if there’s a woman owned business, uh, that’s looking for funding, how do they even get on your radar?

Staci LaToison: Well, they can send me an email. They can go to my website and there’s an intake form. So my website is Staci. Com. Um, I also have the Dream Big Ventures LLC. Com. Um, you know, they can also subscribe to the podcast. Um, they can order the book online at Amazon. And now it’s also available on Kindle.

Lee Kantor: So there’s ways for them. So you’re open to having conversations with any, um, business owner.

Staci LaToison: Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: So like they can have an idea on a napkin at that stage. Or are you looking for ones that already have some traction or are already generating some revenue?

Staci LaToison: I mean, I’m always looking for traction. You know, that you’ve you’ve got. Yes, always. Traction comes first. However, I’m also a very, very generous, um, with my time and want to help others who do have just that idea on the napkin. And, and I’m often available for many, many, many women, um, who just want to run an idea by me, you know, to help them, help guide them, or connect them with someone else that can help them at this stage or with their particular thesis.

Lee Kantor: And the and the companies you work with, are they in a specific industry or niche or. I know your background’s in oil and gas. Is that kind of where you’re looking or are you kind of industry agnostic? What what types of companies are you most interested in?

Staci LaToison: Um, I have been so like I said, I’m in the five funds that I’ve invested in. It varies. One of them with Mendoza Ventures, they are cybersecurity, AI and uh, and fintech. Um, with angel investors, it’s all it’s agnostic. Um, well, it’s most of them are all seed stage. So that’s that’s what I’ve been investing in so far. Um, and as far as Dream Big Ventures been looking at energy, um, in health tech since that’s kind of a big for for Houston. And kind of my background is more in the energy.

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

Staci LaToison: Yeah, I mean, just getting the word out. The more, uh, getting organizations to reach out, um, to sponsor a bulk order of the books so that we can ensure that we equip students and universities, single mothers, domestic violence victims, you know, nonprofits with the book, um, young professionals, I mean, you name it. And everyone can benefit from from the book. Um, and also subscribing to the podcast, there’s, you know, it’s free. It’s on YouTube and Spotify and anyone can learn and grow just from tuning in.

Lee Kantor: And then they can learn more about everything at your website. Uh, Stacey? Stacey. I l a t I o n.com.

Staci LaToison: That’s correct.

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

Staci LaToison: Thank you so much, Lee. It has been a pleasure and I appreciate your invitation and this opportunity. I hope to meet you in person one day.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, it might be sooner than you think. All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Building a Diverse Marketing Community: Lessons from the AMA Atlanta Chapter

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Building a Diverse Marketing Community: Lessons from the AMA Atlanta Chapter



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In this episode of Atlanta Business Radio, Lee interviews Paul Carpenter, president of the AMA Atlanta chapter, about the evolving marketing landscape. They discuss the blurring lines between marketing, PR, and digital media, the importance of trust and authenticity, and the impact of AI. Paul highlights AMA Atlanta’s commitment to creativity, connection, and community, supporting marketers from students to professionals. They also explore Atlanta’s creative economy, Brand Week highlights, and the potential for commercial production growth. The conversation emphasizes inclusivity, transparency, and nurturing future marketing talent in Atlanta’s vibrant business community.

Paul Carpenter is a seasoned marketing leader, client relationship builder, and creative strategist with over 25 years of experience shaping brands and telling stories that connect. Currently serving as President of AMA Atlanta, he is on a mission to build stronger bridges between Georgia’s marketing, advertising, and entertainment industries — all critical forces within the state’s thriving creative economy.

His career spans agency leadership, video production, and brand storytelling, with a through-line that ties every chapter back to one thing: making meaningful ideas move. Paul has worked across nearly every corner of marketing — from digital strategy to brand development to content creation — helping brands show up in ways that are culturally relevant and commercially effective.

In addition to leading strategy and business development for agencies and production studios, Paul has been deeply involved in elevating Atlanta’s creative landscape. Through AMA Atlanta, he is working to create more intentional collaboration between marketers, filmmakers, production crews, and creative technologists across the region.

He believes the future of content isn’t about choosing between advertising and entertainment. It’s about building connective tissue between them — and creating work that doesn’t just sell, but sticks.

Follow AMA on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • The evolving landscape of marketing in the digital age.
  • The merging of marketing, advertising, public relations, and digital media.
  • Challenges related to consumer trust and authenticity in marketing.
  • The role of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Atlanta chapter in supporting marketing professionals.
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on marketing and consumer trust.
  • The importance of transparency and disclosure in marketing practices.
  • The concept of “edutainment” and storytelling in engaging audiences.
  • Highlights from Brand Week in Atlanta and notable marketing campaigns.
  • The creative economy in Atlanta and opportunities for growth in commercial production.
  • Strategies for serving a diverse membership base within the marketing community.

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, Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program. Without them, we wouldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on the show, we have the president of the American Marketing Association Atlanta chapter, Paul Carpenter. Welcome.

Paul Carpenter: Hey, Lee, how are you?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well for folks who aren’t familiar. You mind sharing a little bit about the AMA? How are you serving folks?

Paul Carpenter: Yeah, absolutely. Well, first off, thank you for having me on the show. The American Marketing Association is a nationwide association. It happens to be the largest marketing organization in the country. Atlanta is actually the second largest chapter out of about 70 professional chapters across the US. And again, Atlanta being number two in that category. And we basically serve as AMA National serves as really the thought leader, the best practices, the marketing journal that really fuels a lot of our collegiate students that come up through marketing. So as a local chapter, it’s one of our goals to not just only serve the Brands that are here in Atlanta, the agencies and the marketers, but also to, as I like to put it, leave it better than we found it for our Deca high school students that are coming up as emerging marketers and are collegiate marketers that are with our chapters like Kennesaw State, UGA, Georgia State, the HBCUs. We have a Clark Atlanta chapter. So it’s pretty amazing. And so we yeah, we kind of cover the gamut. If it’s if it’s marketing or advertising, we’re in it.

Lee Kantor: Now. How are you addressing kind of the blurring of the lines between marketing, advertising, PR, you know, and you throw in social media in there, digital and all that stuff, like where does it begin and end or does it or is it all just one, you know, Kumbaya?

Paul Carpenter: I, I, I’m laughing at it because I think back in the day, everybody used to have swim lanes. And I do believe that there are there are definitely disciplines between each of those things that you mentioned in today’s day and age, with the way media consumption is and the proliferation of content. It almost doesn’t matter. You can put digital in front of marketing, and a lot of people do that. But at the. I mean, let’s face it, marketing is digital marketing is kind of the lifeblood of any business, honestly. So I think it’s I think I think the swim lanes, it’s actually a blue ocean and everybody’s trying to swim together. Some are drowning, but others are are really paddling. And, you know, kind of keeping the every the business afloat, if you will.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you finding that consumers are kind of inoculated from marketing that or suspicious of it or more suspicious of it today than they were in the past because of, like you’re saying that it is a blue ocean in that it’s everywhere. And now people don’t know what’s marketing, what’s real, what’s, you know, unbiased. That information and content is, is so is out there everywhere, so ubiquitous that you can’t discern between marketing or entertainment or or information.

Paul Carpenter: Well, Lee, you kind of took the words right out of my mouth there, and we haven’t even talked yet. So it’s kind of amazing. I do believe in many ways it’s hard to tell what is or isn’t marketing. The I do feel that there is a greater sense of mistrust, and it’s actually an event that we had recently with the likes of Newell, UPS and Edelman. We actually just had a had an event in mid-October that talked about trust in this, in this day and age and how winning trust is actually the thing that is unlocking, I think, a lot of potential for brands. It you know, we talk a lot about authenticity, but at the same time we’re talking about artificial intelligence. And I find that talking out of both sides of that mouth is really odd. How can you talk about artificial and authenticity at the same time? So yeah, I think the I think the worlds are blurring. And you mentioned entertainment. We’re watching brands right now go through, I think, a kind of a renaissance of what used to be way back in the day, probably way before I was born as well. But that style of advertorials, edutainment in a way that, you know, drink your Ovaltine and that sort of thing as it was a part of as it was a part of culture and storytelling and long form and brands kind of owned that for a little while. And then I think we got away from it and moved very much into a very pay to play paid media programmatic. You know, it’s out there, it’s not going anywhere. But we we lost a little bit of that, that, that moxie, if you will, of really good deep storytelling that drew the audience in and actually entertained the audience as much as it did push a product or service.

Lee Kantor: Now, is it part of The Amaz! I mean, values or maybe it’s mission to create a sense of, okay, we have certain rules that we’re going to follow. If you’re a member, then, you know, you can’t not disclose that this is marketing material. Like you can’t like you said, there’s so much pay to play out there, and this is one of my pet peeves, just in media that a lot of times the the consumer of the media doesn’t realize that the media has been paid for by somebody and that maybe that restaurant didn’t just kind of randomly appear on that show, that they paid to be on that show. And unless you are got a magnifying glass, you may not be able to discern that that really happened.

Paul Carpenter: Yeah. I don’t know if I have a great answer for you on this as much as a word that popped in as you were saying that. And I think about relevancy if if it’s relevant and it’s a part of the story and I and again, I’m this is not dating myself, but I do watch a lot of documentaries. I am fascinated by cooking and the and I go back to one of the I feel like one of the early adopters Was in this. And then she pushed back. And that was Julia Child. You know, she she had such a great audience. She was very authentic. She cooked, she tried to educate as she was educating people on how to cook meals instead of, you know, you know, whipping something together or eventually going into a microwave. She she attracted a lot of brands, but those brands were very relevant to what she was trying to do. Ultimately, she ended up kicking those brands out because it it took over from what she was trying to do. And so I think that there’s a correlation here to what you were saying or asking and how it how it applies today to a brand or a service being relevant to the story and the audience that they’re serving. Does that help?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, I think relevance is important, but I also think full disclosure is important. Yeah, well, it’s like, for example, this show is sponsored by CSU’s executive MBA program. If all of a sudden I don’t mention that at all at the beginning, and we just talk and I’m like, you know, who has a good marketing program, CSU’s executive MBA program. That’s the go to place for, you know, marketing. Like, if I do that and I’m not telling anyone, you know, that the show is sponsored by them, then they don’t know that it’s not fair. I have information they don’t have, and I just find a lot of marketing has information the consumer doesn’t have and isn’t disclosing it. And that’s creating this level of distrust where people just blow by commercials and they don’t even want to hear it because they don’t want to be sold to they don’t trust the brand.

Paul Carpenter: Now, I think you and I can talk about this for for a while, and I think a lot of your listeners probably feel this way as well. And, you know, again, not not to bring up the two letters of the year, but AI is only making that even worse, if you will. If you’re not disclosing that you created this ad or this visual using AI. You know what’s funny is I have a 2019 and 18 year old or 2019 and 16 and they can they can spot it from a mile away. And, you know, I do think that it goes back to this relevancy, your trust. I do think if you are disclosing it, that automatically elevates that level of trust. And and I think it has I think it’s eroded over the years primarily due to what was once and it still kind of is a black box of digital, everything being kind of behind a bot. And it makes it really hard for the for the end user or consumer to go, hey, you know what? Why did I get served this? A lot of people don’t understand it. And I, I get I crack up when I’m scrolling through feeds and going or, you know, on YouTube, and suddenly I get an ad for, you know, something that my wife buys. I’m like, yeah, that makes sense, I get it. But it’s like, I do wish that there was a better level of disclosure, but we gave up that right back in probably between 2004 and 2008, when we all checked the box on Facebook or Twitter back then and said, sure, you can have our data. And yeah, I want relevant ads. That’s what we were asking for back then. And how has that turned out today? It’s like now it’s just a bucket of noise.

Lee Kantor: Right? And the people are just not looking at it anymore. I mean. Correct. So I mean, it was a double edged sword. So it is, you know, you one, you can get to feed me an ad because my wife and I had a conversation about something and all of a sudden the ad pops up in her feed. But you lose me caring or paying attention. I mean, you might get to count that as an impression. And, you know, somebody high fiving in some boardroom because they got a lot of impressions. But, you know, is it really translating into revenue down the line or just people not even seeing it anymore?

Paul Carpenter: That’s right. That’s right.

Lee Kantor: Now, recently, Brandweek came to town. Can you talk about why that was important for the AMA to have bring the folks at Brandweek here?

Paul Carpenter: Yeah, absolutely. And to be honest, Brandweek is one of the major activations for Adweek, which is one of the largest publications that anybody in the marketing and advertising space probably has a subscription to in some way, shape or form. Them coming into Atlanta this year, really, we found out about it kind of through through circles and talking, probably back in May or June. And when? When I heard about it and, and went to the website and started to look about look at last year’s activations, which was it was in Scottsdale, Arizona, I believe. And then the previous year it was in Miami. They, you know, there was Advertising Week just up in New York prior them coming to Atlanta and bringing the level of brand leaders, entertainers. Uh, Elizabeth Banks was there, Sanjay Gupta, Wyclef Jean, it was it was star studded, uh, star studded event. It was a three day conference downtown Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, them coming here to me and to the board for AMA. It it signaled that wait a second, what we’ve been talking about and the reason why AMA Atlanta probably sits at that number two spot, only behind Chicago, by the way, which is the ad capital. It it it really elevated something in our minds that said, all right, Atlanta is not just the home of, you know, some of the best sporting organizations on the planet, the the home for film and television for the past 12 to 15 years, some would say the home of hip hop, the home of southern hospitality and the home of all of these amazing brands that we have in this town.

Paul Carpenter: It’s advertising is coming here. They’re almost doing their little Super Bowl of of ads here. And we said, we’ve got to get involved somehow. And I don’t think there’s ever been that correlation between the American Marketing Association and Adweek to this level, and we just interjected ourselves. And I have to give a shout out to Sharon Harris on this. She really did a lot of, a lot of work to help getting us within the programing in which we did. And we brought to the table heads of brands for Georgia-Pacific, IHG and Coca-Cola. And we really showcased how those three brands are not just Atlanta based brands and household brands, but they are they are doing things that are creatively that are leaning into a new level of creation. Georgia-pacific showed their Angel soft ad that was right before the halftime show for the Super Bowl called Party Tonight, and the the creative strategy that was born out of Atlanta To to come up with that idea, to tell the entire country, go take a bathroom bathroom break right now before the Super Bowl, before the halftime show comes on was ingenious, and it absolutely poured in the types of impressions and and media mentions and things like that. And then with Coca-Cola, we showed some really good work that they have done where they are bleeding into entertainment.

Paul Carpenter: One that is one of my favorites was something called The New Guy, and it was a minute and a half spot, and it was done in collaboration with an Atlanta agency here called majority. And it was also done in collaboration with Christopher Storer, who is the writer and creator of The Bear. And so they ended up doing a bear esque type of commercial featuring Coca-Cola, obviously, within this holiday gathering. And for anyone that’s a fan of the bear and they watch this spot, you immediately see the intentionality and the style and the pacing. And oh, by the way, that ad was aired right after Jeremy Allen White won his Emmy for Best actor for The Bear. And so it’s, you know, you’re starting to see these worlds of entertainment and brand and marketing and advertising just all kind of mashing up because we’re looking for I feel like the audiences are looking for something more right now. We’ve gone through a 25 years of digital diet of of content. And I think we’re sitting at a point where a lot of audiences want a little bit more. They want something a little deeper. And so yeah, having Brand Week here really signified something for us and me personally, that Advertising and marketing in this town can actually help make up some of the deficit that we’ve been feeling in the film and television community for the past two years, since the writers strike in 2023. So yeah.

Lee Kantor: Now, as the leader of the AMA, what kind of is your vision of the next few years here in Atlanta? It sounds like you’re really leaning into this kind of Atlanta creative economy and trying to position Atlanta more as that creative center when it comes to innovation, leadership and marketing. Now, how what what are wins for you? Like, what are you going to be high fiving with your team at the end of your tenure as president?

Paul Carpenter: First, I’ll be high fiving the fact that we did it, that we came, that we made it another year. You know, we are a volunteer led organization. And and everybody on the board really just steps up because they believe in the power of connection, Creativity and building a community so that we can, like I said earlier, leave it better than we found it. And so my two high fives, two hands. One is if we can double the amount of scholarships that we give out to our Deca and collegiate students, that’s number one. Everything that we do, we try to put back into a give back initiative that hands out scholarships. So that’s number one. The second hand of the high five is now at high ten would be if we started to see the state of Georgia market ourselves, market the state as a destination for commercial production. That would be my second high five because I there is an there is a major opportunity here sitting in front of us where a lot of our hometown brands don’t even know this, that if you end up shooting your commercial here in the state of Georgia. It’s the same incentive that film and television has. It extends over to commercial production. So that means you can get up to 20%, actually up to 30 with some other stipulations. But I like to start at 20 and go. If you are shooting that commercial here in the state of Georgia, you’re going to get back 20%. It’s a tax credit right there that can spark your next your next commercial or, you know, social media or whatever else. But that is a savings that enticed studios to move a lot of their productions to Atlanta over the last 15 years. Why can’t we use that same incentive which does exist? Use that same incentive to incentivize brands to come here and even our brands here in town. Why can’t our brands here in town leverage that ruled that exist for them now.

Lee Kantor: Any advice for leaders of associations that have different types of constituents? Like on one hand, you have these mega enterprise brands. On the other hand, you have, you know, a high school kid with a dream of being in marketing. And you have everything in between. You have agencies. You have, I’m sure, influencers, you have solopreneurs, you have big, big companies, little companies. How do you kind of create a community where they all feel welcome and that they want to create, you know, they want to engage and they want to collaborate?

Paul Carpenter: Yeah. Lee, that it’s again, it’s like it’s like we’ve met before. And we talked. We had a pre-interview on this. What’s what’s very interesting about that is at the beginning of my term, I really wanted to simplify something with our mission statement and our mission statement still ends up being very much around creativity, connection, and community. It’s a that’s what we’re trying to build and it’s to drive those creative aspirations. But it was it was a lot of C’s that actually kind of came to came to mind for me. And I went, wait a second, creative, if we think about it outside of pixels and pictures and things like that, it’s actually just the human spark, right? It’s our imagination that starts creating the creative process. And then when you are or are moving into that imaginative world, you look for those connections, other like minded or like valued folks that you can connect with. When you do that and you have that shared kind of purpose, you’re now creating a community. And so I took all of that and I said, wait a second. All of those combined is really nothing more than a giving people a sense that they can be long. And because marketing is so extremely diverse, from the creative side to the very analytical side, to project management, to account management, to age, you know, from somebody who is very new in their career and they’re very tapped into culture, to those who have some of the battle scars and the wisdom that help guide it is a very, very diverse industry.

Paul Carpenter: So I think we need to create a diverse community. And you can only do that by saying, listen, everybody’s welcome. And you and you just start there. And I think, you know, again, what better place than Atlanta where we we are, we exude southern hospitality. I interviewed Steve Koonin a about a year and a half ago. And one of the things that he he says that made him, I think, very successful is just to inject a little bit of that southern hospitality and then people don’t leave. And I think there’s a there are a lot of case studies out there where people moved here shortly after the Olympics or during the Olympics, and they couldn’t leave. And that’s a that’s another testament to, I think, the charm and the hospitality and the belongingness that we have in this city. So we start there, and then we end by giving back to our to our collegiate and Deca students.

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

Paul Carpenter: Oh, wow. I mean, just this amplification, having this platform, the shared vision that I think it sounds like you and I also have and going wait a second. Marketing doesn’t have to be this four letter word, and we’ve somehow turned it into one. It can actually be reputable. It should be reputable. That’s what brand stands for anyway. And it’s a place where everybody belongs and our creativity can flourish and we can use commerce for good. So I appreciate the opportunity. And yeah, just want to keep shouting out AMA Atlanta and getting involved because we want to leave it better than we found it.

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

Paul Carpenter: That’s thanks for asking. It would be a m a hyphen atlanta.com. Well Paul and also you can find us on LinkedIn. We’re very active on LinkedIn. So AMA Atlanta.

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

Paul Carpenter: Thank you. Lee, I really appreciate you as well. Thanks for getting it out.

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

The Virtual Visionary: Building Momentum in Digital Marketing

by

High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
The Virtual Visionary: Building Momentum in Digital Marketing



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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee Kantor interviews Sean Boyle, CEO of Momentum 360, a Philadelphia-based digital marketing agency. Sean shares how Momentum 360 evolved from offering virtual tours during the pandemic to providing full-scale marketing services, especially for real estate professionals. He discusses practical marketing strategies, the importance of local focus, and expanding into healthcare marketing. Sean also highlights the agency’s national reach through local partnerships and shares success stories, emphasizing adaptability, compassionate messaging, and the value of building trust with clients. The episode concludes with resources for listeners seeking marketing guidance.

Sean Boyle is a serial entrepreneur, commanding a 7-figure digital marketing agency called Momentum 360. He also Founded “The Sean Boyle Podcast”, a weekly podcast on entrepreneurship, investing and lifestyle.

In his free time, you can find him working hard at the gym, training jiu-jitsu, reading self-improvement books and dining at some of the best restaurants in Philadelphia.

He grew up just outside of Philadelphia in a town called Whitemarsh. Growing up, Sean played many different sports, traded baseball cards and founded lemonade stands. Entrepreneurship has always been in his blood.

He graduated from Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia, The oldest catholic high school in America. He also graduated from Penn State in 2020 with a BA in Advertising and an unofficial minor in Spanish.

Connect with Sean on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Evolution of Momentum 360 from virtual tours to a full-scale digital marketing agency.
  • Origin story of the company, including personal challenges faced by the CEO.
  • Partnership with a former Google employee to combine video production and digital marketing.
  • Marketing strategies for real estate agents, including optimizing Google Business Profiles and using Google Local Service Ads.
  • Importance of engaging in podcasts and radio shows for branding and authority building.
  • National operation model through partnerships with local contractors for service delivery.
  • Tailoring marketing strategies based on market size and competition.
  • Challenges in the real estate industry, including cash flow and transaction irregularity.
  • Strategic pivot towards healthcare marketing, particularly in hospice and related services.
  • Emphasis on compassionate messaging in sensitive healthcare marketing contexts.

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 CEO of Momentum 360. Sean Boyle, welcome.

Sean Boyle: Oh, Lee, thank you so much for the introduction, man. How you doing?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. I know our listeners are going to learn a lot. So if you don’t mind share a little bit about momentum.

Sean Boyle: 360 yeah, for sure. So we’re pretty much a full scale digital marketing agency based in Philadelphia. Started off doing a lot of virtual tours during Covid. Those were very, you know, needed in that day and age. But yeah, we’ve kind of gravitated and elevated towards a full scale agency, adds SEO, web design, all that stuff.

Lee Kantor: And it’s focused primarily in the real estate industry.

Sean Boyle: Yeah, exactly. That’s where we got our start. That’s where we continue to pour a lot of our investments in personal investments, as well as the companies, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, commercial, residential, industrial, you name it, we do it.

Lee Kantor: And so what was the genesis of the idea? How did this come about?

Sean Boyle: Well, it was a very interesting story to take you back into college. Lee. My father at the time, he and I’ll save the audience from a long story. I’ll just get right to the chase. But he ended up actually going to prison, interestingly enough. And I said to myself, I’m like, wow. Like I need to kind of make something of myself now. There was a huge financial hole in what we were doing, and there was just a point in time where I actually met my now current business partner of, I think, what, like 6 or 7 years, Mac Frederick, who he used to work for Google. I was a Google trusted photographer at the time, so we kind of met, and that was kind of the genesis of everything. We said, hey, let’s do it, let’s partner up, let’s see what we can do. I run the video side and he does more of the digital side. That’s starting to kind of align to the kind of one, one singular company now. But it’s been crazy, man. It’s really crazy. My my father was incarcerated for about 48 months, and when he got out, you know, it was so I guess kind of unbelievable that I was able to show him, like, this whole new world that I was able to kind of bring out. And I’ve actually, you know, employed him on some things himself. So it was it’s been a really fun ride. I’ll just say that it’s been a really fun ride.

Lee Kantor: So then initially, so you were partnering with somebody, a Google background and then your video background. Um, then together you’re like, okay, how can we just combine these two strengths and to make something that’s really powerful for potential clients?

Sean Boyle: Yeah, because there really hasn’t been a marketing company that’s had both of those services before. At least in Philadelphia. You know where we are. Where okay, you might have had someone who can do website stuff and SEO and ads, but they’re lacking the video and then vice versa. You might have a video company, but they’re not able to do the SEO, the website, the ads, all that stuff. So we married the two services and here we are you know multi seven figure agency in about you know ten year span.

Lee Kantor: Now and then real estate I guess was kind of a logical launching point because of the need for virtual tours.

Sean Boyle: Yeah I mean and it made sense too right. Because during Covid when I was actually in the process of graduating from Penn State, it was completely needed. You know, these companies such as gyms and hospitals and, you know, manufacturing facilities, what have you needed these services because people needed to be online. They couldn’t be in person, obviously, to check out, oh, you know, this gym that I really want to go to or oh, maybe this restaurant I want to go to. So it was actually the springboard of where we’re actually able to get number two on the fastest growing companies in the city of Philadelphia, I think it was back in 2023. So that’s ultimately how we were able to to generate that.

Lee Kantor: Now what’s your advice for okay, let’s just keep let’s just stay in the lane of real estate for a minute. So say you’re a real estate agent somewhere in the country. Um, the odds are, obviously they don’t have the expertise that your firm has when it is, you know, regarding a go to market strategy. What are some what’s some advice for a real estate agent in a market right now? Um, what should be what should they be doing and what shouldn’t they be doing?

Sean Boyle: Well, first I’ll say is you got to have some some cojones to be a real estate agent in 2025. It’s not like it used to be, my friend. We’re in 21, 22. Everyone was selling everything, right? And people were were very, very wealthy and well off at least the majority of people. Right. Um, you know, if there were three things, Lee, I would say for the most part, the average real estate to do to get more leads. Number one would be to optimize and create your Google business profile. It’s totally free to do. You can get reviews, post on there, or grow your local SEO. Very good thing. Second thing is, I would take that Google profile and I would elevate it to where you can run Google Local service ads, which is actually a pay per lead model. So if you don’t get any leads, you don’t spend any money. So it’s a good kind of two way street where you’re getting the leads that you want and you’re not getting leads that you don’t want. So that’s number two. And then number three. And this is more of a long term solution. Man is hopping on podcasts and radio stations like this. Like awesome guest hosts like you Lee where you know you’re putting your story out there, you’re getting clips, you’re getting content ultimately and be able able to actually put on your personal website for branding and marketing, to be able to kind of show people, hey, here’s some free value. Here’s kind of what I know what I’m talking about because I’ve been on all these shows. That’s what I would honestly recommend.

Lee Kantor: So, uh, and that would work even if, like if you’re in a local market. The thing that’s challenging, at least in my mind, and maybe it’s not so much, is that the internet is the world. But most people, especially small to mid sized business owners, are in a local market. So while the internet reaches the planet, you really care about getting 1020 20 new customers. You know, in Philadelphia, you know, you don’t care about you know, it’d be great if I got somebody from Iowa, but the odds are I’m going to get my next person from my neighborhood.

Sean Boyle: That’s very true. And an even more concrete reason to do the things that I listed where with the Google profile, the first thing I mentioned, you’re trying to find people locally, people who Google, let’s just use an example. Realtors in Philadelphia, right? They Google that. And if your business profile shows up at the top, you’re going to start getting calls, you’re going to start getting leads. And that’s ultimately how you can springboard a lot of those rankings into ultimately clients.

Lee Kantor: Now in your business, the virtual tour. Uh, I’m sure that’s still part of your business, right?

Sean Boyle: Yes.

Lee Kantor: And, um, so how do you kind of deliver the service in markets all over the country? Do you have like a team of photographers or people that take the pictures everywhere? Like, like how does that work?

Sean Boyle: So you want to know what I did? Um, I wasn’t. You’re not able to do it now, unfortunately. But what I did was, uh, looking back, I think it was actually a half decent idea. I created about 50 Google business profiles across the nation because we were based in Philadelphia. And I was like, well, I don’t just want to be in Philadelphia. I want to be in Cincinnati, Boston, Chicago, LA, all those places, right? And ultimately, I found contractors who were in those states who I could use as the, quote unquote, boots on the ground for momentum had them, you know, NDA oh, when you’re with us, you’re under momentum, 360 jurisdiction, blah, blah, blah, all that legal jargon, right? And over time, this is still how we operate, where we get so many people reaching out to us on our general email. Hey, can I work with you guys? I’m based in Chicago or I’m based in Baltimore, what have you. Right. Um, funny enough, we actually are, you know, starting to have a lot of success overseas, interestingly enough, into, like, the Spanish, Spanish, um, markets as well as the European markets. So I’m really excited for that. But it’s really it just started from having a Google profile, verifying it, getting the leads and then, oh, I’m going to need someone to do the shoots right locally. So I went up and called these contractors and started to build a relationship. And ultimately over time, that’s kind of how we started to, uh, to make it happen. So it was a pretty, pretty crazy story.

Lee Kantor: Now, is the business, uh, delivering a virtual tour service to, like, real estate folks, or is it a real estate business that you’re helping? You know, you’re hoping to sell a house somewhere using a virtual tour as a tool?

Sean Boyle: Well, that’s an interesting question, my friend, because, uh, the second part of that question, I think there’s definitely some room for discussion with that in the future years of how we see momentum. But no, currently it’s a marketing company that focuses on real estate brokers, uh, people entitled Realtors themselves, um, what have you. So we’re primarily focusing on serving those types of people.

Lee Kantor: And then the virtual tour is just one of the ways you serve them.

Sean Boyle: Yeah. It’s like, you know, if you had a huge penthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, you know, where the show is or whatever. And if you, you know, wanted to sell it, you would contact my company to do some photos, virtual tours, videos, what have you post on social media maybe, and leave. What happens is we’ve actually seen an increase of about $50,000 in the overall asking price and about, I would say a 20. I think it’s 28 between 29% faster close rate from the content we generate. So we’re actually able to really help a lot of clients sell their property faster and get paid more for doing it.

Lee Kantor: Just that. That’s just the power of a good, well produced virtual tour.

Sean Boyle: Yeah, I mean, there’s so many different kinds of it, man. Like, have you heard of Matterport before by any chance?

Lee Kantor: No, I’m not familiar. Um, real estate isn’t my first language. So, uh, you know, I have a house, but I’m not, like, kind of immersed in the industry.

Sean Boyle: Matterport is probably the most popular. It’s on the stock exchange. You can buy it as a stock, right? The New York Stock Exchange, um, there’s other ones, such as 3D Vista, Cloud Painter. So really, at the end of the day, it’s all about what the client needs because you might need a different virtual tour software for a different client who needs a specific thing. You know, there’s not one size fits all at my company. The beautiful thing is we actually take multiple softwares and we make it our own. And each individual project is very unique in that sense where we’re able to instead of building a cookie cutter model out, we use all of these different virtual tours and different capacities. Drone footage, aerial footage, interior exterior footage, just to make the perfect tour that’s going to sell, um, and just give people what they want to see.

Lee Kantor: And then so you partner with kind of a real estate firm, and then they just have all their agents use your service whenever they have a listing.

Sean Boyle: Yeah, it’s pretty much that simple, man, where we essentially are either on retainer or we have like an ad hoc cost of like, hey, here’s our full drop down menu. This is for photos. This is for videos. This is for our grandiose package, you know, whatever it is. Right. So yeah, we have set packages. Uh, and that’s exactly how it works. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates how impactful this is for a real estate firm? If they were to partner with you, do you, you know, maybe share what the challenge was when they came to you and then how you were able to help them get to a new level?

Sean Boyle: It’s a great question. So I think the best story I can tell was this guy in Seattle. I’m not going to mention his name, obviously, but he was actually suffering from cancer at the time. And you know the story I’m about to say. I’ll just preface this by saying, in no way am I saying, oh, we like, saved this man’s life. Like we’re like the heroes in the story. But we were, I think, in my opinion, able to actually give him a better life because of what we were able to do. So I’ll get into the story. So he had like stage 2 or 3, um, testicular cancer. Now, normally that’s almost a death sentence, you know what I mean? It’s very, very, very small that you actually recover from that very slim chance of recovery. He was struggling with selling his property to pay for his treatment. So very, very sad thing actually. And we came in and when he told me the story, actually I almost because I’ve had a lot of family members honestly passed away from cancer and I was actually very emotional and we actually did his service totally for free. I actually did not charge him a single cent, a single penny. And what actually ended up happening was because Seattle at the time was a very, very hot market. We were actually able to sell his house for about 150,000 higher asking price.

Sean Boyle: And I think we were able to get it off the market in about 60 days. And he was able to he then moved into, I think, his parents or his like family, whatever the situation was there. But he was able to walk away with a very nice profit. And, you know, I just think again, like I’m not saying, oh, look at me. I’m, you know, I’m an awesome guy or anything, but I really was just it was a privilege to help out that gentleman and to be able to at least get him with his family with, you know, some deep pockets. I would say for the most part, if I can say that. Um, and it just goes to show my team and how well we were able to actually craft our project. We did a lot and we did photos. We did videos, we did aerial sweepings of the actual property. It was a very, very large property. It’s at about five acres, um, a lot of land. So we obviously wanted to capture that. But I would say that’s probably the best story I can tell based off of like, how we were able to actually have and give someone a better life because of what we actually were able to do.

Lee Kantor: Now, let’s change gears a little bit and talk about how you work with other industries other than real estate. How would you approach kind of, um, a service industry or maybe like, um, I see on your website, you have a chiropractic agency. That to me is that would be kind of in my head, like a little tricky to visually show because of just HIPAA violations and things like that. So how do you show us something like that in a way that is going to increase traffic or business for that, you know, say chiropractor.

Sean Boyle: Primarily for content, you mean.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Like how do you use what your, your superpower is obviously combining Google and visuals to, um, create compelling content for people to get more business. I mean, I’m I might be saying that wrong, but that’s my take on what you do.

Sean Boyle: Yeah. No, that’s a great that’s a great question. I just wanted to clarify. Um, yeah. So the first thing we do is we do get the consent of all the patients that are there. And if we are not able to do that, then we’ll just have the staff act as paid actors. Right. And a lot of the times what happens is the content we create. There’s different styles of creating content. For instance, this iPhone that I’m holding up, which may or may not be on the I know we’re on radio here, but I don’t know if it’s going to be on video. Um, it’s a lot different than if we were to take a horizontal style cinematic video of like perhaps 120 frames per second, which is called slo mo. That that is like the settings for slo mo video, right? So it really starts with what do they have doing an audit of oh this is what they’re using now. This is what they could be. And comparing it to a very successful in your example chiropractic type shop that needs just better videos and better marketing. We’re essentially, uh, you know, taking our own ideas with also stuff that we know works. And going from there, I think that’s ultimately how we do a lot of our work is we do an audit first, and then from there we see exactly how we’re able to actually scale and make a honestly a type of, in my opinion, package that works exactly for them.

Lee Kantor: And then when you’re developing the package, um, does it matter kind of the size of the market? Like, say they’re in a super small town? Would their strategy be different if they’re in a super small town than versus like a big city like Philadelphia?

Sean Boyle: Another great question. It does, and it does matter for a lot of reasons. A real estate agent who is in. I’m just using this example because I know Philadelphia. You know, if you’re in Philadelphia, man, there’s a lot of competition in Philly. So I urge a lot of realtors to focus on one area very well, perhaps South Philly or Fairmount or Northern Liberties or Old Kensington, like these are areas that are like very popular. But if you’re able to dominate one specific area in a huge city or a huge town, I feel like that’s so much better than just trying to, you know, attack Philadelphia, which is a huge city, huge market, and you’re getting all these listings. You know, it goes back to the saying, how do you need an elephant? One bite at a time, right? You take things one bite at a time, one step at a time. And that’s for like a huge city. If you’re in a smaller market, then you can get, in my opinion, a little bit more aggressive where you’re able to actually get, you know, realtors who, uh, you know, perhaps maybe not, that have experience and they can get more aggressive in those types of markets because it’s not as competitive. There’s not as many people, but it’s still a big city and it just really depends. So that’s, I would say, the best answer I can give you on that.

Lee Kantor: So you want to kind of like drill down to the size of a market. You can kind of afford to dominate.

Sean Boyle: Exactly. That’s 100%. Right.

Lee Kantor: And then is there in your head a number of people or like an audience size that is kind of a minimum that you would shoot for in order to dominate?

Sean Boyle: Oh, that’s a tough one. I would say it’s not about the size of the audience. It’s about this is what I like to do is if you’re a real estate agent, how much money do you want to make? And then, you know, you say, okay, well, if I want to make $100,000 a year, right? Which I think everyone kind of wants to hit that 100 K mark. Okay. Well, what do I have to do on average? You get about what I think it’s like 3.5% on commissions. You have to then do the math of how many houses you have to sell. And maybe at like a larger price point, or maybe you’re doing at a smaller point price point if you’re looking to just do a lot of volume. So it really depends on what you’re looking to do. And then once you have that goal in mind, then you start to kind of use basic math of saying, okay, then I need to hit up this amount of people this amount of times, you know, and then it’s more of a marketing question, just like a general math question. You know, in that case, the more people who know you, the better. Um, which obviously is a general rule about everything, but it’s it really depends, I guess, on, uh, how much money you’re trying to make as a real estate agent. That’s what I would honestly recommend that they do.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Real estate to me is such a hard business because, you know, it’s not like they’re buying a house every week or every month. You know, they’re buying a house and then they’re not going to think about you for, you know, five years at the minimum. So like how it’s like a needle in a haystack, like you’re trying to be there when a person needs you in a any given moment, which could be at any time, but any given person is probably not going to need you. So it’s it’s tricky to have that ubiquity. You need the brand ubiquity, so you’re always there. But it’s hard to afford brand ubiquity. Most people can’t afford to be everywhere.

Sean Boyle: No they cannot. And you know, I’ll tell you this. It’s one of those things where to take it a step further, people, for the most part, with real estate, you know, the transactions done, but they don’t actually get paid until, like, you know, maybe a month later. So it’s like balancing cash flow and how much money you’re making actually, as a realtor. It’s tough, man, to do it full time. I’ve never done it, and nor do I think I will ever in my my lifetime. It’s a hard business, but there will be times like 20, 21, 22, 23 where it was a good time to buy. People are selling, sales are crazy. And, um, you know, I would say it’s good now to be an agent looking on the positive side, because you can grow your market share and authority because people are actually leaving. They’re they’re not being realtors anymore because they’re not having the same expectations as they did back in, previous years. I’m like, oh, why am I not making money? Well, you went through one of the best gold rushes. Real estate sales in probably the history of the United States. Rates were as low as they could be. Uh, housing prices weren’t that expensive for the most part. For the most part. And things were just a little bit more affordable. You know, people were getting stimulus checks if people had a little bit more discretionary income and, um, people were more likely to buy. So it’s a tough time for real estate agents, but I think it’s also a good time to be an agent because you can still scale. Get that market share, keep plugging away. And ultimately, as time goes on and it compounds, you’ll start to see at least an ROI on your time.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. In a bull market, everybody’s system is great. You know, when it’s tough is when it gets that’s where it gets tricky. And the the real players show up. You know now doing the work today that’s going to pay off when the market flips.

Sean Boyle: 100% I couldn’t agree more.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, in your work, what is kind of what’s driving you? Like, where do you see opportunity now? Um, you know, now that, like we’ve been talking about, you know, to a large degree, real estate, but the real estate industry is in a tricky situation. Higher interest rates, like you mentioned. You know, it’s harder to buy a house less people, especially young people, aren’t buying houses as much as they used to. The age of a homeowner is getting older and older. Um, what industries are you kind of leaning into now that you want to dominate moving forward?

Sean Boyle: Biggest one that I would say for the most part I would want to try to attack, which we are doing now is healthcare, hospice, hospitals, nursing homes, even like IV centers. People need marketing. And I think one of the things that people don’t understand is, sure, AI is like taking over the world, but it’s not going to go and solve your family’s, you know, medical surgery tomorrow. You know, it’s going to take time to do that. And that’s why we’re starting to reinvest, actually, in service based businesses that AI can’t take over. So I think that’s one of the things that we’re actually tackling, tackling right now and then continuing with the whole hospice healthcare kind of niche is going to be very, very important as well.

Lee Kantor: As the population ages. You think that that’s kind of where, uh, energy should be invested, because there’s going to be so many people needing those kind of services, whether they accept that reality or not.

Sean Boyle: Well, my friend, uh, I’m 28 years old, and the things that I’ve known in my short life so far are you have to pay taxes and we all die. Those are two concrete things that are known. And, uh, you know, I think it’s one of those things where if you can, uh, have a business that is never going to go out of business and never run out of leads, I, you know, I don’t want to sound morbid, but you know what I’m getting at? Um, I think it’s a good kind of business to be in, especially because there’s a lot of budget in there, a lot of money, and the people are genuinely a little bit more friendlier and empathetic because of the types of people that they’re ultimately working with.

Lee Kantor: Right. But as you deal with, um, as a person who is closer to the end than the In the beginning, I can tell you that as you age, accepting that reality is you know how the movie ends, but you’re not kind of wanting it to end that way, so you’re not. This isn’t a decision you’re excited to be talking about or making.

Sean Boyle: It’s not. And that’s the thing too, where I think if someone is going into like a hospice type situation where like it’s very delicate, we want to make sure their marketing is done properly, where people feel comfortable, they feel warm with what they’re doing. And I almost feel and again, like, you know, I contemplate finality kind of maybe more often than the average 28 year old. But I just do it because I like stoicism. And, um, I will say it does help to ultimately put that into your marketing, to feel a sense of finality, that you’ve accomplished something. And, um, it’s more of a freedom rather than an end, in my opinion. And then you can get into the whole.

Lee Kantor: Intellectually, you’re 100% right, believe me. And someone who is older and a big fan of stoicism, who understands kind of the mindset you’re talking about, it’s still intellectually knowing something and emotionally dealing with something are two separate things. And I think that, I mean, if I was a marketer targeting your market, I would spend a lot of energy in targeting the family members of the old person ahead of the old person, because the old person is probably not going to be the one making this call. It’s going to be a kid of the old person.

Sean Boyle: Yeah, 100%.

Lee Kantor: Um, so yeah, it’s a tricky thing. Uh, but I think the definitely the size of the market is very enticing. Um, and the need is going to be. That’s real. That is real as can be. I mean, I know so many older people who had big plans and life punches you in the face, and all of a sudden you got new plans, and your timeline is not 20 years, it’s five years. So, um, that your serve, server. Those services are going to be needed, and I don’t think there’s probably enough. You probably know that better than I do, but I don’t think there’s enough of a supply for that demand that’s coming.

Sean Boyle: No, I agree with you wholeheartedly. And it just goes to show like, you know, I think there’s a lot of different, uh, opportunities within healthcare, but hospice is one specifically that I think we’ve just initially had a lot of success. And we want to keep investing in as time goes on as well.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And it’s a needed service. I mean, I used to do a show just about senior care. So I’m pretty familiar with that subject matter. And nobody ever goes sends someone into hospice saying, uh, they always say, I wish I had done this sooner. That is one of those services that people always wish they had started well before the time they started it. Because, um, people think if you go into hospice, the person dies like the next day, and that’s not the case at all. That, I mean, I’ve known people that have gone in and out of hospice multiple times. Um, so yeah, so hospice is definitely something that is tremendous value. And I’m a big proponent of of considering that as part of your, um, you know, your end of life plan is, is knowing who the hospice partner is in your neighborhood and, and start talking to them at least.

Sean Boyle: Yeah, I think that’s well said.

Lee Kantor: Now, Sean, if somebody wants to learn more, uh, is there kind of a low entry point of working with you, like what’s typically a first project?

Sean Boyle: Yeah. I mean, before charging money, honestly, I just like to try to provide as much free value as possible. Um, the call to action I can give your audience is go to my YouTube channel. Just momentum 360. We have about 7000 subscribers on there. It’s totally free. Honestly, I’d be more than happy to help with marketing, but do yourself a favor and check out all my videos. I would guarantee for the most part, maybe not guaranteed, but I’m very, very confident you can get a lot of value out of that and grow your business. And yeah, if you want to have a conversation, our prices normally start around 500 a month for ongoing engagements.

Lee Kantor: And then, uh, so the website, if somebody wants to connect with you, I know you mentioned the YouTube. Is there a website as well, or is it best just start at the YouTube and then go from there.

Sean Boyle: Started the YouTube. Go from there. We definitely have a website momentum uh virtual tours.com and need momentum.com. Uh two websites there, same company. Um but yeah I would say go to YouTube, get more value and uh, we’ll see you on the other side.

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

Sean Boyle: Thank you, my friend.

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

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