Kathy Lathem with Cobb Senior Services, Jeff Stone with Clearpoint and Associates and Dan Bruton with High Caliber Realty

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits. Dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruitt.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:45] Good, fabulous Friday morning. It’s another fabulous Friday with three more fabulous folks here in the studio. We’re going to start off this morning with Kathy Latham from Cobb Senior Services. So, Cathy, thanks for being here this morning.

Kathy Lathem: [00:00:56] My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:58] So Cathy is no stranger to the microphone. Cathy has a background in radio. So you’re passionate about seniors. We’ll get to that in a second. But if you don’t mind, share your story and how you got to where you’re at.

Kathy Lathem: [00:01:08] Well, it’s probably pretty prophetic. When I was three, my next door neighbor had me by the hand at the back door and my mom was in the kitchen and he knocked on the door and he said, Marge, would you please keep Chatty Cathy in the house? She’s breaking my concentration. And he was an avid golfer. He insured himself with Lloyd’s of London and went to Scotland every year to golf. So he was very into golf, and I was breaking his concentration. And who knew that all those years later, he, I guess, made that prophecy over me, that I would go into radio. So it was kind of a natural thing for me, really. I did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up, honestly. And my parents kept saying, You’re going to college, you’re going to college. And I’m like, What’s the easiest thing that I can do? And I said, Oh, radio. I already know how to talk and you don’t really need a degree, but I’ll go. So I did. And within two weeks before I graduated, I landed my first radio job right here in the metro Atlanta area, and I was in Christian radio for about 15 years before I made the switch to government. And that’s another story.

Brian Pruett: [00:02:10] Which we’ll get to in a second. I think it’s kind of cool because you share something the other day that I didn’t realize, but you also your voice is, well, I guess it could be infamous depending on how you look it. But your voice is in the Cobb County jail, right?

Kathy Lathem: [00:02:22] Yes. Several years ago, communications asked me to come and record the the welcome orientation video for people who become guests of the Cobb County Jail system.

Brian Pruett: [00:02:33] So there you go. Stone If you’re ever there, you’ll get to hear. Cathy, welcome you well, right? Yeah.

Kathy Lathem: [00:02:39] It’ll be a warm welcome.

Brian Pruett: [00:02:41] Yes. So I do like the way you talk about it. You are from the government, but you say you’re here to help, so go ahead and share Cobb Senior Services. The purpose, what you do and why you’re passionate about it.

Kathy Lathem: [00:02:51] Absolutely. Appreciate that. So actually, in 1972, there was this organization that started in Marietta, known as the Marietta Services Board Community Services, and they just started out by delivering meals to homebound seniors. And then when Cobb County government formed several years ago, they absorbed that organization, creating the own their own department, actually, of Cobb County Senior Services. So we have been proudly serving Cobb County for 50 years with everything from Meals on Wheels to home delivered meals to now we have seven senior centers throughout Cobb County, and we serve the 55 plus population with everything from exercise classes to seminars to dances to parties just to if somebody wants to shoot pool all day, we have that opportunity for them as well. Table tennis, just ways for people to stay engaged and have socialization. And it’s very important now more than ever since we out of COVID, you know, the seniors were the first ones that the government said stay home, stay home, stay home, protect yourself. And so many of them did that. And we’re still trying to get many back because some of them are still afraid of being out and not realizing that the senior centers are probably one of the safest places they can go because we do thorough cleaning on a very regular basis. So it’s been great to see people coming back and being engaged and even new people. We are growing our attendance at all the senior centers.

Brian Pruett: [00:04:22] You said there’s seven, correct. Can you share what parts of Cobb County they’re in? Absolutely.

Kathy Lathem: [00:04:26] We have one in Acworth North Cobb Senior Center. Powder Springs is West Cobb. East Cobb is the Tim Lee Senior Center. Smyrna has Freeman Pool Senior Center, Austell, Marietta, and then actually North Cobb has two programs in one building. So seven, seven different opportunities for people. Oh, and the senior Wellness Center. I forgot about that one in Marietta.

Brian Pruett: [00:04:48] Awesome. So obviously if you’re a senior, there’s a lot to take part of, but business owners can help the senior services as well. They can come and do presentations and other things. Can you share how people can get involved?

Kathy Lathem: [00:04:59] Absolutely. We are always looking for the community to come alongside us by giving maybe an educational presentation. It could be something as simple as the spring is coming. How do I check my air conditioning? You know, what do I need to do to get my house ready for for spring and summer? Or as we head into winter, what do I need to do to winterize my vehicle? You know, just things that will help, really anybody, but especially the seniors who probably need more more information sooner rather than than you and I, because you and I are going to scroll through, you know, the websites and try and find information, you know, just just like there is WebMD, which is kind of dangerous. You know, I’m the type that goes and just finds car places, right? He tells me. And then I’m like, Wait, that doesn’t make sense because they’re saying something completely different. But when you hear about it in a safe location, like a senior center from a professional, then it makes sense. Another way that the businesses can get involved is to help sponsor events. So when we do do these anniversary parties and big events, we’re always looking for somebody who wants to contribute maybe door prizes or to contribute toward the entertainment or maybe provide the cakes or something like that. So there’s there’s big and small ways that the community can come alongside us, get involved, and we welcome it all.

Brian Pruett: [00:06:18] So you just talked about some events. You got a big one coming up. You want to share about it?

Kathy Lathem: [00:06:22] Absolutely. This is my focus up until May 17th, which is the date of the Senior Services Expo and Marketplace. Two years ago, we could not have it because of, you know, the pandemic. Last year we brought it back. We had 92 vendors show up and almost 500 people come out and attend it. So we’ve been hearing the chatter early on this year. I’m at 100 vendors now and people are already wondering who else is going to be there, what can I get? And we’re really excited because we’ve got vendors we’ve not had before. I just got contacted by a coffee company that wants to come and I have food vendors, I have hand sanitizers, I have skincare, there’s travel, there’s transportation. So we’re very excited about all the vendors that are going to come out for this. And it’s May 17th from ten until two at the Cobb County Civic Center. Absolutely free, free admission, free parking. There will be some vendors that will have some items for sale, but you don’t have to purchase anything if you don’t want to. There’s going to be a lot of great free information for people to take. Awesome.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:27] So one of the things I think is kind of cool is, you know, there’s a lot of at least when I was growing up and even now, I think with millennials, there’s a lot of, I guess, stigmas for seniors. I know my stepdaughter, who’s 22 and I’m 51, says you’re all you’re old, right? But how do the senior service because you just mentioned a lot of stuff playing pool, all kinds of stuff. How does that take the stigma away for for seniors and being not considered, you know, like rehab or nursing homes or.

Kathy Lathem: [00:07:53] Right. And for 18 years, I’ve been in this role and it’s been my my personal journey to help get rid of that stereotype. Yes, we will always have the seniors who have more needs than others, the seniors who are truly infirmed and need help getting around. But we also have the seniors. I am 58 years old. I am right smack in what we serve at senior services. I don’t feel like I fit the stereotype that comes to mind of a senior citizen. So we are here to help get rid of that stereotype. And by offering things like ping pong and billiards all day long, we have line dance, we have tai chi, we have day trips where we take them whitewater rafting. Okay, think about that whitewater rafting. So we don’t really restrict anybody by their age. They restrict themselves by their ability. We meet people at their level of independence, their level of ability, and we meet them there and we work with whatever they want to offer.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:53] I can’t wait to get that age. That sounds a lot.

Kathy Lathem: [00:08:55] A lot of fun, right?

Brian Pruett: [00:08:55] It is fun. Right? So obviously, other than what you shared, why are you so passionate about this and passionate about seniors?

Kathy Lathem: [00:09:02] Well, it’s interesting because my grandmother I was very close. I was very close with her. I’m actually named after both my grandmothers and nanny. And I just had a very special relationship. She moved down here for probably the last ten years of her life, and then she went back home to Chicago, had some mini strokes. So I went up and stayed with her for a couple of months. And of course, I was the designated driver to all the senior activities, right? So I got to go to the lunches and the dinners and, you know, all the senior get togethers. And I just fell in love with that group of people. And so it was kind of a natural progression. But I was still doing radio and I started getting public service announcements about Cobb Senior Services. And I thought, Well, who are they? So I brought them in for a show very much like this, and I was blown away by what was offered in Cobb County for the 55 plus population. And I made the comment, Well, you know, you’re having way more fun than I am. And the girl looked at me and she says, I’m not going to have this job forever. Well, we kept in touch for about three years, and I would come back and do remote broadcasts and bring them in for updates. And she called me one day and she said, Listen, I don’t know if you’re interested, but I’ve turned in my notice. So watch the website and apply for the job if you’re interested. Well, then her boss, who was the director who had also interviewed, called me about three hours later and said, Listen, I don’t know if you’re interested, but Gwen’s turned in her notice and I would love for you to to apply if you’re interested.

Kathy Lathem: [00:10:29] And I’d like to interview you. And so literally on a Friday in January, I walked away from radio. And that Monday I started with Cobb County Senior Services. And yes, I am from the government and I am here to help. I’m here to help. People realize what is available not only for the adult or the senior, but also for the adult children, because we’re the ones that are helping mom and dad navigate this whole aging thing. Right? It’s new to all of us and it’s new to mom and dad, but we have to go through it with them. So we line up people, experts especially like like Medicare. I do not begin to understand it. I will never understand Medicare. But we know people who who do understand that that’s their passion. And so for me, it’s just a natural passion to help connect people with the products, the services, the programs that they need. And I just love seniors because they’re real. You know, there’s no filter. They’re going to tell you what they think. They’re going to tell you what’s going on in their life. And you better have time to sit down and talk with them and listen when you say, hey, how are you doing? And I just I get a kick out of that. I love doing that. And it all stems, I think, from my upbringing and just hanging around.

Brian Pruett: [00:11:35] Nanny Well, you know, you also from your radio background, the natural Chatty Cathy is there she love it but you and I do a lot of networking together. That’s how we met. You do several different groups, not only in Cobb County, but outside of Cobb County as well. Can you share one story maybe that people because I always talk about the power of networking. What’s one story you can share about how positively networking has helped you?

Kathy Lathem: [00:11:59] Oh my goodness. There have been people that I’ve met, especially most recently, because I’m helping to destigmatize what a senior is, right? People think they’re all in senior living houses and in assisted living, but so many of them are independent. For example, my mother lives down the street. She’s 91, lives by herself. Does yard work? The other day she said, I know you don’t want me on the ladder, so will you do this? But she blows and goes. She drives, she does everything. So I am finding people that I network with want to reach people like my mother, people who live in their homes. There’s one couple that are in real estate and home inspections. They’ve already done several seminars at the senior centers. Now Maria will bring homemade ziti and so they will make it a lunch and learn and then David talks about the things you need to check out on your house and why periodically you need a home inspection. Even if you’re not going to sell. You need to find out what’s going on under the roof so that you can call in the people to make repairs. That has been very effective because they’ve hit almost all of the senior centers and the seniors have been very receptive of that and the staff as well.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:03] That’s awesome. The other thing I’d like to ask is why is it important for you to be involved in the community?

Kathy Lathem: [00:13:11] Oh, goodness. Without community, none of us could do anything right. And yes, my my my passion is seniors. But I do have another passion. I do love children. And one of my dearest friends works for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. And so I would volunteer for years. Every time she would have an event, I’m like, I’ll be there. I’ll be there. And so I got the nickname as the number one volunteer because Pam would just say, Would you? And I’m there. I’m there just because I love being out in the community. I love the mission of children’s health care. So actually, I am now on the Cobb Community Board, so I have a little bit more structure to to my days and what I do for them. But being in the community is so important because I can’t just keep asking for people to support me. It’s important for me to come along and support people like you to help these charitable, you know, to help people who need to find connections with maybe food pantries that don’t fit into our programs. Maybe they’re too young. It it just does not work when we just constantly ask and are not giving. And I made that comment recently to one of my coworkers. I said, We are so great at asking, Hey, will you support us? Will you come alongside? But we got to stop and think, how good are we at saying, What can I do for you? How can I come alongside you? So to me, it’s just very important to be involved in the community, whatever it is, from children to seniors to the ages in between, to, you know, to animals, whatever. Any way that somebody has something coming up, I’m I’m there. Yes, I am Chatty Cathy, but I’m a people person. And so I get my energy from being around others.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:54] That’s awesome. You know, I wish you could preach a seminar on the networking aspect of it that people because there’s a lot of people still thinking about It’s me, me, me, me, Right. If if somebody wants to get a hold of you about your services or if a business wants to get hold of you, how they can help, how can they do that?

Kathy Lathem: [00:15:07] Absolutely. So we are very easy to find on the web. It is Cobb seniors.org very simple Cobb seniors.org or you can reach me directly at (770) 528-5393.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:22] Awesome Cathy thank you for sharing your story. You mind sticking around here in these next two stories? Happy to. So this is your first time listening to Charitable Georgia. I didn’t mention this at the top, but this is all about positive things happening in the community. You just heard a story about Cathy and her passion for, well, seniors, children and everything in between. We’re going to move over now to Mister Jeff Stone from Clear Point Associates. So, Jeff, thanks for being here.

Jeff Stone: [00:15:45] Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:46] Jeff is also got a big heart. He is, I know, worked is working currently with a big nonprofit. He’s supporting everything that I do monthly by just coming to the events. And he’s got a great testimony. So this this is a story about, I guess, just testimonies and stuff. But first, Jeff, you got a pretty cool background. You you shared you played professional soccer, you played rugby, you boxed a little bit. You worked for the LA Times, right? You know, in LA. So just give a little bit of background.

Jeff Stone: [00:16:14] Well, I was very small as a child. And I grew up all of a sudden out of nowhere. So in general, I grew up in Los Angeles. I grew up in Southern California. I was one of the first things I did was speaking of soccer as I just happened to be in a very ethnic group, an ethnic area where I grew up, a lot of Armenian folks, and they played soccer. Everyone else was picking. I picked up baseballs and footballs and things of that nature, but I played soccer and my mom just pushed that narrative and said, Go play. I was a little bit husky. She said, So go play soccer. So I played started playing when I’m six, and that just elevated me into different. Like everything in life, you find a path, you start doing things and one thing leads to another. And I tried out a couple of times for, for different like travel teams and I made those teams. And eventually as I got into my teens, I was asked to play on the US national team. So I made that and I traveled six different countries and played all over the world playing soccer. I played against Pele and a lot of different people when I was a teenager, you know, and eventually when I got to be 17, 18 years old, one of my one event happened. There was a couple events happened in that period of time.

Jeff Stone: [00:17:24] I was graduating high school. I was I was accepted as the as an alternate for the US Olympic team. In 1980, we were going to Russia and Jimmy Carter put an end to that, which is ironic that I live in Georgia, you know, So to honor him, I guess. And so we did that. My dad, my dad was owned a company called One Stop Posters, and he was in Chicago on a on a on a business trip. And you may remember the Farrah Fawcett poster. Oh, yeah. I had one that was my dad’s company. And he died in that airplane crash in Chicago and O’Hare O’Hare Airport. And so that was graduating high school. Olympics were stopped. You know, it was my turn to my path. I was going down and my dad passes away. And so that changed everything, essentially. And and so I had a contract with Pony. Pony Sports came to me and said, hey, do you would you be interested in us supporting you and representing you? And I said, Sure. So they said, and my mom had scholarships, but but everything was out of the out of California. And I felt really like I couldn’t leave my mom because she just lost my dad, you know, Then I move away. It would be really kind of unfair. And so I didn’t do that. So I signed a contract with the LA Aztecs in Los Angeles, a whopping $33,000 a year and a, you know, an a used car.

Jeff Stone: [00:18:43] That was my that was my bonus, you know, compared to athletes of today, you know, it wasn’t a lot of money, but I played for the joy of the sport and I played that for a few years. And then I ended up and I and I tore my knee out three months into it. I tore my knee out. And so I lost my also. That was that was the sort of the trifecta. I lost my soccer career. So once that happened, I was in my early 20 seconds. I took up I took up rugby because I was sort of angry. And that was a great place to kind of release all that energy and stress and, you know, break knows being broken, things like that. Tear up the other knee. Yeah. Tear of the other knee. Yeah. All kinds of crazy stuff. But so I did that. And as I did that, you know, I just got, you know, I was always I always liked to play sports and very competitive person. And I and I lived through my my 20 seconds kind of doing that, beating my body up. And I’m paying for that now in my in my 60s. But so that’s my sports side of my life. And I moved out to Atlanta in 1993.

Jeff Stone: [00:19:42] So I’ve been there for quite a while. And as I did that, as I came to Atlanta, I got married. Did all the things that I thought were going to work out for my life, and they just didn’t work out. But in that process, I had some reflection. If you want me to talk about my walk with Christ, yes, please. So I’ll start off by saying this is that I was raised in a Jewish household, so I became a messianic Jew. So but I didn’t it didn’t start off that way. Right. So I was I was always, you know, going through temple and synagogue and through my family. And that was a very and I always felt sort of hindered because I was asked about Christ. Jesus Christ was the king of the Jews. And they would always say to me, Well, that’s fine, but we don’t really believe in that. You know, he was a he was a rabbi. You know, that’s what I the story I always heard. So. So as I looked at my life, looked back like every every birthday, I looked back at my life. In the past ten years, I look back at my life several times and say, what’s really happening in my life? What’s really positive? And am I living in a in an environment that really nurtures and promotes a healthy lifestyle and a really healthy person, both spiritually, physically, financially, mentally, all those things, and bringing myself as a whole person.

Jeff Stone: [00:20:57] And I realized that living in a world we live in is very difficult to do that. And I said, Why is that? Well, there’s evil. In this world. And so that evil, I said, has to be a counterpart. And I said, There’s God over here. And then I went, okay, where does God sit in my life? And I said, He doesn’t not not in the right way. I was sort of passively with God. And then I started reading and I’m looking at the Bible and reading the Bible and had some friends influence me. And and I accepted Christ in my life, you know, about six, seven years ago. And since I’ve done that, I’ve gotten baptized. I’ve, I’ve been on a walk with Christ. And that has really changed my entire life. I mean, to the point where I did have a hiccup. I got divorced about a year ago. That was a difficult thing. But but having God and having Christ in your life, you know, I handle a lot of that off to him. And then I don’t have to spend a lot of time and worry or fear and that kind of thing. So that’s sort of that’s sort of the general nature of my path.

Brian Pruett: [00:21:54] So it’s also cool because you and I met just a few months ago and you’re you’re just very giving and supportive because, you know, monthly I do a trivia event rotating charities and we’ll talk to Dan who who’s part of that as well. But you’ve either come or supported that every month just by us just talking a few times. And I just think it’s awesome that you can get involved in the community and be supportive. So I’d like for you to share. First of all, you do a lot of networking now to. And so the Clear Point associates share a little bit about clear point what you do and how you help others with that.

Jeff Stone: [00:22:34] So Clear Point Associates was was really a business. I started because I couldn’t get a job. It was really I aged out of the age, out of the actual job market, you know. Oh, you’ve got a lot of great resume, Jeff. But and I went, you know, I figured out for eight months I couldn’t find a job. Nobody would hire me. So I said, This is God telling me I need to start my own business, you know? So I started my own business and I thought, what am I going to really do here? What am I going to really impact? And how do I do this? I just didn’t want to sell widgets or chotchkie’s. I want I want to really just do something that has some impact on on other people and helps people. So I did a lot of research. I found products that I really felt passionate about and those products that I think help people directly either. And I did that through either I decided health was a big thing because we fight health. I think, you know, when when you’re seniors and people, you guys get older, you know, more aches and pains and more things we deal with. So I thought health is one area and other areas I love. I came from a lending background, so I like to help people get money, but not money That puts them in a bad position that puts them in a good position. So I chose products and I basically brokered those products and go out and and consult with companies about how to really best facilitate their growth and and also reduce their overhead by driving costs down. And the health side of their business, especially small and medium sized businesses usually people my my sweet spot of who I deal with is are companies with 100 employees or less. And I try to help them look at what their overhead and costs are. And then, you know, see there’s there are alternatives to what they’re currently spending money on.

Brian Pruett: [00:24:12] Well, I know that you have a passion for profits because you’re currently working with one of the largest ones, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, You know, so that but you’ve only been networking that I know of just a few months, right? Yeah. So do you have a story already you can share from that time period of networking?

Jeff Stone: [00:24:30] Well, I mean, the one thing I will tell you, the biggest thing I’ve learned about networking is exactly what you said, which is not about I and me. I go in there really to learn about other people’s businesses. And I really have learned. I’ll give you an example, a really good example. Sarah Mccourtney, who does stem cell, they do stem cell product. I sat with her the other day and I said, I think we can work with, you know, because really healthcare is reactive. Something has to happen before you go to a hospital or a doctor. I mean, some people, some stuff is preventative, but most people deal with health care as a reactive component to their life. I broke my hand. I did something. I injured myself. I feel sick. I mean, then I go see somebody. So stem cell therapy, which has done a lot of research on, was really interesting to me because that’s a that’s a proactive look at how you keep you keep your body health, you keep your mind healthy. I’m actually wearing one of the patches right now on my neck, so and I feel better. I got to tell you, I feel better from wearing these. And what it does is systemically gives you it helps your body as you get older, reproduce stem cells so it it helps strengthen your immune system, your metabolism, all these things that are, you know, truly clearly going to give you better health as a human being.

Jeff Stone: [00:25:40] So when we do that, I’m working directly with her and I’m partnering with her because it didn’t start off this way. And I sat down with one of my contractors, one of my clients, and I said, What’s the biggest problem you have when it comes to employees that are calling in sick and doing these other things? Is that a problem for your business? She said, Yes, it is. It’s a huge problem because he has only ten employees. So one person leaving that day or two people leaving, especially strategic people that are in his back office or just people that are on the field that have that particular skill set that that he needs, that causes him it costs him money. I said, what if we can keep them healthy ahead of time and you can help contribute to their health? And then and we can offer we can lower the cost of your health, your health costs in two different ways one proactively and one reactively. So that’s we’re already going out to companies right now together, Sarah and I. And I’m bringing her in for a web, a small webinar for the employees.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:39] I think it’s pretty cool because it kind of reminds me of our friend Bob Brooks preaches all the time collaboration over competition, and that’s a great example of collaboration, even though there really was no competition. But it’s just it’s awesome to hear the collaboration. So you just shared a little bit of why you started your business, but you can answer both of these in probably the same thing. Why is it why are you passionate for what you’re doing and why is it important for you to be part of the community?

Jeff Stone: [00:27:01] Well, the passion for doing it is really a mission. I if we’ve all probably experienced some level of. That to be disenchanted with health insurance. Health insurance unto itself is really anti health insurance, really anti health, because everything they did, if you look at what they do, is you can’t have this procedure because the insurance company won’t pay for it, but you can’t have this pharmaceutical drug because we won’t cover that. And people need these things like some of these some of these pharmaceutical drugs and big pharma, $800 for a shot, you know, $500, $1,000 for some pill you got to take. And for a child or for for somebody. And it’s expensive for families. You know, one of the things we I found when I’m working with FCA Fellowship of Christian Athletes is, is I mean, they are dealing with they’re paying $12 Million a year to Blue Cross Blue Shield for 1900 employees, $12 Million a year every year from 2020 to 2023. They’ve got $1 million increase in their in their cost of insurance. Now that’s that’s that’s debilitating for them in some ways. But think about the average person that works for FCA makes $50,000 a year family of four a family of five family of an individual is over $1,000 for the premium and $3,000 for the deductible. A family’s $2,300 they charge, plus $6,000 for deductible. And so it’s it’s it’s it’s financially inconceivable for a person making $50,000 a year to support their family, put food on the table and pay the exorbitant costs of health insurance.

Jeff Stone: [00:28:39] And it gets worse and worse and worse all the way through Medicare. It’s it’s not only the fact that insurance is bad and not set up right for health. It’s also things like Medicare and Medicaid are difficult for people like seniors to get the right kind of care from the right kind of doctor. So I found a product. I found a program that we eliminate. We pull the insurance company out of the equation and we put together the patient and the doctor like it’s supposed to be. So the doctor actually speaks to the patient and doesn’t have to worry about CPT codes or other elements of an insurance company. But the patient and the doctor get the benefits of being a The doctor gets a benefit of being paid directly by us for the patient and we pay directly to them and we negotiate a cash amount for that for that service. And so they don’t want to wait 60, 90, 120, 180 days to get paid by Blue Cross Blue Shield. And they don’t have to always have so many people chasing down bills. So that’s one benefit. The other benefit is, is the the the insured person, we cover them up front for the cost of the services. So we pay it ahead of time. So all I got to do is go to the doctor and the procedures they want get done.

Jeff Stone: [00:29:48] So the doctor prescribed something that gets done. There’s no insurance company that sits between the patient and the doctor. So and then we have all kinds of same similar mirror of what an insurance company does, but we do it with a profit. And we every dollar goes into our fund. About only about $0.30 goes out for care claims per dollar, whereas the insurance company charges you the premium and then you don’t get services until you pay off the deductible. So you really don’t have insurance until you pay the deductible off, but you pay a very high premium to have that service. So my passion was, well, this is ridiculous, this is a ridiculous thing. And then just recently and really what sparked this whole thing, Brian, was and you may be aware, I may not be aware, but Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, United, Health Care, Humana, they have because of equity in our society, everything has to be equitable. They change the gender reassignment surgery from in all their literature, from an elective surgery to medically necessary. So now they can legally they can literally go in and take your daughter or son that’s ten, 12 years old heading into puberty. And and if you have any reason to think that and you send that, send your child in to see a therapist, It’s just a moneymaking proposition for the insurance companies.

Jeff Stone: [00:31:07] And they can give them hormone blockers and they can actually lead them right into the into surgery. Our US government right now, Joe Biden, is actually put a bill out. They have a bill right now sitting in Congress that would allow that is forcing Christian hospitals to perform gender reassignment surgery. So when you get to this place where the irony is, is that a woman who needs maybe breast augmentation, it would be it would be elective surgery for her. So she had to come out of pocket for all this money to try to do this. But I could say I relate as a woman and because of equity, I can get a breast implant. They’ll pay medically necessary. So this was for me, this was a driver. It became more than just going out and helping people save money. That’s a great bonus. But really, the big the big push for me is I don’t want to see my children or my children’s children or my friend’s children or any child that’s going through the difficulty of living maybe in a in a in a position where they feel different or something like that, and being forced into a system that they’ll never get out of and will ruin their lives and there’ll be somebody that’s lost in their life and life is too precious to be doing that. So those things are really drivers for me and that’s my passion to do what I do.

Brian Pruett: [00:32:27] How about being a part of the community wise? I mean, that’s a lot, but there’s got to be another reason to why you think it’s important to be a part of the community.

Jeff Stone: [00:32:34] Well, I mean, you can’t you can’t get things done without other people. It’s a village. So you’ve got you’ve got to you’ve got to bring people in. And and I think about giving more than you take. You always get more than you give. So I’m a big giver. I just think that giving, whether it’s my time, my energy, my money, you know, I believe in tithing. I believe in giving my church money. I believe in giving God praise. I believe in giving myself, too, out there. Because I think when you give you bring you build trust with the community you build. And I’m looking that’s what I look to do in the community, is to build trust among my peers and among people that I don’t even know. I bring people all the time when I talk to people and try to build a better to me. We build a better world one person at a time. I mean, it’s nice to be in front of a group or be in a platform like this, but to me, discipling and ministering to people is a one on one opportunity where God puts you in front of people that need help, that need a voice, that need somebody to pick them up. And so I believe the community is a big part of what I do. And I and I love people. I really do love people. I mean, I hate being alone. I don’t like the solitude thing I do. I’m a single and I saw him solid in solitude a lot. But I love being around people.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:49] Yeah, it’s it’s, you know, once in a while it’s okay to be in a room, but I get after you. Like you, I got to be around people all the time. So I wanted to ask the Clear Point Associates, do you talk about the, the medical piece and the insurance? Is that available to individuals as well? Yes.

Jeff Stone: [00:34:06] Okay. Individuals or businesses? I mean, I focus on businesses because I can touch more people that way. And I can really and that’s another part of it is that if I can save a business 60% as an example, the $12 million that FCA is looking at spending this year, we can we just propose to them to do it for 5.5 million. Wow. So we saved them $6 million. I mean, went to the CEO and said, hey, what would you do with $6 Million? Right now, we can do a lot in the charitable charitable space to $6 million. What would you do with $6 million? Brian Would pretty nice, right, to have for your charities. And so yeah, we’ve just saved we just put money, more money in these companies hands. And that to me strengthens our community and strengthens the financial stability of small businesses. And and I think all that comes together as a way to benefit people and benefit the benefit everybody in the society.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:01] All right. So if somebody is listening, whether it’s an individual or a business owner or somebody who’s in charge of those for the business, share how they can get a hold of you to talk about that.

Jeff Stone: [00:35:09] So you can reach me at I’m at a couple of places that you can go to the website, which is for the health care side of it. It’s called Mighty Well, Health dot com and that’s a website we have. I’ll tell you about the whole entire thing. It’s not like insurance. It’s fully transparent. You’ll see rates everything right on the website. So all that, that’s probably the best place to see this program. You can reach me via my email. Probably the best way to reach me is email and that’s Jeff at Clearpoint associates.com.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:37] Awesome. Jeff Well, thanks for coming, sharing your story and listening to this, this next story. No, it’s fine. So Dan Bruton, thanks for being here.

Dan Bruton: [00:35:45] Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:46] So, so Jeff gave you a title earlier that I thought was pretty cool. What was that? Jeff Quadro.

Jeff Stone: [00:35:52] Quadro Preneur.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:53] Quadro Preneur. So because Dan does a lot. I mean, he’s a broker with High Caliber Realty. He runs Saint Angelo’s. He’s on a board for the gift, the giving Garden Giving Garden. You coach your son’s teams and your husband and you got to do all this other stuff. So there’s a lot going on. There is. So do you sleep at all?

Dan Bruton: [00:36:14] About 4 or 5 hours a night?

Brian Pruett: [00:36:16] Yeah, that’s about all. All right. So, well, I appreciate you being here. Thanks for coming. Share a little bit, first of all, about high caliber, high caliber.

Dan Bruton: [00:36:24] I’ve been with them for about four years, just recently became a broker with them. We’re a little boutique broker out of Kennesaw, Georgia, and we just sell real estate. We’re brokered in seven states all the way out to Alaska. Our broker actually ran the Iditarod in Alaska several years ago. So it’s kind of a cool story, the only one in Georgia to finish. So, yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:36:42] If you listen to a couple of weeks ago, Bill was on here, so it was it’s awesome.

Dan Bruton: [00:36:46] Yeah, he did great out there and he still supports, supports the the program out there and goes out there for opening day races and stuff like that. And so we’re pretty, pretty active. Yeah, we’re not real flashy and you know, you don’t see our billboards everywhere, but we just focus on helping individuals and selling real estate. So do you.

Brian Pruett: [00:37:02] Do both commercial and individual?

Dan Bruton: [00:37:05] I do mostly residential. I do some small commercial and I have an investment. I’m an investor as well. I have an investment in a small commercial piece of property as well. So yeah, so a little bit of everything we do land as well, so well.

Brian Pruett: [00:37:18] So I think a lot of people, most people know you who do know the community aspect of it know you more. For Saint Angelo’s and Emerson at Lakepoint, share a little bit about Saint Angelo’s. First of all, how well you guys are The oldest bar in Emerson is the is the it’s a joke, but it’s a tagline. It’s real. But share about the story, if you can, about Saint Angelo’s. And then we’ll talk a little more about what you and I are doing.

Dan Bruton: [00:37:42] Okay. Well, I moved to Atlanta in oh six with a big corporate chain, and then I switched to another corporate chain about 8 or 9 years after that. And then I said, Well, you know what? I really want to get involved in small business. I love food. I love people. I’m like, got connected with this guy Sean. Sean owns Saint Angelo’s, and he says, Hey, I’m opening a spot in Emerson, Georgia. Would you like to run it? I said, okay, It sounds like a great plan. So I left my corporate job and midtown Atlanta and came up to Emerson, Georgia. I didn’t know anything about Emerson, Georgia, a town of about 1600 people. And. No. One from the big city of Atlanta to Emerson, Georgia. And I was like, okay, let’s make this happen. So we did. So we’ve been there since 2016, a little family owned restaurant. We do a lot in the community. We support a lot of local high schools, kids, athletes. We do trivia with you, Brian. You’ve been a great part of that. And it’s just, you know, we’re we’re homemade, homemade food. And when you talk about being in service and if you want to be in service, work in a restaurant for a little while and you’ll learn all about service. So I love serving people and I love I love food. Well, you’ve.

Brian Pruett: [00:38:52] Seen the Lake Point grow. I mean, since you’ve been there, they’ve added the bowling alley. There’s all kinds of stuff going on. But I do want to touch on what you guys do in the community with Saint Angela’s because like you said, you guys do a lot for the schools. So a few years ago, Stephen Norton and I had a magazine called Northwest Georgia Rising Stars, and we were going out introducing this to the schools of the idea of the concept of it. And Dan partnered with us and provided lunch for the coaches for all the high schools in Bartow County. And it’s just, you know, just to do that in itself is an amazing. But you I know you do stuff for the red Door food pantry. You do other things. You and I are partnering right now doing a monthly trivia show, rotating charities in Bartow County. So I appreciate you opening up to do that. And it’s been an amazing journey. I started the trivia there when I was working for team trivia and I was your host there for for many years. And kind of the idea of that together and merge the charity thing was a natural thing. But you also provide the lunches for the learning table for the Castle Business Club. We do there that once a month as well. So there’s a lot that you provide for the community. So share a little bit. First of all, what people can expect when they come to either a trivia night or the learning table, what can they expect from the food? Because first of all, and Jeff knows you’ve come if you walk away hungry, it is your fault, you know?

Jeff Stone: [00:40:10] Yeah, I would say that’s true.

Brian Pruett: [00:40:12] You’re also not only known as the oldest bar, but you have the best wings in Bartow County, but share what people can expect from there.

Dan Bruton: [00:40:18] So what you can expect is, you know, our is just homemade food. We have everything’s fresh. We make it on site. I think our freezer is about the size of your freezer at your house. We have like French fries and mozzarella sticks in it and that’s about it. Everything else we either make or we bring in fresh. And, you know, it’s just a little, little local mom and pop flair restaurant that we just focus on. Great food, great food quality, great service, the staff’s friendly, smiling. And in this market, it’s hard. It’s hard to find, you know, everybody’s struggling for staff. So we’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of long term staff and staff that just gets gets the message of, hey, we’re here to serve people. We provide great food and a great, great atmosphere. It’s a sports bar in Emerson, Italian sports bar, if you will. We’ve got plenty of TVs all the games on. It’s just great energy in the restaurant. It’s just a good feel there.

Brian Pruett: [00:41:11] You’ve had plenty of people from the sports world that are considered celebrities come in there, too. For my understanding, there’s been Shaquille O’Neal’s been in there, right?

Dan Bruton: [00:41:19] I believe so, yeah. I’ve also heard.

Brian Pruett: [00:41:20] Derek Jeter was in there at one time. He was, you know, so you’ve got some some big names. And one of the things Can you share I know one of the pieces that’s really popular is your cheeseburger pizza. But is that your most popular pizza?

Dan Bruton: [00:41:34] We sell more cheese pizza in pepperoni pizza. People like the Staples, you know, just cheese. But we do we support a lot of birthday parties and stuff. And for the kids and stuff, they just kind of go with that. But we have a pizza of the month every month that we special, we knock the price down quite a bit to kind of walk people through the menu on our pizzas. So every month we have a pizza of the month and that goes over really well. Of course you can create your own pizza. We have plenty of toppings. If you want to start with a cheese pizza and add just about anything that you want, we have it. We have a great gluten free pizza for people that are a little bit more health conscious or have the gluten intolerance. I have a couple people that just buy the crust and make it at home. So the product is very good. You know, when the gluten products first came out, they were a little bit a little bit heavy. But now over time, you know, technology and everything, they’ve really done a great job. And we landed on a great product that a lot of people love.

Brian Pruett: [00:42:24] And I will say for that, my mother is gluten intolerant. And so she that is her favorite place to go to gluten free pizza because that’s like you said, it’s fresh and all that. You also are very willing and working with folks, we have a couple of people that come that are severely allergic to gluten, to the events, and you allow them to get the gluten free as part of the the deal we’re doing. So I also have to give him a credit because he’s helping my sponsors for this event by letting us leave the banners and stuff up all year long, not just the night that we have the trivia. So they’re getting the advertising alongside. Thank you for that. So now let’s talk about the Giving Garden. Yes, you are on the board for that.

Dan Bruton: [00:43:02] I’m on the board. So in my passion for food and people, I was at this church down in Mableton and there was a property next to the church and we’re like, This would be a great spot for a garden. So Judy and Jake and I were like, Let’s start. Let’s start a garden. So we started the garden to start it in 2016 and we’re just turned into it’s an amazing thing. We actually purchased the property a few years back and we’re just a non profit community garden and, and and since then we’ve started some educational programs and camps and stuff to educate people about food. And then we have some farm animals there as well. So we do camps and talk about different animals, goats and donkeys and rabbits. We have about 35 chickens, so people can sign up for summer camps or programs and just come or just come out to the garden and hang out. It’s a great space, a green space just to come, you know, hang out, sit outside, read a book, whatever you want to do, get away from the craziness of life and just hang out. And we also once a quarter, we do different things. We just had an Easter egg hunt for each of the public. There’s things you can purchase there as well, and you can support the garden by doing stuff like that too. We we sell some of our plants. So if you’re looking to start your own garden at home, you can purchase plants from the garden and support the garden and then get your own garden at home. We’ll do a pumpkin patch, pumpkin patch in the fall where you can buy pumpkins for Halloween and stuff like that. And we’ll have a little trick or treat thing for the kids and stuff. So it’s a great program, green space and you know, it’s educational. And we have a fridge where we provide produce and stuff that people can get for free, 24 hour access and just like a garden fridge, pantry type thing that, you know, we just give back to the community.

Brian Pruett: [00:44:49] You said it’s in Mapleton, McKinney shareware in Mapleton.

Dan Bruton: [00:44:51] It’s at it’s on North Cooper Lake Road 75 North Cooper Lake Road down in Mapleton. Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:44:56] Oh, excuse me. Other than coming and purchasing, you know, the plants or pumpkins or things like that, how can other people help support the garden?

Dan Bruton: [00:45:04] Well, you know, we’re profit, which means we need a lot of hands make light work, right? So if you have an organization that’s looking to a community project, there’s some schools that have to do community projects. They partner with us. It’s a great opportunity to partner with the garden and do a community service day for your school or your business. If your business likes to get out in the community and do stuff, we certainly need hands for, for different things and we have different projects. Sometimes we’re building stuff, sometimes we’re moving stuff, sometimes we’re just weeding the garden or what have you. But there’s always something going on there. Of course, we’re nonprofits, so you know, donations would help too. So you can donate as little as $5 a month or or a lump sum or however that works for you. And sometimes we just need people to go pick up stuff, you know? Hey, we need chicken feed for the chickens. Is anybody available? And we just need a volunteer to go pick that up. So there’s many ways you can get involved in volunteer. And some of it’s just, you know, sweat equity, some of it’s time. And, you know, a little money wouldn’t hurt either.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:01] You like I said, you do a lot. So, Sherry, you said your passion is food and people. But why is that? Because everything we just talked about that you do, it’s an amazing thing. But why is that your passion?

Dan Bruton: [00:46:15] I think it stems from my grandma. My grandma is Italian. She’s from Naples, Italy. And she had this little kitchen. It’s about the size of probably most people’s bathrooms now. And she could cook for an army of people at that little kitchen. And it was like homemade, just, I mean, Italian, just meatballs, spaghetti, pasta, fish, whatever you wanted. She could whip out out of that kitchen. And I was amazed by it. So growing up with her, I ate a lot of pasta and a lot of food, and I just I just love food. So I love cooking at home. I love cooking. It’s just. Just something I like to do. So you can tell I.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:48] Love food, so it’s not a problem for me either. So you do a lot of networking as well. I mean, we’ve all are part of some of the same circles and stuff. Can you share a story that’s of networking that’s been positive for you?

Dan Bruton: [00:47:00] I think the most positive thing for me is just, you know, going into networking. I don’t go there necessarily for myself. I go there to see how I can help others. I think that’s the best story because it does take a village. A lot of people say, say it takes a village to raise your kids, but it takes a village to raise the village as well. So I go in with the mindset of, you know, I know what I’m doing and capable of doing. I’m seeing what I can use my talents and abilities or it’s space at the restaurant for whatever I can do to help somebody else out. So like Big Rich comedy, he’s, you know, he’s looking at book stuff. I said, Well, if you ever have a booking that you need a space for, reach out to me. I’ll see if I can just use my space if it’s available, you know, just stuff like that. Seeing how I can help other people in the community. And then from that, it’s just the collaboration with, you know, I talk to other agents and networking and we bounce ideas off of each other in different scenarios so you can learn as well and teach at the same time. So as I’m learning from another agent, I can teach them what I did in a similar situation or what have you. So and then the third part is just connecting people, right? If somebody is looking for something and I know somebody that kind of does that or knows somebody that knows somebody that does that. And Bryan, you’re really good at that. Just connecting people with people that can help them out. So. Whether I do it directly or just introduce them to somebody that can can get them where they need to go is a big one for me. On the networking side.

Brian Pruett: [00:48:26] Anything you can do different, you can share about why it’s important for being part of the community. I’m sorry, being part of the community other than what you’ve already shared. Yeah, I think.

Dan Bruton: [00:48:36] It’s just important to get out in the community and you know, and I have kids. I like to know what’s going on in the community. And the more I’m out in the community, the more I know, you know, what’s a good, positive, comfortable environment for my kids, my family. And sometimes, you know, there’s areas that maybe are not so positive. And with that, not necessarily that I need to stay away from it, but how can I impact that to make that more positive for that, that specific area of the community? So but I think it’s just important to be out there and involved. I coach my son’s baseball games. I’m very involved with Smyrna Little League on that aspect. I got three kids in three different leagues there. So we’re constantly at the baseball fields. We’re doing football on Friday nights. I’m helping coach that. So I got a lot going on. But it’s all good stuff, all positive stuff. It’s stuff I really enjoy. You know, when I wake up in the day, I’m saying it’s going to be a good day. I know it’s busy, but it’s good. It’s all good stuff.

Brian Pruett: [00:49:29] Know Well, I was going to ask, how do you how do you manage the all the work life with family time? Because there is a lot going on. So how do you how do you balance that?

Dan Bruton: [00:49:38] Well, I’m fortunate in the sense that I can write my schedule for for everything I do. So the real estate side, I can schedule things when I need to schedule them on the restaurant side, I schedule things. I mean, there’s times I need to be there, but for the most part I can write my schedule. If I need to work in the morning, I can work in the morning. If I need to work at night, I can work at night. So it’s challenging because there’s a lot of moving parts. But you know, fortunately I’m able to schedule for the most part according to what I need to do and get things done.

Brian Pruett: [00:50:07] How do people separate you? Because most people, especially up in the Bartow County area, don’t relate to the high caliber part. They they mostly of the Saint Angelo’s part. How can you separate those two moving forward with some folks?

Dan Bruton: [00:50:22] That’s a great question. I don’t know. I think I think I’m always going to kind of be tied to both, which is fine. You know, I think people know me as the restaurant guy and hopefully they’ll know me as a real estate guy as well. So yeah, but I think it’ll be twofold for a while. All right.

Brian Pruett: [00:50:35] Yeah. The other thing, we won’t hold this against you, but he’s a Florida Gator fan, so.

Dan Bruton: [00:50:40] I actually went to school there, so that makes a little sense. It’s not like some of these schools that have fans that people don’t go there, right? Yeah, right. Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:50:49] All right. So if somebody wants to get ahold of you, either for the real estate, for restaurant for because you guys do some catering as well, or birthday parties wanting to get involved with the Giving Garden. How can somebody get a hold of you for any of that?

Dan Bruton: [00:51:00] So for the for the restaurant, it’s Dan at Saint Angelo’s. It’s s t a n g e.com. Angelo’s is how it sounds phonetically. And then for real estate, it’s Dan at high caliber Realty.com for the Giving Garden. It’s our giving garden.org. It’s a nonprofit down in Mapleton. Beautiful websites got all the information on their camps, programs, pop ups, all that kind of stuff. Spot to donate, spot to volunteer as well. So that’s a great resource. And then if you just want to call me, my number is (770) 876-7243 Cell phone. Awesome.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:35] Dan, thanks for sharing your story. When we wrap this up, I always like to ask this question. Wrapping the show up, I’d like for each of you to share either a word or a quote or some nugget to live today and beyond with to leave somebody with some positivity. Kathy, I’ll start with you.

Kathy Lathem: [00:51:50] Oh, put me on the spot. Why don’t we pass it off to Jeff? I think about that one.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:55] How about you, Jeff?

Jeff Stone: [00:51:57] Well, I always, you know, I think of, you know, inspiring things. I like a lot of inspiring quotes, but the one that always sticks with me is only those who are willing to go too far. Never know how far one can go.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:11] That’s it Makes you think, too. That’s good. Yeah. Dan, what do you have? We’ll come back to Kathy.

Dan Bruton: [00:52:15] I heard one the other day, so I’m going to steal it from from this guy that we had in the networking group along the lines of inspiring. And I hope I don’t mess it up. But he said, I want to inspire. I inspire to inspire before I inspire. Wow. So he plans to inspire other people before he expires. So that’s good. I thought that was pretty pretty moving. Yes. New to the group and he just came out with that. So that’s pretty, pretty good. Pretty strong.

Jeff Stone: [00:52:45] Right there. Can I give Kathy one more second? Sure. Yes, sure. Go ahead. I would say for the idea that we’re all networking and stuff like that, one thing I really I tell my kids this and I and I, I think it’s important for networking is seek to be interested. Not interesting.

Dan Bruton: [00:53:03] Yes, that’s a good point.

Jeff Stone: [00:53:05] You know, and if you because I noticed a lot of people in networking are trying to be interesting. Oh, I do this and I do that and I’m this and that. Well, no. Be interested. Instead.

Brian Pruett: [00:53:15] I’ve I’ll touch on that because we had a young man start coming and he I was we would go around the room and people would thank you for, for introductions or referrals and stuff like that and and happened to be one day that I had given a lot of folks some some folks, you know, introductions or whatever. And I was getting thanked quite a bit. And this young man, he was new to networking emailed me like right after the meeting and said, Hey, you know, everybody else referrals, can you send me some? And my email back to him was you can take this however you will, but you need to come in and establish relationships and learn more about them before you start selling a thing. He’s never come back to a meeting since. Wow. So. All right, Kathy, what do you have? Well, we.

Kathy Lathem: [00:53:54] Do do business with people we know, like and trust, Right. And if you don’t spend time with someone, you don’t know them. You don’t learn to trust them. Right? Right. And you don’t find out what they do. So I think we’ve all touched on it the same. You have to inspire others. You have to be interested and you have to listen. Chatty Cathy You know, it’s easy for me to engage, but I have to stop and really listen to people, not just hear, but listen. So that’s very important, I think, for all of us to take on a daily basis. But then it goes back to Scripture for me, to whom much is given, much shall be required. There’s not one person in this room who has not been given much, and we are required to take what has been given to us, be good stewards of it, and not keep it in our hands. But to pass it along, whether it’s knowledge, whether it’s tangible goods, whether it’s finances, our time, whatever it is we have to be willing to give.

Brian Pruett: [00:54:52] Awesome. Yes. Well, again, Kathy, Jeff, Dan, thanks for coming. Everybody out there listening. Let’s remember, let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.