Stephen Norton with Star Printing, Darin Hunter with Every Link Matters and Comedian Rich Brock

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta. It’s time for charitable Georgia. Brought to you by Bea’s charitable pursuits and resources. We put the fun in fundraising. For more information, go to Bee’s charitable pursuits. Dot com that’s Bee’s Charitable pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:48] Good, Fabulous. Friday morning, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Charitable George. I hope everybody had a great Christmas. We didn’t do a show last week. I was a little under the weather and of course it was really extremely cold and a lot of folks had some issues. I know our church had some broken pipes and we’re working on that, but I hope everybody was able to have a good Christmas and spend some time with some family and friends and, you know, sharing the last first first two episodes we did, we had some great, fabulous folks. We got three more fabulous folks here for a fabulous Friday. So we’re going to jump right in with our first guest, Stephen Norton, from Star Printing and Publishing in Acworth. Stephen, thanks for being here this morning.

Stephen Norton: [00:01:28] Thanks for having me, Brian.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:30] So Stephen and I have known each other for about, I don’t know, close to almost 20 years. Believe it or not. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Yeah, right. Stephen owns, like I said, star printing and publishing in downtown Acworth. And he and I have done some things with the community as far as some positive things. And again, this is why this show is being done to put more positive news out there of doing some things in the community, whether it’s an individual business or nonprofit. And Stephen and I did a magazine a few years ago called Northwest Georgia Rising Stars, where we highlighted the students in the high schools and Bartow and Gordon counties. And it was all positive features on the kids. So just knowing Stephen, he’s got a charitable heart. And so, first of all, Stephen, tell us a little bit about Star Printing and how you got involved with that company.

Stephen Norton: [00:02:18] Yeah, I started working with Star Printing back in 1999. A previous owner was a I won’t say a family friend of ours, and he was looking for some help in the sales field. I was unemployed at the time or in between jobs, so I came down, knew absolutely nothing about printing, worked my way sort of through the company at the time. I think when I started we were doing eight or ten different publications printing for just about everybody in Cobb County at some point or time. But things changed around 2007. 2008 became a different world in the printing world. We slowed down some of the publications dropped off. I’d been talking to Mr. McIlrath a little bit about what his exit strategy was. He was getting on up in in age. He had started the company brand new in 1972 in downtown Acworth. So in 2015 I approached a couple of family members of mine and we were able to sit down with Mr. Michael Reith and purchase and buy him out and let him enjoy retirement a little bit. And so we’ve owned it since 2015 and we’ve dealt with a little bit of everything, including COVID, which was a not a friend to the printing industry whatsoever like a lot of others. And then over the last couple of years we’ve had to deal with the supply chain issues. It’s really hit us hard as a lot of the products came from overseas. But we we seem to be making the turn a little bit right now and things are going, I would say really well. The last couple of months have been some of the best months we’ve had since I’ve owned it. So I’m hoping it’s headed in the right direction now.

Brian Pruett: [00:04:11] Right. Can you explain some people may ask you talk about being a commercial. We talk about commercial printing. Explain what that is.

Stephen Norton: [00:04:19] Yeah, it’s a it’s a term that we use. I can almost tell you we’re not a walk in and get something printed off the street in an hour type thing. That’s the biggest thing. We’re not a quick copy shop. We have large presses, we have presses, Web presses, which still print newspapers were one of the the very few in northwest Georgia. A matter of fact, it still does newspaper printing. There are a few of us, but there’s not many between about Acworth and Cobb County all the way to the Tennessee line. And then we do large format sheet fed printing. And we’re also in the digital printing world as well. But that basically those those things make it a commercial print shop more of your larger based customers. It’s what we do deal with.

Brian Pruett: [00:05:08] So we talked a little bit about you and I doing the magazine a few years ago, and a few weeks ago I was talking to a young lady named Christina Woodard with Whistlepig creative about in kind. There’s a lot of different ways businesses can get involved in the community, whether it be financial or in-kind or just different things like that. And you are one of the ones who do a lot of in-kind stuff, especially for local nonprofits. I can think of at least six nonprofits off the bat that you do in-kind stuff for. So first of all, why is it important for you to be involved in the community like that and share why it’s important to you to be? To give back to the community with those in-kind sponsorships.

Stephen Norton: [00:05:51] You know, Brian, it’s just something that’s on my heart. If someone comes to me and say ourselves, we don’t have a lot of money, we’re having a charitable event, we’re trying to raise money for X, Y, Z, or whatever the case may be. I’m not going to turn them down. I’m going to figure out a way to to get them printed, make them happy, make them able to reach the goal that they’re at. I sort of hope I’ve always been like that, but I think the older I get even more so, I sort of reach out to folks that I know need a little bit of help and don’t really know which way to turn. So I’m like I said, I’m not going to lower the wheel and I’m not going to turn anyone down from from needing some help getting something printed and out there on the street for the benefit of their cause.

Brian Pruett: [00:06:39] Now, I know you like golf, so you play a lot of golf tournaments that you can read enough. You also like bowling, you and I. That’s how we met. I was a bowling league coordinator for formerly us, Plano Bolero, Barre Parkway. And you bowl in several of my league. So you’ve bowled in some bowling charity events. Like I said, you golf and charity events. You just shared why that’s important to to that. So give me a little bit more background. I know you’re from a Dyersville, Bartow County. Prior getting into the printing world, what what did you do?

Stephen Norton: [00:07:12] I have been in the banking world. I’ve been in the mortgage world. I’ve been in a little bit of the insurance world. That wasn’t really my calling. I knew that fairly quickly. But the banking and the mortgage I enjoyed up until a point and it just it was one of those things in the late nineties that I just thought, you know what, I want to do what I want to what? Where do I want to go from here? It’s just one of those things. It was God’s timing. He put me in front of Mr. McIlrath. Mr. McRae said, Look, I’m needing somebody I can trust and I’ve known you for a long time. Let’s talk and see where we go from here. And I mean, I absolutely knew zero about printing the first day I went in and I still probably only know about 5% of printing, but that’s where we’re at today.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:04] Well, another thing that you do that is not really talked about, but you also help a lot of local authors. You guys do some publishing as well.

Stephen Norton: [00:08:12] I do. I’m I’m real good friends with a gentleman by the name of Guy Conder, who is going through some real serious health issues right now. But he’s a local bookstore owner there in Acworth. He, through the years, has put a lot of different local authors in front of me and sort of taking the ball, trying to help them get their books published. One of the best things is people have great ideas in their mind, but they don’t really necessarily 100% believe that they can put that from here to on paper and into a whether it be a paperback or a hardbound book or whatever. And with guys help and through some some turbulent times, we’ve been able to get probably 20 to 25 local books published and printed just in our little town of Acworth, our surrounding area, Cartersville, Kennesaw type thing. But that’s something I really enjoy. It’s a it’s a pretty cool feeling, especially if someone’s writing that first book. They are scared to death. I mean, they have no idea what they’re jumping into. They don’t think anybody wants to read it. They don’t think anybody wants to buy it. For example, I had one lady who her her dad was a a pretty decorated Marine way back in the day, back in World War Two and stuff.

Stephen Norton: [00:09:43] And she’s like, I’ve written this book. It’s about 300 pages. But I don’t think anybody outside of my family is going to read it, blah, blah, blah. And I mean, she was just scared to death and she had him she was shaking when she handed me the manuscript and the little thumb drive. And I said, let’s get Golconda involved. Let’s talk about this thing. See, her father had passed many years ago, and that was had a lot to do with her feelings as well. But anyway, through the three of us, we got it published in Printed. And I think the last time I talked to her, she had sold a little under 200 books. Wow. And like I said, that was just a a warm woman who wanted to pay tribute to her father. And she thought, nobody’s going read this. You know, I’m going to give this to all the family members, and that’s going to be it. But she was a little less than 200 years old and it hasn’t been out probably less than six months now.

Brian Pruett: [00:10:39] Wow. Well, you and I are continuing to partner some things. You know, I do fundraising for a living and I’ve got some exciting events coming up in 2023. And you are graciously again being my partner in printing my stuff. So I appreciate that. If folks want to get a hold of you for any printing needs or any authors want to get a hold of you, how can people get ahold of you.

Stephen Norton: [00:10:58] Give you a couple of different numbers, and then I’ll give you an email address. But the two main numbers are 7709746495. That is my office number. And trust me, I feel like I’m there 24 seven. But if you can’t reach me, the cell phone number is 6787562013. And then the email address is Steven step in at go hyphen star dot com.

Brian Pruett: [00:11:28] Awesome. Well, Steven, I appreciate you being here. Do you mind sticking around and listen to these other two great folks?

Stephen Norton: [00:11:32] I’m looking forward to it. Thanks, Brian.

Brian Pruett: [00:11:33] Great. So we are going to now move over to Mr. Darin Hunter, who’s no stranger to the Woodstock area. He is the leader for mortgage right here in Woodstock known as the mortgage hunter. But a lot of great things that you’ve got going on. So, first of all, Darin, share a little bit about the the mortgage business and then I’ll get into some of the other things. Why I’ve asked you here, just some of the great things that you’re doing.

Darin Hunter: [00:11:56] Yeah, sure. So first of all, thanks for having me out here. I appreciate it this morning. This right before we end of the year. So it’s a great way to great way to end 2020. To talk a little bit about what I think you’re going to ask me about, which is every link matters. But yeah, so I’ve been in the mortgage industry for this. Believe it or not, I’m one of the old guys, you know? I know I look so young these days, but, you know, the 21 years in the mortgage industry. So I’ve lived through the great financial crisis, the housing bubble, and was able to navigate my way through there, you know, as kind of a young buck, really. I actually started my own went out on my own as a as a branch leader in 2007. So just perfect timing. But, you know, from every opportunity is usually born out of out of some sort of catastrophe, some sort of issues, some sort of problem. And we were able to really rise above and navigate our ways through. And I’ve been doing mortgages ever since. I mean, I really enjoy, you know, helping folks out, getting them in a position to sort of create wealth, get into their first home, stop wasting money on rent, you know, And really, two thirds of all net worth is comes from home equity. So it’s just a it’s just a way to help people facilitate home ownership and using mortgages. Most people don’t have, of course, have the money to put down. So mortgages come in handy in that regard.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:14] What’s the one key thing you could share with somebody about the mortgage industry now? What’s what’s important for somebody who’s looking for a mortgage?

Darin Hunter: [00:13:22] Well, we don’t have enough time to go through that. But some of the keys, you know, when you’re when you’re speaking with a mortgage guy, make certain you’re you’re telling them everything you know, because that’s the one thing that, you know, we find out in the mortgage world is is you can’t hide anything. We are going to find out. I mean, when you’re when you’re lending somebody hundreds of thousands of dollars and it’s a lot of money on the line. So, you know, we’re going to do our due diligence. So make certain you’re being up front. Obviously, credit is a major, major issue. You know, you’ve got to have great credit. Not great credit. I shouldn’t say that. You got to have credit. And you have to be be responsible because you’re pleading essentially your case to borrow that money. So credit is a is a big thing, you know, and. Don’t overspend. That’s that’s one of the you know, you hear that word or that term house poor. And, you know, unfortunately, a lot of times people fall into that trap. You know, I can certainly approve you for the maximum amount. But we try to educate our borrowers, try to educate the folks we work with to to not overspend. Don’t be house poor, just be conservative. Especially if this is a lot we’re in right now. The primary buyers are folks that are moving up, Right. They’re millennials. They’ve probably recently been married. They’ve recently had some kids. So they’re they’re moving up. And so, you know, you don’t want to be house poor and then, you know, you’ve got children on the line, too. So you want to be able to live comfortably and not above your means. So those are some of the couple of the couple tips I guess I could give.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:49] All right. Thank you. So you mentioned about liking and loving and helping people. So one of the things that I know that you’ve done here in Woodstock is you’ve helped start and lead the Woodstock Business Club. So you’re you’re all about helping local businesses as well. Can you share a little bit about the Woodstock Business Club?

Darin Hunter: [00:15:07] Yeah. So, you know, in the mortgage world and any sort of entrepreneurs, you know, a lot of times you’re in these networking groups, you know, and some of them are some of them are great. A lot of lot of great material, but some just have a different sort of a style, a different sort of way about going business that not doesn’t fit everybody. And, you know, the group that we started, there were six of us that came out of one of those larger groups and decided we want to do things a little bit differently. And we were we were able to sort of take advantage of that New Year sort of gym membership mentality. You know, the New year. I’m going to start going to go to the gym and then after a couple of months, you know, you’re not in the gym, right? So we wanted to ride that wave a little bit where, you know, some of the goals that people set for the new year are I’m going to start going to networking groups, I’m going to get out there, I’m going to start building referral sources. And so we really promoted it on social media and got folks involved and just made it their own group, but made it affordable as well. You know, it’s a $50 a year membership and it’s it’s just blossomed.

Darin Hunter: [00:16:05] It’s grown and it’s it’s created this micro community that everybody just falls in love with when they’re there. There’s just this high energy. Everybody is so caring. And it’s you know, it becomes not just not just the business club, but but sort of like a family. I mean, everybody’s looking out for one another. And that’s what is so different. And I get complimented on that. And not just me. I mean, I’m talking about all the leadership team gets complimented on a regular basis about how much everybody cares and everybody looks out for one another in the group. And, you know, that’s just what makes our it makes us different. And we started with six and now we’ve got over 200 paying members that show up, you know, and about 50% of them show up or so, 50% or so show up every Thursday morning at reformation right here in downtown Woodstock. And, you know, it’s sort of, you know, we’re not affiliated necessarily with the other couple of business clubs that have sort of spun off. But but they did they spun off of of what we created because they saw the opportunity, the potential and just kind of fed off that. And it’s been a great thing to be a part of and just being part of the community.

Brian Pruett: [00:17:08] You mentioned briefly when and where they meet. So if somebody wants to come to that show, when and how they can come.

Darin Hunter: [00:17:14] So you can always go to the Woodstock business Club dot com and you can first of all, you can go to the directory and find any of our local businesses to find whatever you need, whether it’s home, home inspection, mortgages, print, you know, those items are always there. But you can also show up at 830 at reformation off Main Street in downtown. I guess I take it back, it’s actually off Market Street, I believe, which is on the back side, the other side of Main Street. And we meet there at 832 to 930. We typically go through some introductions. We we we have a business discussion. Sometimes we have sponsorship, sponsorship breakfasts where the if you’re a member, you get an opportunity to highlight your business and talk a little bit further than just that 30 seconds sort of elevator speech that you get in the beginning. And then we try to do panels, you know, industry type panels and just again, try to provide some knowledge and, you know, like you were sharing the stereo, Steve, you’re sharing the story about not necessarily everybody wants to read. The woman didn’t know if everybody wants to read their book. We don’t know if you share a story and you share an experience that you’re having in our business club, somebody right next to you maybe experiencing the exact same thing and that may help them. And so that’s what we try to encourage. And and so far it’s been it’s been a phenomenal thing.

Brian Pruett: [00:18:28] Well, again, you’ve got a lot of things going on and a lot of exciting things. And I’ll get to to the main thing in a second. But you do have a new exciting thing going on where you’re a host of a TV show as well. Share a little bit about that and how you got going with that.

Darin Hunter: [00:18:42] Yes. So the it’s called American Dream TV, and I’m part of what’s called the financing the American Dream, which is, you know, we like your radio show. We want to work on focus on positivity, you know, lifestyle, community, culture, and then, of course, real estate, because that is our bread and butter, right? Real estate mortgages. So we try to go to different communities. We’ve been to Woodstock, we’ve been to Canton. We’ve. To Alpharetta. And we focus on whether it’s business owner, charity, real estate agent, just highlight that particular community because there has been so much negativity, whether it’s COVID supply chain inflation, I mean, you name it, recession. We’re talking ourselves into all these things. The media is constantly berating us with negativity. So this is a spin on on the negativity, trying to put those positive vibes out here, just like a radio show.

Brian Pruett: [00:19:33] Where can people view that show?

Darin Hunter: [00:19:35] So the most recent show will be airing on January 10th on Travel Channel, and it’s at 7 a.m.. And I’ve got the amazing Diana Hornets, who’s my guest along with Kevin Culpepper. And we head up Canton, the Cherokee County Airport, along with this amazing, beautiful home and in Canton. And but you can also find us at ADT Ad TVGuide.com. You can follow us on Facebook. And of course, if you follow anything I’m doing on Instagram, Facebook, Tik tok, you know, you can find all the all my videos and reels and whatever other social media jargon it is. You can see all, all that kind of stuff there.

Brian Pruett: [00:20:14] All right. So the real reason I wanted you here, not that you’ve done a lot already for folks in the community, but you have a nonprofit that you started that’s really extremely close to your heart. I’d like for you to share what that is and why. Yeah.

Darin Hunter: [00:20:28] So we have every link matters. My wife and I started this nonprofit. It was my, my, my daughter, who was born in July of 2017. She had she was born a little early, you know, premature. Wait. It just had some health issues, you know, as as she was born, failure to thrive, you know, going through all these processes, couldn’t get an answer, couldn’t figure out what was going on with her. And that was part of the frustration is there was no answers. Well, about a year and a half after February of 2019, she was diagnosed with what’s called CP G, which is a rare genetic disease that affects your 16th chromosome. And she was one. She was 286 in the world to ever be diagnosed with this particular disease. And since then, there’s about 700 might even be up to 800 at this point, which is still worldwide. I mean, very, very little. But, you know, it was sort of therapeutic for us to to start this nonprofit to help raise awareness, number one, because that was part of the challenge and the frustrations that we dealt with. We go to the doctor and they didn’t. No, I don’t blame any doctors or physicians or specialists. They just didn’t know. I mean, there’s there’s 286. Why would they know? You know, And so we’d go there and they’d have to research and Google to try to find out some of the symptoms and and issues that these that these children dealt with. And so we were trying to raise awareness to try to help folks not have to deal with that, you know, insurance, because again, it’s so rare it doesn’t pay for a lot of these things.

Darin Hunter: [00:21:53] Now, there’s definitely some other outlets are out there help, special needs kids and families. But, you know, we raise awareness, we raise funds, and we tried to give that money directly to the families that are affected. You know, we’re not really focused on the medical research. We’re trying to send the money and the funds directly to the families that need it, whether it be medical expenses. We had a child in Utah that didn’t have couldn’t afford clothes to go to go to new clothes for schools. So help them out now. Medical equipment, medical bills, therapy, dogs. You know, we try to funnel these funds directly that are affecting the families, not, you know, research. And, you know, part of the problems, in my opinion, with a lot of the larger nonprofits out there or charities out there that, you know, you make these donations, you don’t really know where it goes. And, you know, there’s a lot of red tape to to to do anything. And, you know, I’m trying to, at least in our world, trying to eliminate a lot of that so we can take the money and you know exactly where it’s going, you know, whether it’s you can follow us on all the the social media platforms to see what we’ve done with these funds. And, you know, this money is not for my daughter at all. You know, my my daughter is very, very fortunate.

Darin Hunter: [00:23:04] You know, there’s she has a lot, you know, definitely deals with a lot. But she is very, very much on the good side. You know, there’s not necessarily a spectrum, but if there was, you know, she’d be on the very, very good side of side of that. In other words, she doesn’t have as severe of issues as some of the others because what she has is a mutation. And there’s a difference between a mutation and a deletion mutation has some connectivity within that chromosome. So so they’re firing, they’re communicating where and there’s the deletion, you know, there’s less communication, right? Does that does that make sense? So, you know, she’s she although she’s dealing with the symptoms and the and the disabilities that she has, she’s very much thriving now. I mean, you know, she’s in therapies, physical, occupational speech. I mean, we’ve got a whole sheet of different specialists that we go to. But she goes to preschool, she’ll go to kindergarten next year. And, you know, she basically runs our house. I mean, so she’s doing really well, but. Some of the other families just aren’t. You know, they’re dealing with heart defects, seizures, skeletal. Dis formations, mental intellectual disabilities, amongst others. And typically what you find is a lot of kids with these CPGs have other things in addition to that. And and Emily actually does have some other things. Her is Emily does have another disease. But the primary one that we focus on and is with every link matters.

Brian Pruett: [00:24:36] How can somebody I know you have a golf tournament you do every year for that so you said you’ve you’ve got a date for that for this upcoming year. So how can people get involved with that? And and also just help with every link matters.

Darin Hunter: [00:24:45] Yeah. So we’ve got we are our primary fundraiser is a charity golf tournament that we do every year. It’s this year it’s May 12th. It’s usually the second week in May and we sell out every single year. And if you’ve. You know, if you’re lucky enough to be in the group or have have a team on there, we’d love to have you. But, you know, when we announce it and put it out there for sign ups, it goes quick, you know, because we have we have a great time doing it. It’s for a great cause. You know, it’s near and dear to our our our family. And we’re just involved in the community. So a lot of people come out and provide their support. So, you know, you certainly can go to every link matters dot org. You can follow us and see some updates there. You can also go find us on Facebook page if just Google every link matter or search on the Facebook for every link matters and then of course on Instagram as well. And. But yeah, we’re just happy to help and be part of it. And like I said, it’s very therapeutic for for us, my wife and I. And we’re just, you know, just trying to help help some families out there. But, you know, we’ll say, I want to touch on this because we’re dependent upon so much of the local community. You know, we definitely give back to the communities as well. I mean, we’ve helped out some families here. We’ve helped out the Woodstock Public Safety Foundation. And, you know, we try to give back I mean, you know, we understand that, you know, a lot of these funds are going out to other states. But, you know, we want to want to make certain we’re taking care of our community where we can limitless disability services. We’ve helped out a couple of scenarios there. So, again, we’re dependent on locals, so we want to give back local as well.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:22] So same thing. I asked Stephen, why is it important for you to be involved other than your personal obviously with your daughter? Why is it important for you to be a local business person in the community and and give back to the community?

Darin Hunter: [00:26:36] You know, it’s it’s it’s what I was meant to do. I don’t I don’t know how to explain that. You know, I just have this draw or this. You know, I’ve just been given this path and, you know, whether I wanted it or not, I was sort of kicked down this path. And, you know, and I’m one of those people that, you know, if I’m going to do it, I might as well do it well, you know, and try to do it as best of my ability. And and so I just want to I want to do right and do well by others. And I think this is the easiest answer I can give you. I mean, it’s you know, it very much has been, you know, because of my so close to home, it’s my my little daughter, my five year old. So, of course, that’s my, my, my major reason. But, you know, it’s for us to be able to help out so many other families and so many and within the community. It’s it’s just it just means the world to us, and we’re just fortunate to take advantage of it.

Brian Pruett: [00:27:28] So you got a lot going on business wise, family wise. How do you. Balance work, family.

Darin Hunter: [00:27:39] Well, family’s first, right? Family is definitely first. You know, I’m very, very fortunate. I’ve got an amazing wife who, without her, none of this would be possible. I wouldn’t be able to go to my job on a regular basis. I wouldn’t, you know, and put in the hours. I wouldn’t be able to be at this radio station. I wouldn’t be able to do the business club, wouldn’t be able to do all these other things that we do in the community. You know, it takes a team effort. And my number one teammate is my wife and she supports us all the way sports on what I do watch. And I hopefully I support her as she thinks I support her as much as she supports me. And, you know, not only that, but we have a we have a lot of family that helps us out. We’ve got an amazing support system, you know, and and, you know, when you deal with sort of a disability or whatever that is and your family, you really find out a lot about who you are and your family is. And turns out I got a hell of a family.

Brian Pruett: [00:28:34] So I’ll ask you the same thing that I asked Steve. And if somebody wants to get a hold of you, whether it be for mortgages, every link matters. Whatever the case is, how can people get a hold of you?

Darin Hunter: [00:28:42] The best thing to do is just. Just reach out to me directly. 40486321, two, one. That is my direct phone number for mortgage. All things mortgages, all things. Every link matters. All things Woodstock Business Club. You know, if you want everybody to have access to my cell phone, whether you text, leave me, call me. I answer the phone and leave me a voicemail. I’m real good about responding. I’m in the business of follow up, so definitely leave me a voicemail or text if you don’t reach me. But that is the best way to reach me at all times.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:09] Great. Well, Darin, I appreciate you being here. You mind sticking around one more for another Great, great individual.

Darin Hunter: [00:29:13] Pleasure. Thank you.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:14] All right. So my next guest, Rich Brock, Big Rich. How are you doing this morning?

Rich Brock: [00:29:18] I’m doing.Great.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:19] So, Rich, you’re with Win Home Inspection and then Big Rich comedies, which we’ll get into a minute but share a little bit about. You’ve had quite a journey being a former pastor and then getting into home inspections and comedy. But share a little bit first about when home inspections, what you can do for folks, and then we’ll we’ll get into the other. Sure.

Rich Brock: [00:29:39] Well, when home inspections were out of Rome, Georgia and Cartersville, Georgia, have two locations. When is a 30 year old business? And the fella that I work for, he says I work with him, but I work for him. John Colwell has owned Wind Lyndale slash Rome for ten years, and John inspected my own house when I moved to Cartersville. I’ve been doing home inspections in the Dalton area for nine years and I have this guy coming in to inspect my home and I was ready for him. I had all the things I was watching for and all the things I was looking at, and he ended up having the same philosophy in life that I have, treat other people like you want to be treated. And he was informative. I call him the House Whisperer. He finds things about houses that other people might not see, but he’s also just as good a person as he is a great home inspector. So when I left that day with him, I thought, you know, I’m tired of driving an hour and a half each way to go to work. We met for coffee. 3 hours later, it turned into lunch. Two weeks after that, I left my business and I came to work with him and I haven’t looked back. I started with John back in March and we enjoy what we do. We help a lot of first time homebuyers. A lot of our referrals are from agents, from mortgage guys.

Rich Brock: [00:31:00] But we also were seeing with the market right now we’re doing a lot of things that are for people who’ve had their house for a while with they need a maintenance check. They just especially after the weather we just had, now it’s summer again for a day or two. You know, they like to be able to see what’s going on under the house, above the house, within the electrical panel, 80 plus percent of any problems a home has is water related. So we’re checking out everything from loose toilets to pipes, all kinds of different things. But I enjoy what I do in helping people, as Darren said, and it’s just a different way I help them now. Yeah, I was a pastor for oh my gosh, I’m showing how old I am. 27 years. Started at 21. Come on, somebody. I was a pastor for that long. I tease. I said when I was old enough to quit, you know, when I was old enough to go out legally and drink and party and chase women, I quit doing it. And I ended up being a pastor at 21 and enjoyed it immensely and got into home inspections part time and it turned into full time when I decided that I wanted to do something else. And I enjoy what I do with wind and wind’s a great company to work for, but an even better company to work with for people needing in-home home inspection.

Brian Pruett: [00:32:21] Are there any tips you mentioned a little bit better, Any tips you can give folks whether they’re you don’t have to sell a home to have an inspection, Right. Can you there any tips you can give somebody?

Rich Brock: [00:32:30] Yeah, sure. You know, it’s funny, my little 80, I won’t say how old she is other than. 80 plus because it’s my aunt and she might be listening today. But we did a home inspection for her this week and she is selling most of the time. It’s buyers that contact us. But we also see sellers because she wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything she didn’t know about concerning her home, any kind of issues, anything going on, you know, simple things that people you would think, oh yeah, I remember that. But when you get at home inspection with us, it also comes with a home maintenance guide and that’s attached to it. It reminds you to change your air filters. You know, it reminds you to change the batteries and your smoke alarms, your co detectors when the time changes, you know, about every six months with those all those little things that we get so busy in life. Because if you like me, I was chasing kids at the ball field. I’m doing the church stuff, I’m doing my job, I’ve got all these things going on. It’s nice to have something in front of me that’s a checklist that I can go through and be able to make sure those things are done. And that’s, I think, one of the things that’s real handy about getting a maintenance check and then any home. I mean, the biggest purchase most of us ever make in our lives is our home. And the normally the cheapest thing you’re going to find when you’re signing with with anybody that’s bought a home, it’s signing pass. Signing passed. The cheapest thing you’re going to see on that is the home inspection. But it’s also so valuable because it lets you know what you’re getting into. Realtors can then take that and negotiate anything that needs to be done and it just makes it a smoother transaction for everybody.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:09] We talk about positive things in the community and doing positive things for folks. You personally have had a roller coaster ride for this 2022 year, but you’ve made the decision to have people laugh.

Rich Brock: [00:34:23] Yes.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:24] And you started in January with that, right?

Rich Brock: [00:34:26] Well, actually started March March started making people laugh. I think when I started talking as a kid or, you know, sorta, but I launched out, I went to an open mic and marched down at Laughing Skull at the Vortex. If you’re not familiar with it, you might want to look it up before you drive down there. I was the oldest person in the crowd. You know, there’s 100 people there. I look around, there was some people with different colored hair, but I was only gray and black headed one there. And I went up and did 4 minutes, got through it. I looked at it and thought, Man, I can’t wait to do that again. And went back, did another, went to Chattanooga, did an open mic there. After four open mics, I was like, I’m ready to turn pro. I’ve had enough of this. And I started booking my own shows and I took my church planning background as a church planner, and I’d go to bars, taverns, wherever I saw a group of people that I spent money with that I thought might be interested. And I said, Hey, if you ever thought about doing comedy, most places said, No, but we do music. I said, Give me your slowest night. What’s the slowest night you got there? Tell me. I said, How about we do two shows, see how it goes? You can either pay me or I’ll sell tickets.

Rich Brock: [00:35:40] And all of them said, Hey, sell tickets. You know, they don’t want to pay me. I’ve never done this before. The first two venues I win, I sold out both places of I’ve done 38 paid shows since March, sold out 30 plus of them, and they’re venues that are 50 to 70 people normally, but it’s a good group of folks. I’m able to bring other comics in that to give them an opportunity to do most open mics or 4 minutes. You drive an hour, you wait an hour, you do 4 minutes, then you go home. This they might get 10 minutes. I might be able to give them 15 my show. I do. I’m more of a storyteller. So I do shows that are talking about growing up in the 1900s, talking about being a hi fi guy in a wi fi world, talking about my parents. My parents are in heaven. That’s another reason I waited to start comedy, because my mother would have lost it if I was up there doing I do clean comedy, but it’s my ex wife said, I’m not the Golden Girls. I might talk about sex for 30 minutes, but you never know it unless you’ve had it before. And I’m telling you, that’s the kind of stuff that I enjoy doing and making people laugh and have fun.

Brian Pruett: [00:36:51] And they say laughter is the best medicine. And I can tell you, I’ve been to your shows and and it’s a belly laugh and I got a belly to laugh. So it’s it’s great. Why is it important for you to be involved in the community?

Rich Brock: [00:37:04] Well, you know, I grew up in small town Chickamauga, Georgia. If you’ve come to my shows, you’ll hear all about Chickamauga. My father was a letter carrier. He grew up there, work the same job from 21 till he retired, walked 12.3 miles a day, and his home town. He said, My job would probably take me 6 hours, but I know everybody. It takes eight because he had to stop and build relationships, talk with people, being a former pastor, being a church. Or when I moved to Cartersville, I’d only I’ve only been in Carter’s for two years. The business club where we’ve met. Anywhere I go, I try to show myself friendly because, you know, the Bible says if you’ll show yourself friendly, paraphrase, you’ll have many friends. And I just try to be friendly to people and you’ll you’ll also figure out who you might want to be friends with or not by being friendly to somebody and not seeing anything in return. Reciprocated. But I enjoy being involved. I enjoy giving back. Much like Darren said, It’s just in you I think is is Christians, as you can tell this bunch. God puts that in you and you got to be able to give it away. You’ve got to be able to invest in other folks. So I enjoy it. I I’m a little more selective than what I was when I was a pastor full time because I had all all day to look for opportunities to do that. Now I feel like, Och, I’m a little older, I’ve got these responsibilities and I try to find things like I have meeting you that I know I can invest in, that I learned as a pastor, busy people are happy to invest in something, to work with somebody, but they want to feel like their time is being used valuable. So I’m the same way now. I look for things like I’ve heard about today that I know my time or my money is going to be not only used properly, but they’re going to appreciate the fact I’m involved in it.

Brian Pruett: [00:39:06] Well, I’m excited as well, because you and I have talked about we’re going to partner up and do some events as well for 2023. So I’m looking forward to that. Yeah, me too. Where can people. Well, first of all, on the comedy side, I have people ever said to you that you remind them of Jerry Claure from our older listeners to me, you, you.

Rich Brock: [00:39:22] Jerry Flower, Jerry Flower and James Gregory are the two that I get much better looking and handsome and James Gregory still around. So if he heard that sorry, James Jerry Clough was the first comedian that I ever heard. I was five years old, sitting in my father’s lap at the Gordon Lee High School Auditorium. Jerry Claure comes to Chickamauga. That was a big deal in the seventies. And then when I was at Dalton College on my third college, I walk into the student center and there’s James Gregory, who had been doing comedy full time for about a year and a half at the time. Tells you again how old I am was doing a set. And those were the first two guys, you know, of course, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor. I do clean comedy, but I respect the art form of it from anybody but those two guys. I hear them like a lot, but they also are the two guys that I gleaned from when I was younger.

Brian Pruett: [00:40:15] If people want to get a hold of you for home inspections, but I’ve also want to get a hold of you for the comedy. How can I do that?

Rich Brock: [00:40:20] Well, much like Darren, you can find me anywhere the same way. And you can go to Big Rich comedy dot com and website. You can Facebook me at Big Rich Brock comedy my phone number if you need home inspection or anything about comedy. If you’re looking to get on one of my shows, email me. If you’re looking to book a show, call me because I get a lot of this. Hey, you’re doing comedy shows because it’s not the most common thing to do to do your own shows like I’ve been able to. But my cell is 7069803506. And on the comedy front, you can’t help it. You know, you’re sitting at this table and I’m thinking of things and I’m listening to Stephen and talking about local authors, and I’m working on my first book and I’m almost done reading it. And when I get done, I want to write one, you know, and then I hear about the American dream and I’m thinking Dusty Rhodes television. I cannot wait. You know, the great wrestling man himself. We met him at the Omni when I was a kid, and I was like, Oh my God, Mom, there’s the American dream. She looked over at him and said, That looks more like the nightmare to me than the American dream. So anything that I do, I have to temper it sometimes, thinking, you know, that’s not the time for comedy. I’m inspecting a house or I’m working. You know, I still, you know, they say once a pastor, always a pastor, I enjoyed that time in my life. I enjoy ministering to people. I’m still a minister, I’m still ministering to people. But I’m using a different way now with laughter, with comedy.

Rich Brock: [00:41:57] I’ve been blessed that some of the shows that you and your wife have been to other folks have been at, and I’ve heard comments like, and I’m bringing my sister in law, she lost, you know, my brother passed. She hasn’t probably laughed in six months. And then no pressure, Rich, you know, and then I watch her and after the show, she’s like, I’ve never laughed like that before. That was so therapeutic to me. That’s so healing. And I enjoy that. And I enjoy the fact that most of my shows are at places where you’re 21, even though it’s clean. But I’m seeing people from 21 years old to. 90. It is at the same show. And I have kids that are younger that I say you’ve got to Google it to understand it. When I’m talking about the Columbia House Record Club, you’ve got to Google that. You’re not going to understand that. But once you do, they’re sitting there on their phones, Googling things I’m talking about and start laughing. They’re a little bit slower than us that lived it. But it’s just fun bringing people together and giving them something that’s. Greatest compliment is when somebody tells me, Hey, can I tell you about my dad? Because I talk about my father a lot, my show. Can I tell you about my mother? Can I tell you about the first car that I bought? Can I tell you about my spring break? When you get that from people, you know that they’re connecting to what you’re doing and they’re taking something home with them that they can take and share with their kids, siblings or whoever it is in their life.

Brian Pruett: [00:43:25] So you have something pretty exciting, too, that you were actually contacted by HGTV, right?

Rich Brock: [00:43:30] Yes, I was. I’m waiting. You know, it’s funny, I one of my I have a mentor in comedy who’s probably the filthiest comedian that you would know. And she’s from my town that I lived in for a while. And Ringgold, Georgia. And she’s a sweet grandmother, but I’m not going to tell you to Google her because she’ll go, Oh, my God, big, rich woman’s filthy. She said, I love you, but we’ll never work together. But somebody called her and told her about me, sent her a 32nd clip from a show. She called me the next morning and said, There’s no way that you can do comedy for 45 minutes to an hour because my shows are about that, that I do. She goes, That’s impossible. I said, I used to be a pastor. Spirit filled churches for 30 years almost. She goes, That’s still impossible. Came to my show, said, I believe it. That was great. I’m your biggest. What can I do to help you? And she pushed me to send in a tape to AGT. I did that over. I did that September, Labor Day. Memorial Day, whichever one. It’s Labor Day, right? Yeah, Labor Day weekend. I’m sitting at the house. I said, okay, I’ll send this in. Then you finish all the paperwork and he says, Hey, if we’re interested, we’ll reach out to you April of 2023. If we’re not, you’ll never hear from us, so don’t bother us. I’m like, Oh, my God, April, I could be dead. I could forget this. I can be done with comedy by then. But I put it on my calendar. April 2023. The next day, I got an email from a casting producer from America’s Got Talent.

Rich Brock: [00:45:02] He said, Man, I really love what you said. Send me everything you got. I said, Well, I got an hour. He goes, Send it. So I send it to him. He was very supportive, very complimentary. Said, I’m one of 18. I think he said 18 votes. You got mine. We’ll just see how it goes. But from that, I sent that same thing out to, you know. James Gregory, Jeff Foxworthy. Larry the Cable Guy. Dusty Slay. I started going down my Who’s Who. And I’ve gotten responses from two or three of those guys. One Dusty slay if you know his name. Good, clean comic. He said that tape you sent me was 19 minutes long. There’s no way I was going to watch that. But I just finished it. And, man, that was great. And when you get inspired in whatever field you’re in by somebody, that’s achieved what you’re looking to achieve, and that’s like throwing gasoline on a fire or a steak to a pit bull. I mean, you just get motivated. And that motivated me, Bryan, to try to take it to the next level. So those 38 shows, this nine months that I’ve been in it, I’m looking to turn into 60 plus shows in 2023. And I’ve been very blessed to be able to do what I’m doing. And at the same time I come in here and I hear people doing their dreams, doing things to make a difference in other people’s lives beyond our families. And I think that’s what not only am I about, but what I’m trying to achieve more. And iron sharpens iron, as the Bible says. So I’m thankful to be here today.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:38] Are there any videos people can go look right now for you?

Rich Brock: [00:46:41] You can go to YouTube and I have it. Big Rich brought comedy. I’ve got maybe ten and I’ve been blessed. There’s a guy that we know through business club, Shawn, Barney, and Shawn is working with me on some new videos and getting more things out with Fable. Creature is his production company. He’s filmed my last three shows that I’ve done, so we’re working to put that together, start a little marketing thing to some of the wineries and breweries that I’m. So far, every show I’ve done, I’ve been asked to do it. I haven’t marketed anything yet. So this is my month of January is to start marketing what I want to do to take it further. But you can go to YouTube, you can look me up on Facebook, and most of the shows I do are local. So you can find a show at Big Door Vineyard. You can find one in Cartersville. I’ve got some places in Acworth and in Dallas that I do and I do every other month at these locations. I’ve got about six hooked me up on Facebook and you’ll find those and my calendar will be up. Maybe tomorrow for the next four months.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:51] Awesome. Well, as we wrap up, I got two questions for the three of you. The first one’s probably the most important one, but I felt like I was a little intimidated coming in here sharing this morning because I’m a Buckeyes fan and I’m sitting in a room with three Bulldogs fans and we all know what’s going on tomorrow night. So Stephen, what’s your prediction for tomorrow night?

Stephen Norton: [00:48:10] 37. 20 go dogs.

Darin Hunter: [00:48:12] Darren I got 33, 17 go dogs.

Brian Pruett: [00:48:18] Big Rich.

Rich Brock: [00:48:18] I’d like to see 100 to nothing, no doubles, but I’ll say 42 to 37.

Speaker1: [00:48:26] Wow. What do you think?

Brian Pruett: [00:48:28] I’m going with the 2515 Buckeyes. A little odd, strong. But, you know, that’s just me. All right. Actually, the most important thing we’re coming up on the end. Two days left of 2022 going into 2023. I would like for each of you to share one thing for each person listening that could be inspiration or advice or just something. As we end the new year going into the into the end this year, going into the new year, something somebody can take away. Stephen, you want to start?

Stephen Norton: [00:48:59] Yeah. It’s I think mine would be what, a little bit about what each one of us has talked about today. Do something extra. Do something special to help someone out, whether it’s a neighbor or a friend or relative church member, someone you know is going through something right now that need some help. And and mine would be just do a little investigating, watch folks, talk to folks, but go that little extra mile and help someone out today.

Darin Hunter: [00:49:31] So procrastination is a thief, so don’t procrastinate no matter what it is, whether you’re going to find some family that needs help, whether you’re trying to get your calendar out for the next four months, whether you decide to become a Bulldog fan, you know, whatever, whatever that is.

Stephen Norton: [00:49:47] You will after tomorrow.

Speaker6: [00:49:48] Night.

Darin Hunter: [00:49:50] You know, whatever that is, you know, don’t procrastinate. Procrastination is the biggest thief steals, steals your opportunity. You don’t don’t wait. Act now.

Brian Pruett: [00:49:58] Big rich.

Rich Brock: [00:49:59] Well, on a health side, I encourage everybody to drink more water. I’ve started my gallon a day. I said I’m going to do that this year. So I started a few days earlier and then a lot. So I’m going to the restroom time when you decide to drink a gallon of water every day. But that is something, you know, just simple things. But I think on the emotional and the spiritual side, surround yourself with people that encourage you and you encourage them not to own the jobs we work and the things we do. We don’t always have that. But your core group of people find you. Some people, if you don’t have them now, find them. I found them in a business club. I find, you know, it’s Darren was talking. A lot of times Business club becomes also a church, a family comes, a support group. It’s a lot of things to people. Whatever your thing is, where you’re around, folks find some people that you can encourage, but you’ll also be encouraged because being encouraged and pushing forward and the days we live in is not only important, but I think it’s a key to being successful in the upcoming year.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:08] I don’t know about you, Sharon, but that was a great, great show. I’m excited for these guys to be here and all your listeners out there. Let’s remember to be positive and be charitable.