Lessons in Resilience: How Personal Experiences Shape Business Success and Community Impact

Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze

Intro 00:00:07 Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:00:24 Good morning, and welcome back to Cherokee Business Radio. This is Joshua Kornitsky, professional iOS implementer and host of Cherokee Business Radio. We’ve got a wonderful group of guests here today. I want to start by welcoming them in and saying good morning to Jesslyn Rollins, the CEO of BIOLYTE. Good morning, Jesslyn. How are you?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:00:45 Good morning. I am so thrilled to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:00:49 Thank you so much for being here. you know, you and I had the opportunity to meet at a couple of other networking events. And when you spoke at the Marietta Business association. And I was really, really struck by your story in the story of BIOLYTE. Would you mind sharing that with folks?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:01:05 Yeah, I’d be honored. So what? BIOLYTE is my family’s company. So a few years ago, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and when she was going through her chemo treatments, she was very sick and very dehydrated to the point where she couldn’t keep up with chemo without getting IVs.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:01:23 So my dad is a board certified anesthesiologist and pain specialist. Oh, wow. He’s got years of experience tailoring his patients IV bags with nutritional supplementation to help them feel better. So when sports drinks, children’s rehydration products, electrolyte powders were not working, my dad used his experience to combine the science of an IV bag with the convenience of a sports drink. And today we’ve got BIOLYTE, the first medical strength sports drink on the market.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:01:56 That’s just incredible. And a tier local in Georgia.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:01:59 Oh, yeah. It’s literally down the road in Marietta.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:02:02 That’s fantastic. Most important question how is your mom?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:02:06 Phenomenal question. Mom is doing. Amazing. And she gets to have the best job in the world, which is being a grandmother to all of her four grandchildren and one on the way.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:02:19 That’s fantastic. Congratulations to your family. And I’m most important, congratulations to your mom. So over the course of that journey, I mean, are you someone that has always been focused on business and driven to to get the strongest, best products out there? How did how did your journey with Violet happen?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:02:39 So if you would have caught me in a business class in at UGA or the College of Charleston where I went, it was because I was interested in one of the boys in that class.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:02:49 It had absolutely nothing to do with or my background has nothing to do with business, So I’m actually a theater major.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:02:58 Well that’s great.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:02:59 And so I majored in theater from UGA. And I had a string of different careers. I was a professional actress. I worked at the Laughing Skull Comedy Lounge selling tickets. I was a recruiter. And obviously, throughout this entire experience, I was early 20s, living at home. Thank you to mom and dad. And my dad had kept Violet a secret in our family. And so he approached me and said, hey, Jess, I know the comedy thing really isn’t working out, so could you help me grow this business? And first you had to explain what the product was and that it was showing up. we had over 5000 bottles showing up at my parents home in Atlanta. Wow. And so I actually put those improv skills, those theater skills to, to use And started selling door to door to high school football teams. And now we’re in over 20,000 locations across the country.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:04:01 That’s absolutely incredible. And I follow you on LinkedIn, and I happen to see a few weeks back when when you shared from some time back, just an email from Publix, and I was wondering if you would share that kind of strange story.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:04:14 Yes. Okay, so this is freaking wild. It was. It is not normal in our industry whatsoever. Typically what has to happen is you have to bang down doors to get these retailers to take your email, take your phone call. And back in 2019, I got an email from our director of logistics, Kelli O’Hara. And Kelly drove trucks for 25 years. And so email was not his strong suit. But in the top of the email it said, hey Jessalyn, Publix is interested in bio light. And I was like, dang it, Kelly, what are you talking about? I thought he was getting my hopes up. Sure. And it was actually an email in my inbox from Publix corporate saying, hey, we’ve seen your performance in Atlanta, we’ve seen your performance in Kroger, and we want to bring Violet in to all Publix.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:05:04 And that’s been a relationship that’s been going on ever since.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:05:07 That’s fantastic. What a what a crazy way for them to reach out to a little non-traditional wild.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:05:12 I mean, that email came in at 235 on a Tuesday, and I called the buyer at 235 on a Tuesday.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:05:21 So as, as the Violet story has, has, been building over, I think, about eight years now. Yes, eight years. What are some of the things that you’ve learned along that journey?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:05:34 Oh, gosh. I mean, where do you want me to begin? but since I don’t, I can’t take up everybody’s morning. Sure. probably the number one thing that stands out is, and this is, it’s it’s going to be something that you hear over and over and over again. But I really want everybody to turn their ears on when I say this, because it truly there’s a reason why people say it over and over again, which is you have to stay connected to your customer. So in those early days, from the formulation to the label to our marketing pitch, everything was built from personal interactions with customers when I was sampling in Publix and in Kroger.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:06:23 So everything that you see today is built off of those interactions where buyer light has ever got off track. It was we it was because we did not keep that open line of communication with our customers. We got insulated. We got, you know, we got a big fancy headquarters and we thought we were making all the right decisions, just like for people making those decisions. And that’s really when we got off the mark, was when we were not truly engaged and truly listening to our customers. And so Violet has since bought because it’s medical strength, hydration. We’ve bought an ambulance and we have trademarked it the third, the Thirst responder.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:07:11 So so I had that to ask you about because I think that’s just fantastic. So the first responder and I think you told me you’re going on tour.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:07:20 That’s exactly right. So the first responder responds to the thirst. You’re talking about high school football games. You’re talking about run clubs anywhere where people are thirsty. We are there to, quench the thirst. And we’re really, really excited about that.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:07:37 And just having personal interactions with our customers in a fun and engaging way.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:07:41 That’s fantastic. And going back to that, right. The connection to your customers. How do your how do your customers usually reach to you? through what medium is the best way?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:07:52 So if you were to call by customer service line, you’re going to get a real person.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:07:56 Really?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:07:57 I I’m not that old, but I’m pretty old fashioned when it comes. And southern, I’m pretty old fashioned and southern when it comes to good old fashioned customer service. And so it it brings me so much joy. We’ve got this individual on our team, Dylan, who is just such a light. and when you call in, Dylan’s going to pick up the phone and answer questions for you. And so and if you look at the studies, like having somebody pick up, even if it’s on like the fifth ring, if somebody picks up whatever strife or issue that a customer is dealing with immensely gets lowered by just having somebody on the phone.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:08:39 And so I’m I’m happy about that.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:08:41 I’m I’m convinced on that one based on my own life experience, but that’s fantastic to hear that you’ve got someone dedicated to just listening to the customer, and when that feedback comes in, that’s something that’ll that’ll make its way to your ears.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:08:54 100%. I was just on the phone with Dylan, actually, before this, before my time with you. And so I’m really, really excited and constantly interested in what our customers are saying.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:09:07 So you also had shared with me that that there’s a rebranding coming for Violet.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:09:13 Yes. Okay.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:09:14 So was that driven by customers?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:09:16 Oh, dude. So. So here, here’s the deal. Violet has had. This is going to be Violet 3.0. So we rolled out with Violet. And how I like to describe our first packaging is it looks like if scrubs was a sports Drake, like it was super medical, not very inviting. And then through those customer interactions, we reiterated it to say the IV in a bottle right front and center because that’s what grabbed customer’s attention.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:09:46 So we got on the phone with our buyer at Qty. So we’re in QuikTrip. And what he was saying was was that I love your product. I think it’s phenomenal. I think it’s the best thing on the market for dehydration relief. And I personally use it, but I do not think that your product commands your premium price point with your packaging. You have got to update your packaging. And I took that and met with I got a cold email from this group called ultra. I think they’re up in Minnesota and they are. I mean, they have done Hershey’s, they have done Reese’s, they have done nature’s way in regards to packaging. And I knew that it couldn’t be just me in a spreadsheet anymore. It had to get elevated. So the new packaging really premium premium ises our product and that That nod to the ivy in a bottle. My favorite thing about the new packaging is the line that runs through right front and center of the bottle, because it’s that nod. It’s that, you know, visualization of that ivy in a bottle.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:10:57 And then on the back, it talks about very briefly and very succinctly, that Violet combines the science of an ivy bag with the convenience of a sports drink to create a medical strength hydration solution.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:11:10 That’s fantastic. And it.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:11:11 Looks So good.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:11:13 And is it in market now or is it coming shortly? When? When? So, should we look?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:11:17 Right now we’re in first and first out because we we wanted to prioritize sustainability and not just tossing a bunch of bottles. And so we’re working that through the market. And so the first product that you’re going to see on the shelf is more than likely going to be the mixed berry flavor. And it’ll be mixed and in with the old bottles. And really It’s the way that ultra and I have described it is. It’s not a revolution, it’s an evolution. So you’re not going to be confused on what is what. You’re going to know that it’s a natural evolution of our brand.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:11:50 That’s fantastic. So it’s it’s already starting to arrive in the market.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:11:54 That’s exactly right. I was packing boxes yesterday and, you know, some, some of the boxes that we were doing had a mix of the old product and the new product, and we were like, hey, it’s still a great product. It’s still the same thing, but it’s going to be a mix for now.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:12:10 That’s awesome. And you’re obviously a very hands on CEO, right? You’re in there packing boxes.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:12:14 Oh, absolutely. Yeah. That’s that’s how we got started. And that’s how that’s how we’re going to grow.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:12:19 So where can people find going back to the first responder. Because I just love the name where where can people is is there a way to follow it on on social? How will I know where it will be? Or is it just sort of a pop up surprise right now?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:12:33 So that is a great question. And that is something that we probably need to do a better job of, because right now it’s very much like the first responder went here and then it was there and then it was there.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:12:44 It’s very like past tense where we probably need to bring it for front and center and focus on the future of, like, where would you like to see it? and so let me get back to you on that answer.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:12:56 Well, and we will, on our side for Cherokee Business Radio, we’ll have your, social links and ways to reach Violet and yourself. Yeah. So by all means, if you’ll let us know when when you decide, we’ll update the page. We’ll even bring you back on just so you can share the adventures. You should probably document those so that we can turn that into a fun video later.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:13:18 That’s a great idea.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:13:19 I can’t wait to see where that goes. I think it’s such a clever concept and such a wonderful idea.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:13:25 And if if I could say one more thing. If anybody has an event, a tournament, a run, clubs, just a birthday party, something where you want to see the first responder. We are building the schedule as we go, so please keep us in mind if you would like.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:13:41 What about a charitable organization that maybe is doing stuff helping people with houses, things like that?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:13:46 Oh, I hear it’s a very sweaty job when people.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:13:49 So we’ll we’ll get to that in a minute. But I, I got an inside track I think. so I do want to turn just a little bit more serious for just a moment because this is something that that matters a great deal to both of us, I think. And we had talked about, as you were evolving with Violet, and as Violet itself was evolving, we talked about, sort of your approach with getting advice. Yes. And, and if you would share a I really liked your outlook around how you take advice or how you solicit advice.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:14:24 Yeah. So as you can tell, I’m the type of person that I love talking to people. I love different experience and different backgrounds. But when it comes to advice. a lot of times that’s tripped me up because I have asked so many people for advice and really, even if they’re a great person, they’re not qualified to be giving me that advice.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:14:47 And there’s a quote that I want to turn to of, like, never ask a person for directions if they’ve never left their house. And so I’m getting I’m getting very selective on like if it is a, if it is a specific marketing piece of advice I’m looking for or, a growth strategy that I’m looking for. Not every person is going to be suited to give the best advice. So focus. So highlight who that person is and then go and ask them.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:15:18 I think that’s great. Great guidance. The the I jokingly offer advice to new parents that I also advice offer advice to some of my clients, which is simply don’t take anyone else’s advice because no one else runs your company. You can see guidance. You can seek inspiration. But at the end of the day, you’re the one that’s going to make the decision, that’s going to steer the organization or the child or the destination ultimately is up to you. So as as captain of your ship, you’ve got to get that informed perspective and then decide for yourself.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:15:51 Yeah. Because nobody else runs your place. Well, I can’t thank you enough for sharing your story and the story of of bio life. And I’ll try not to laugh when I say first responder, but I love it so dang much. That’s great. I can’t wait to follow and see where it goes and where it’s going to be. And, you know. Jesselyn Rollins CEO Bilott. Thank you so much for being here with us. I hope you’re able to hang out. We’ve got some very, very interesting guests that are coming up next. Do you mind?

Jesslyn Rollins 00:16:17 Yeah. Duh. I’m here to learn. I’m gonna go get my notebook, actually.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:16:20 And one last thing. Shout out to all the theater kids. There absolutely is a bright, shining future down the way. You just have to be creative.

Jesslyn Rollins 00:16:29 And break.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:16:29 A leg and break a leg. There you go. Well, thank you. Jesslyn Rollins, CEO of BIOLYTE. Next in the studio is, I can honestly say, two people that have changed my life.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:16:41 I have in studio with me, Tom Curtin, CEO of the Curtin Team, and Joanne Curtin, the founder of the Curtin Team and also the president and co-founder of the Curtin Team Cares, charitable organization. So good morning and welcome to Cherokee Business Radio.

Tom Curtin 00:16:57 Good morning.

Joanne Curtin 00:16:57 Thank you so much, Joshua. This is exciting. I’m very impressed.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:17:01 Well, thank you guys for being here. And the reason I can say they changed my life is many, many years ago, when my wife and I had our first home. this. I don’t even remember the year. We. It sat and sat and sat and sat and I went to this place called Google and said, who’s the best realtor in Cobb County? And a month later, my house was gone. Which leads me to Tom and Joanne. So, Tom, Joanne, tell me, what is the curtain team?

Joanne Curtin 00:17:27 Well, the curtain team is a an evolution of, just me starting the real estate business and honing it into a life that I wanted to live.

Joanne Curtin 00:17:43 You know, a life worth living. real estate can eat you up. And you learn this as you’re in the business. but I got into real estate, in 2001 because I just was five years into teaching. I have a master’s in early childhood. Ed, and, I taught school for five years. Tom had me do all the QuickBooks and pay all the bills, and I was like, wow, we don’t have much left. After, you know, a year. having a master’s degree of teaching. And we were on the wedding circuit one after the other, every weekend was a wedding And everyone was telling me I should get into the business of real estate. And one of the people I really looked up to growing up was in real estate, and I just loved her life, loved her kids, and decided I would get into real estate and asked around. Got advice. People said have thick skin, have much reserves and always be closing. so anyway, got into real estate. I told my principal I wasn’t coming back and he was like, next time I see you, I’m sure you’ll be driving a Lexus.

Joanne Curtin 00:18:59 And I was like, whatever. That’s a pipe dream. but got into real estate in 2001, and started with a coach, and, just needed to know the skills because I’d never been trained how to be an effective realtor. so it started out with a coach, and then I just became very coachable and, and then grab Tom about a year and a half in and said, I really need help. And that’s when Tom jumped in. And I think 2002, you got your license. Tom. And Tom and I interrupt each other’s sentences constantly, and I know he’s ready to jump in.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:19:42 So, Tom, tell us, tell us. So Joanne brought us brought us up.

Tom Curtin 00:19:46 To.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:19:47 Joanne, brought us up to here making making the big elementary school teacher money and and from there, all all jokes aside, because Lord knows we’d all be up the creek without the elementary school teachers. But I do want to ask if if that early childhood education helped you in the real estate business.

Joanne Curtin 00:20:05 Well, yeah, I mean, it was, it’s definitely a, I mean, I, I love teaching.

Joanne Curtin 00:20:10 I mean, I’m very, I, I love to teach and I know what instruction should look like, and I have influence, and I don’t care what anybody tells you, but the best teachers out there have influence. How else can you get kids to learn during a school day unless you have influence? So influences is really, I think, what teachers have.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:20:32 So that’s great. So I’m sorry, Tom, I cut you off, not Joe. That’s all right. I wanted to hear your side of this story.

Tom Curtin 00:20:38 So, the. Well, the funny thing I always joke about is I was telling Joanne to get into real estate, but she had to hear it from somebody else. Of course, that’s how it works, right? With husband and wife. So, anyway, I was in the corporate world, and, worked for a large corporation that was getting acquired. And part of that acquisition was they laid off a lot of folks in the regional offices, which I was in Atlanta regional office.

Tom Curtin 00:21:06 my intent, because at that time, Joanne had not yet even had a closing. Right? I mean, she was brand new in the business, right. was to just go back into the corporate world, and keep that, you know, quote, steady Income. Secure income. Well, about a week after that layoff happened was when nine over 11 happened. and so all of the interviews, everything I had lined up, went, went out the window and I started to look around and say, well, I need to figure something else out. Like temporarily was always the the idea. So I did, briefly do mortgages. Had an acquaintance that had. So we thought that would work well together. Sure. and then in the background, I was starting to help Joanne, like, on the business side. Like. Oh, let me just do that. Let me do that. You know, I could do that marketing thing. I could do this, that. And I was taking on a lot of pieces.

Tom Curtin 00:21:58 to where one day we looked up and I was like, you know, I feel like we’d make a lot more money if I just went all in on this, with you. And that’s kind of how it started. So we always had that sort of division of labor, right? Where I was like the back end guy.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:22:13 And clear accountability. We call that clear accountability.

Tom Curtin 00:22:15 So it was like, you go keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll clean up all these messes on the back side, right. Was how we started.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:22:23 So one and the team’s been successful. It’s it’s grown and grown and and and that leads me to the question is, is it? It grew beyond Tom and Joanne. And you actually did start a team. Why why did you start a team.

Joanne Curtin 00:22:37 Well, we so I mentioned the coach earlier and I’m I’m a coachable person. I think that’s why I’ve loved education so much. And every coach I ever had, and I’m a maximizer like that’s my strength finder. If anybody does strength finding, that’s one of my high ones activators another.

Joanne Curtin 00:22:54 So I like to create the chaos. That’s why Tom, you know, cleans it up. But the the coaches have always helped me find where I can maximize time, money, talent. And I would just write all those down on a piece of paper. And then on the other side was everything I was terrible at. Right. Or that wasn’t working. And I would pull the paper off. Rip the paper in half and create a new job with that piece of paper. And that that first rip was Tom’s role when he came on board. Because I didn’t know what all of these things were in inspections. And so Tom did all of my inspections. And in the real estate world, everybody was like, I need a Tom. Like, because we have to deal with inspections. Nobody likes that. Sure. so that was kind of the first rip. And then we created a lot of momentum with just that one, leverage piece. And then every year the team was created because now Tom had to maximize.

Joanne Curtin 00:23:52 Now we’re both in coaching and the papers keep getting ripped. And then the the team has to grow to actually service clients. Well or else you’re just not doing you’re not even maximizing what you could be doing for your clients 100%.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:24:07 And Tom, you and I had talked previously to to some level, and I know how important the leadership aspect of it is to you and that coaching in that shaping of your team. So can you speak a little bit about that and how you work the internal mechanism to keep it running?

Tom Curtin 00:24:24 Yeah. so I mean, a couple of things I’ll say. I think, like Joanne said, we’ve always tried to fulfill our strengths, right? And work on our strength. and we have different skill sets. So I’m. I’m a achiever on the strength finders, Joanne. Number one is, activator. So those two work well together. Yeah. as you know.

Joanne Curtin 00:24:45 There’s a book called Rocket Fuel.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:24:46 I read that.

Joanne Curtin 00:24:48 That’s that’s actually our marriage.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:24:50 Okay.

Joanne Curtin 00:24:50 Yeah. Or that was building our business.

Tom Curtin 00:24:53 So, you know, with that, I there’s certain things that I can do that I have more patience or tolerance for. So the one on one kind of coaching of agents. And Joanne loves to teach, but to a certain extent. Right. Like, she’s going to she’s going to teach, but not necessarily do the one on one coaching. Right? So that was something that I stepped into. I think also from a, from a leadership standpoint, just the hiring. Right. And kind of the systems and creating creating the job roles that we’ve created over time. really the like the business building side of it has always been like my side of it. Right. Joanne’s super, great at sales, high energy. You know, people love to follow her, including myself. Right.

Joanne Curtin 00:25:48 And I love I love challenges. So I would kind of run towards a challenge. but Tom, naturally, is like a supporter like that. Supportive patience.

Tom Curtin 00:25:58 Right. So I don’t think it was always like in the beginning it was to be successful.

Tom Curtin 00:26:03 Right? And like, let me help her do that. And then at some point, she didn’t want to be the one going out on and doing the sales side of it. And we had to figure that out. And that was, you know, part of what I had to figure out was like, okay, how do we keep the business going when Joanne’s not the one sitting at the kitchen table anymore?

Joshua Kornitsky 00:26:20 Well, and that leads to a great question, which is, you know, what happens. How do you prepare for a future where Tom and Joanne maybe aren’t at every kitchen table? Well, because I think we’re probably there already.

Joanne Curtin 00:26:33 Well, you can’t shortchange it because I tried. I tried a.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:26:37 Lot. There’s no shortcuts to what you’re saying.

Joanne Curtin 00:26:39 I had babies. I mean, I had I don’t know how we did it, Tom. We did it, but. Wow. you just can’t shortchange it. And and I did try. So at the end of the day, you cannot expect a client to trust someone that you do not trust.

Joanne Curtin 00:26:58 And you have to genuinely say, this person in your home with me right now is better than I am at this. I know because I’ve trained them and they’ve done more of this than I actually have. So until you really believe that that person is going to be better at whatever it is that you are, then you don’t have the right to be to be leveraging them. and, you know, like I said, I, I tried that, but then it always came back and then I had to finish it up. It always came back to me. So I got my job back. And the minute you get your job back. You’ve taken their resignation. I mean, they have to go because they can’t. They just don’t have the trust.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:27:40 Tom.

Tom Curtin 00:27:41 yeah, I mean, I, I think to just with that growth, I mean, it’s been painful in some cases because we do lose people, right? There’s turnover. It’s natural. You have to deal with that. and you have to be willing to, you know, go through it multiple times.

Tom Curtin 00:27:58 And in our case, you know, it took, probably going through that 2 or 3 times to find kind of the right mix of having Joanne being able to step out confidently and not get pulled back in. I feel like we’re there now. but, you know, it took a little bit.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:28:15 Well, it it makes sense. You’ve got to kind of iterate till you get there. But but, you know, earlier Jessalyn said something that I happen to know is a hot spot for both of you and in a very positive way. Just. And you had mentioned how important it is to be connected to your customers. And I know as a former curtain team customer, I am I am reached to consistently, but not annoyingly. And I want to say that in front of you guys because it’s not too much. It’s really, I think, a well-honed just enough. Right. So I know that if I have a need, there’s someone there. And if I think I have a need, there’s somebody there.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:28:56 But it’s not like, hey, how are you today? So can you talk to what what brought you guys to that level of customer focus?

Joanne Curtin 00:29:05 Oh, gosh. I feel like, I mean, I’m, I the reason I didn’t love teaching so much is because you would teach the children, and then they would leave, and then you’d have to start again, start from zero, teach them how to read again. But with clients like there’s relationships and you have those for so long. And I’m just like, I had a pencil box when I was like in third grade and it said third grade to college. Like, I believe in loyalty, like, and just staying the course and never giving up. So I expect like all these relationships, to stay there and I want to be able to help them. So I took it personally and I feel like taking your business personally. Some people think that’s a negative. I think everything should be taken personally.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:29:56 It’s hard not to.

Joanne Curtin 00:29:57 Yeah, because they’re people.

Joanne Curtin 00:29:59 So I want to know, like what can we do to help? That’s basically what we do. What can we do to help? Hope that we did care calls after Covid. That was just one of the most humbling, you know, experiences to call and just listen. So anything you want to add to that, Tom?

Joshua Kornitsky 00:30:18 Oh, well, so so from there, right about that caring, we, we arrive at curtain team cares. So so would you tell us what curtain team cares is about and who it helps?

Tom Curtin 00:30:31 so we started Curtain Team Cares in 2018. And prior to that, you know, we were always leaning into the community and doing different things, but it was sort of a shotgun approach, like, you know, we were wherever somebody raised their hand, we were kind of all over the place. And Joanne and I had talked about it and decided, you know, maybe we should form our own nonprofit and try to really figure out a course. and so over since 2018, we’ve, we’ve developed what we feel like is our niche, right, with what we do.

Tom Curtin 00:31:05 so we definitely focus on local, right? It’s very localized. And what we started last year, and do every year, I’ll let Joanne dive into a little bit more, but it’s called our home refresh project. and it does tie together her background in education because we do focus on giving back, to local educators. but also then ties into real estate. So.

Joanne Curtin 00:31:30 Yeah. Well, and when I look back, you know, 2018 was a dark time in real estate. I mean, it was just it was just apparently it was, a great reset when you look back. But at the time, it just felt very hard. And there was a lot of change going on. And the that’s when the nonprofit started. And I feel like that was the natural place for like a helper to go, when sometimes you were helping in your business, but nobody appreciated it. Everybody was beating you down. And this nonprofit was a way to just love what we were doing. And I think it was, you know, it was a healing time, in a way, for when I only when I look back on it, I didn’t quite know what was happening at the time.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:32:18 It’s always clear when you’re in the rear view.

Joanne Curtin 00:32:20 Right. And that was the time that I reached out to just local schools, and I was a mentor to just an individual student. I felt like I needed to help somebody because I needed to feel better. And that was just a natural. I was doing it just with one student. And then we found out our business was trying to create this within multiple, ways to help teachers. So the Home Refresh project, we were, really inspired by, an agent in Boise, Idaho that does this in her home town. And we did a zoom call with her with our team, with our board know, with our team, actually, and then shared it with our board. But, the home refresh is it’s tied into, for us local educators and staff members in our Roswell Area School district. Okay. And anyone can nominate themselves. they can nominate a coworker, a fellow teacher. It can be anonymous. You can put your name on it.

Joanne Curtin 00:33:24 We get both. And, we interview them once we’ve chosen the winner, which has to have a few criteria with it. kind of location’s a big one because this home refresh project is completely donation based. There’s no money that, is needed from the recipient. the vendors give their time, tools, and their labor at no cost. And we take donations to provide furniture, what have you that the the winner ends up needing. And so the refresh is really to interview the winner and ask, what do you feel like you need in your home right now? And it’s not up to us. We see homes every day and I could I could guess what I think you need, but I would never because it’s not what they need. They need something completely different. or they may ask us, you know, some, some advice, but mainly it’s very clear what would improve their property. And, last year it was more of a home office place to actually have some respite, you know, come and, be surrounded by family photos of family members.

Joanne Curtin 00:34:38 And, it was it was so moving to know how we helped them. And one of the, participants and volunteers knew, knew the backstory of, the family and how to specifically help in ways that we never did. So if someone is, has a relationship to the recipient, that really brings some Intel to level up the experience that we provide.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:35:08 And if, if, if an existing. So you would share, Tom, that you leverage your existing vendors that that you work with now.

Tom Curtin 00:35:15 Yeah. So they, you know we we lean into what depending on what they need in this last one, you know, was a lot of painting, interior or exterior, needed some things fixed. We had to put in a new sidewalk.

Joanne Curtin 00:35:29 and they did it in the rain, in the freezing cold. And I have videos, I tell you what. And they weren’t that thirsty at the time, but we will. I mean.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:35:38 But when they were done, they.

Joanne Curtin 00:35:39 Were. Yeah, this is in November when we do it.

Joanne Curtin 00:35:41 So we do it really kind of home for the holidays. I mean, everyone’s in a very giving spirit. And that was just a, a little aside of.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:35:50 So when do you open your nomination?

Tom Curtin 00:35:52 It’s open now. so yeah, we’re we’re receiving nominations now with our goal is August 1st to August 1st. We’ll choose, you know.

Joanne Curtin 00:36:01 The project and the way that the way that the word gets out. I go to peer bar, and my peer bar always ends the workout with, you know, reminding everyone to make nominations or donate if they choose. And, but that’s only because one of our board members asked them to to put out the QR codes for donation. But the way it’s run is the we have liaisons on the board, and someone is a liaison for each school, and they communicate directly with the principal. And we do throughout the year, whether we need to fund a field trip or a sleepover. You know, of a slumber sleepover field trip that the fifth grade has just recently done.

Joanne Curtin 00:36:41 But then they, they put it in their newsletter and put out in their, teachers. I call it the tornado room. And, you know, they’re the ones that share the message. And then we take donations directly. They email us directly with their nomination form.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:36:57 Well, and that brings up a great point, right. If if someone does want to donate or if someone is is in the contractor space and wants to offer their time, what’s the best way for them to get Ahold of you to to reach out if they want to send money or donate time?

Tom Curtin 00:37:11 Yeah. I mean, we’ve got all the details there in the forms on our website. team cares.org. Okay, perfect. The website.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:37:20 So that’s just fantastic what you’re doing with certain teams care. And as we wind down, there was one other thing that I had really wanted to ask about, and I want to tie it into a question and simply say, you know, what’s next for the curtain team? And I know that you talked about Tom, investing in real estate.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:37:41 I wanted to give you a chance to share what you’re doing there.

Tom Curtin 00:37:43 Yeah. I mean, that’s that’s really was kind of the start of it. Joanne read the book. Rich dad, poor dad. when she was still teaching. And that led her to say I, you know this. Something’s got to change. we have to build. Well, when we originally got into real estate, we’ve always looked at it through the lens of investing. and over the years, as, as we’ve done our own personal investing, we have taught clients, we teach, have taught classes on this, we’ve helped a lot of clients take that first step into investing in real estate. I think everybody should own at least one investment property. and so, you know, for us, we personally built a real estate portfolio that, really will will allow us to step back, you know, from the real estate sales if, if and when we choose to tour.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:38:36 And I gather that that even now, regardless of the economic times, real estate, sort of one of those things that doesn’t go away.

Tom Curtin 00:38:43 No.

Joanne Curtin 00:38:43 Oh, even more, I mean, the I mean, this market, if anything, should have showed people why they should have invested in what was inflating. Hello. It’s all about the property I need.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:38:53 I need a time machine.

Joanne Curtin 00:38:55 Yeah, and.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:38:56 It’ll make a big.

Joanne Curtin 00:38:57 Difference. It’s not going backwards. It’s not going.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:38:59 Back. Yeah. No, it rarely does. Well, Tom, Joanne, thank you guys so much from the curtain team for for sharing your insight. And as mentioned earlier, we’ll have all of the appropriate contact information for the curtain team for curtain time cares with phone numbers and emails on our site. But if you’ll go ahead and give us your website so that we can get people to you.

Tom Curtin 00:39:21 Yeah, it’s just curtin team.com. So c u r t i n t e a m.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:39:28 That’s fantastic. And I see I misspelled it here on the paper but nobody sees that. Put me.

Tom Curtin 00:39:32 Right.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:39:32 Well, I apologize for the misspelling. I found out a few weeks ago I had a guest on who I’d known for two years, and I’d been saying his last name wrong the entire time.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:39:40 So we all live and learn. But thank you for your graciousness. Thank you guys for sharing your incredible story. I really appreciate it. Thank you. And if you’re able to, please stay. We have one more guest, and I’m so excited to have him. So. Josh Monroe. Josh Monroe is is a financial advisor that works with the loved ones of special needs folks, from the organization Corriente. And I have to before I even say anything. The first day that I began my new life as as an iOS implementer, I had to get out of my comfort zone and walk into, 3 or 4 networking meetings the first day, the very first human being I met on the very first day at the Kennesaw Business Association was Josh Monroe. Josh, tell us about yourself.

Josh Monroe 00:40:30 Yeah, well thank you, Joshua. I’m so excited to be here and just such wonderful stories that that we’ve heard this morning. yeah. So I, I’ve been in the financial planning business for about 15 years now.

Josh Monroe 00:40:43 And a few years ago really, Lee, started honing my focus on serving families that have loved ones with special needs, most often children. typically middle school and high school years is when parents reach out to me and we start that planning. so I have done planning for years for families normally focused on retirement or helping send kids to school and, now get to help families prepare their children with special needs for a lifetime of support and, just stability.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:41:20 It’s it’s incredible work that you do. If I can ask you to, to help those of us who don’t live in that universe to understand what are some of the unique financial needs and the planning needs for for these families?

Josh Monroe 00:41:34 Absolutely. So I mentioned retirement and, you know, education planning, those priorities still exist for families that have a child with special needs. But very often there’s a reality that that child may never be financially independent. So that adds a huge additional responsibility for mom and dad. They’d like to be able to retire, but now they’ve also got to make sure their child can be supported for their whole life.

Josh Monroe 00:42:00 And what we’re seeing with a lot of advanced treatment and medical care, a lot of these kids are living full life expectancy.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:42:08 Which is wonderful.

Josh Monroe 00:42:09 Absolutely wonderful. But that means there could be a time when Mom and dad aren’t here anymore, but they want to make sure that there’s still resources and someone watching out for their child. so we also move into government benefits. There’s some great government benefits. A lot of them are outdated and grossly in need of some updating for inflation. but a lot of people don’t even know what’s available or what their child might qualify for, so there’s some education around that. And then very importantly, how assets are left for an individual with special needs. Special needs trusts are really important for several reasons. One, it can protect the child from being taken advantage of by someone else. Sure, maybe the child doesn’t really have the ability to manage their money on their own. So it’s placing a, you know, conservator or somebody in that role to oversee the money. And also a lot of these government benefits have very low asset caps.

Josh Monroe 00:43:12 So for example SSI, which is supplemental Social Security income, if you have more than $2,000 of cash, you now have too much money to qualify for that. Pretty modest benefit.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:43:27 Absurd.

Josh Monroe 00:43:28 So a special needs trust can be a way that grandparents can leave money for a child, or mom and dad can leave money for a child and it not end up hurting them by now, kicking them off of a government benefit that’s really vital for their daily life.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:43:41 Sure, that that makes perfect sense. So, Josh, how did you get into this? What? What brought you here?

Josh Monroe 00:43:46 Yeah, it’s a good question. There are really two things, that happened around the same time in my life. in 2017, my wife Danielle and I became foster parents. And over the course of the years that we’ve, had kids in our home, several of them have had some level of special needs. So we saw firsthand just the, demand of juggling multiple therapy appointments and additional doctor’s appointments. And it’s a lot when, you know, when children in foster care, the state is paying for those, but it’s still just a lot emotionally to manage.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:44:24 Absolutely.

Josh Monroe 00:44:25 Much less when you have the financial responsibility as well. And around the same time, in my financial practice, I got introduced to, a couple that had a 17 year old son with special needs. And when we started talking, all of their questions were around what was going to happen for him next and what would happen to him if Mom and Dad weren’t here. And I really wanted to be able to help them, and I didn’t have all the answers. So I reached out to some some other people that work in this space, did a lot of research, and as we solved some of those big problems together, I saw a emotional weight lifted from those parents shoulders that had never seen before. Yes, planning for retirement can be impactful, but the mom told me for 17 years I’ve been lying awake at night worried about what’s going to happen to our son, and now we have some of those answers. And that’s when I knew. This is the type of work I want to do if I can make that difference for more families.

Josh Monroe 00:45:28 So I went and found a designation program, Chartered Special Needs Consultant, and it builds on the Certified Financial Planner program. So you’ve got tax planning, insurance planning, retirement planning. But it starts to get into understanding special needs trusts and the importance of them. I don’t draft these legal documents, but I need to be able to help my clients understand how important they are and the the purpose that they’re going to serve. And then it also educated me on a lot of these government benefit programs like SSI that I mentioned, some other Medicaid and other waiver programs, and that has helped me educate my clients on a lot of what’s out there. And it even opened a lot of, conversations on the emotional side of how to advise parents when they’re carrying this very heavy.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:46:24 I can’t imagine what an emotional dialogue it’s going to be.

Josh Monroe 00:46:27 So, so it’s been about four years now that I’ve really focused on this is where I want to grow my business. This is where I want to have an impact.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:46:35 So a lot of thoughts come to mind.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:46:39 The first one is, is is just because this is, for many people, an understood but abstract concept. The need for a chartered special needs consultant. Right. Can can you without obviously tying to anybody’s specific personal case, can you share with us where where in your experience doing this where this type of planning made a made a difference?

Josh Monroe 00:47:03 Yeah, I’ll share a story. I’ve worked with a family whose child was late in high school. special needs. Probably not going to be financially independent. Very good chance that there will be some work income for their child. But we had to have the conversation around guardianship. And when this child turns 18, if mom and dad don’t take any steps, otherwise this individual is viewed by the state of Georgia as a full fledged adult with all the responsibilities and decision making. So an important question that I ask families once their child is 15, 16, 17 is, you know, are you comfortable? Do you feel like they have the mental capacity, the emotional capacity to make these decisions? Or should we engage with a, you know, a special needs attorney to really investigate the need for guardianship and guardianship just means that mom and dad or another, you know, named loved one can continue to be that primary decision maker.

Josh Monroe 00:48:12 And that can be really important for for medical treatment for this child.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:48:16 All kinds of.

Josh Monroe 00:48:17 Decisions. You’ve got financial decisions, medical treatment. You know, once you turn 18, if you say, I don’t want to go to that doctor’s appointment anymore.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:48:24 You don’t have.

Josh Monroe 00:48:24 To. You don’t have to. You don’t have to take your meds. So, so just walking through that decision and that can be a really tough conversation. you know, so often these parents have focused on the positive milestones, the things that their children have overcome and achieved. And for a few moments, they you need them to stop and focus on the things that their child may not be able to do for themselves.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:48:51 Which is a hard discussion.

Josh Monroe 00:48:52 It’s a really hard discussion, but it’s so important. so this particular family, we decided we we did need to pursue guardianship. And then, you know, you go through the conversations of who should that be? Who should the successors be? And a very common, conversation we have is the desire to name a sibling as a contingent or a backup successor.

Josh Monroe 00:49:17 And that can be the right fit for a lot of families. But if this sibling is 22 or 20.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:49:24 They’re not any better equipped to handle.

Josh Monroe 00:49:25 Right. So also just helping families think through that. And you know, there are, you know, professional trustees that that can step into those roles. And there’s a lot of, different solutions there. But I think it’s just helping families think a few steps ahead of where they may not have thought before, and then trying to help them make the right decision for their child. with all planning, we want to have flexibility because our hope is that their child can be as independent as possible. So we don’t want to put so many guardrails in that, well, now they can go get a job, but we’re going to choose not to know. We always are looking for more restrictions. We can take off the plan and support their independence. So, this family now, they’ve found a college program that is working for their child. And, you know, we’re just excited to see what the future holds.

Josh Monroe 00:50:20 But we’ve walked through some of these big decisions. Yeah. Big milestones.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:50:24 Thank you. That I think that puts it in context to help people sort of digest and understand it. So. So it leads me to to my last two questions. And the first one, may sound crass, but it’s just reality, right? So do I have to be a millionaire in order to make this work? Because it seems like there must be a lot of, financial challenge.

Josh Monroe 00:50:44 Yeah, that’s a great question. And no, you don’t have to have $1 million or more to to have a conversation with me or even to do a lot of this planning. there are a lot of government resources that can actually be easier to qualify for when you have less assets. That’s great. but there’s still so much red tape. And just navigating that, that’s really important. and I’ve had the conversation with some families that more money doesn’t always solve all the problems. One of the interesting things about Medicaid is they have some unique access to certain therapies or certain day camps that you can’t get to on private pay, and that can be a humbling conversation for a mom and dad that have worked really hard to build up a lot of money, thinking that’s going to solve all of their at least financial trouble, and they still need to find ways to qualify their child for Medicaid.

Josh Monroe 00:51:37 so I’m always happy to have a conversation with anybody. I, really believe that when you help others, good things are going to happen, and I agree. I’m just so passionate about helping this, this population that if there’s anything I can share that opens a new avenue or a new benefit that that could help them, I’d always love to have that conversation.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:52:00 So that brings me to the last logical question for you, which is what is the best time for a parent or a loved one connected to someone with special needs? When should they reach out? Should they wait till they’re 1516 years old?

Josh Monroe 00:52:14 In general, the earlier the better. But the reality is, I’ve noticed the trend is in those early years, there’s so much just Understanding what the diagnosis is and getting all of those therapy appointments and the IEPs at school, that that’s really overwhelming. So I’ve found that middle school and early high school is most often when parents have the just the mental bandwidth, the emotional bandwidth to start planning long term and get a little bit more perspective than just making it day to day.

Josh Monroe 00:52:46 so as as their children start to reach those early teen years, middle school, I think that’s a great time to engage. But like I said, the earlier the better. You can always do more planning.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:52:56 Sure. Well, Josh Monroe, certified financial planner, but chartered special needs consultant with Orient. I can’t thank you enough. How how should people get in touch with you if they. And again, we’ll have it on our website. But if you would share.

Josh Monroe 00:53:10 Yeah, absolutely. You can reach out to me directly. My phone number is 400 485-7109 eight. Or you can email me at Josh Centcom.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:53:23 And Monroe is Monroe. That’s right. Showing that I can spell some names correctly. And as my last name is Quincy, I think I’d pay more attention. My apologies to all. Josh. I can’t thank you enough. So, we’re we’re going to wrap up for today, but I want to thank all of my guests today. Jessalyn Rollins, CEO of firelight, Tom Curtin, Joanne Curtin of the Curtin team.

Joshua Kornitsky 00:53:47 Thank you both. And Josh Monroe, certified financial planner and chartered special needs consultant. I, I am humbled by what you’ve shared, but, feel really, really positive to know that there’s help out there for folks. So this has been another episode of Cherokee Business Radio. I can’t thank you enough for tuning in, and I look forward to seeing you next time.