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Keith A. Cothroll – Tax Attorney

July 17, 2024 by angishields

Houston Business Radio

Keith A. Cothroll - Tax Attorney

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Keith A. Cothroll is a seasoned tax attorney with over fifteen years of experience, specializing in defending individuals and corporations in IRS audits and collection procedures.

A native of El Paso, Texas, he earned his Political Science degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from South Texas College of Law in 2005.

Mr. Cothroll’s expertise spans individual, corporate, and employment taxes, with extensive litigation experience before the US Tax Court in Houston, Texas. He also handles property tax, multistate, and bankruptcy matters.

An active lecturer, he frequently speaks on tax and business topics at various seminars and organizations. He is currently writing a book titled “Demystifying the IRS.”

Keith resides with his wife Michelle and their fourteen-year-old daughter, Brooklyn.

Connect with Keith on LinkedIn and Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Really excited to have a friend here. We were just reflecting on how long we’ve known each other. It’s been years, and we continue to interface with each other in different functions. And so glad to have Keith Cottrell on with me today. He is a tax attorney in the law office or, excuse me, the law firm of Keith A. Cothroll . He’s a native Texan who grew up in El Paso, Texas, attended the University of Texas at Arlington. I know hook em horns, right? For those of you who are out there, no gig arms here. Uh, where? He majored in political science. Mr. Cottrell graduated with a doctorate of jurisprudence from South Texas College of Law in 2005. He’s worked over 15 years as a tax controversy attorney, defending individual corporations in IRS audits and collection procedures throughout the country. And we’re going to talk in more detail. But welcome to the show, Keith. So glad to have you. I’d like to just jump right into the middle of this and really have you talk about who you are, what makes you unique, and why in the world are you a tax attorney?

Keith A. Cothroll : I started off at a law school doing criminal law and family law, and I got tired of putting people on the streets ahead of business, being on the streets and giving kids to parents who needed a to to to relax and take a parenting class and, and and learn how to be a better co-parent. So after doing that for a couple of years, I said, hey, a friend of mine said, I need some help with IRS audits. And I said, I don’t know anything about that. Taxes are confusing to me. She says, you’ll learn. And so I did, and I was blessed to have a really good, um, mentor client, Miller, who really taught me the ropes as to what I needed to do and how things worked in the in the tax field and the controversy field, and and really from there, all of it forward. Um, I like taxes because it’s just money. And yes, it can be frustrating and scary when the IRS comes knocking on your door, but they just want your money and it unless you do something to go to jail, you’re not going to jail. So, uh, what? Let’s let’s talk about it and figure it out and get you going on the right path. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: All right. So accidentally fell into this, uh, profession. All right, that’s a good story, I like it. Um, why don’t we talk then a little bit, Keith, about how you market your business is. I think there’s a really cool video out there. You and I were talking about this before we started recording. Um, just rolling back into. In your industry, when it comes to marketing your business, you can’t just cold call people. It’s not allowed. It’s against the law. So in the type of industry that you’re in, how do you market your business to the right clients?

Keith A. Cothroll : Yes. So the way I do it in a few ways, I think what’s really important in my business and other businesses potentially as well, really everyone is. You got to find out who your best referral partners are because that’s where you really that’s where the rubber to, to use the cliche, the rubber meets the road in a lot of ways is if you find out these are the people who are going to have access to the people that you need, that are going to be able, that you’re going to be able to help. So for me, that’s bookkeepers, that’s CPAs. It’s accounting firms, other attorneys. And so when I get to have relationships with them, then they know, hey, I’ve got someone that when my client has a problem, then I can send them over to Keith and he’s going to take care of them. Uh, so that’s a really large part of my marketing tools. I’m involved in various organizations as well. And, you know, one that that we’re part of together. And what I really like about those organizations is they did teach you how to network when you’re doing one to ones with people. So it’s really, I think when I first started thinking about being a business owner, is I talked more about myself than I asking questions about what they did. So that’s really good as any business owner, and this is for anyone that’s listening, is when you’re going out there and you’re meeting these people that you’re trying to connect with, make it about them almost as much, almost more than it is about you. And so that’s really going to help build that rapport so that they feel like this person isn’t talking to me just because they want my business.

Keith A. Cothroll : They they really want to have a relationship here. Um, so that’s part of it. And then, you know, you’re I don’t really do the, the meets and greets networking too much anymore, as I used to. Um, I don’t have time having, uh, two girls and and a teenage daughter who, uh, any free moment I have, I’m over at target and getting whatever she needs, so it’s whatever important, uh, thing that she’ll die if she doesn’t have it right now type of thing. So, um, and then as far as the commercial, uh, that’s my next stage. And this year was, you know, people always ask me, well, what do you do for a living? Well, I fight the IRS, and I even last year wore my my logo to an IRS conference. And he looked at me kind of funny. I said, it’s just marketing. Don’t worry about it. But um, but anyway, you know, I, I tell people I fight the IRS, so start off as saying it. And then it went to having little boxing gloves, dress balls that that had a, you know, the IRS on it to other merchandise to my newest thing, which was a commercial in which I’m knocking out a 300 pound super muscular IRS agent and saying, don’t be afraid of them. It’s I’ll take care of you. So, um, very much in a comical sort of, uh, nod to, uh, personal injury attorneys in their commercials and doing the same thing with, with with tax.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. I feel like as many years as I’ve known you, I see you as a real thought leader in this marketing space that you’re in. You mentioned that you love to connect with CPAs and bookkeepers and other attorneys. Some might listen to this and think, well, why in the world would an attorney who’s in the tax base want to connect with people who may be doing that work already? Can you describe the difference between the relationships that you build with people doing that specific business and what you focus on key?

Keith A. Cothroll : Sure. So from a CPA perspective, some will want to do what I do, but a lot of them don’t because it’s just a lot of paperwork, a lot of time, and they can spend their time doing things that they want to do. So it’s just a matter of a a bandwidth for them. They’d rather someone else do it. Um, there are certain tax attorneys that I work with as well. And so they’re better at certain things where there might be international tax, which I don’t do, or partnership tax, which I don’t do. And but they don’t want to mess with the stuff that I do. So it works that way. So a lot of where there can be overlap but it still works is because I take a piece of what they don’t want to do from their, uh, from their caseload. And it just it just works out. And I, I give them tax returns or something like that or other things that I can’t do and disclose vice versa.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. That’s fantastic. You get to do what you like, they get to do what they like, and the client is happy. Right? That’s really. Absolutely. Uh, I’d like to draw all the listeners attention to your social pages, because another space where I find you to be a thought leader is you started doing videos a long time ago and providing value. It was just what you were talking about, right? It’s less talking about us and what we do and what we have to offer, and more about providing value to the people that we want to serve. And I think you do a fantastic job at that. So anybody who’s listening go out to Keith’s social channels, those are in the show notes. So it’ll be real easy for you to click out there and find those and take a look. And I think his boxing commercial is out there too, so you can take a look at that. Uh, all right. On a serious note, Keith, uh, are there any tax law updates that we should get out to the audience? Speaking of value.

Keith A. Cothroll : So start off with somewhat tax law, but it’s really corporate transparency act. So there is we have until January 1st to next year. If you’re an LLC partnership corporation S Corp, really anything that is not already heavily regulated like a bank or a broker or something like that, there is some there is some courts out there that are kind of going back and forth where, you know, they’re trying to say, well, we’re there’s some cases out there where they’re trying to get rid of the requirement. But um, for right now through FinCEN, you’re going to want to file your beneficial ownership statement if you’re at least 25% beneficial owner of any of those entities that I mentioned. So that’s kind of a general thing. Of course, you have your employee retention credits. Uh, just came out as as before we got started. I got something today in which the IRS is going to send thousands of letters out to you if you did an employee retention credit, and especially if you did it from a promoter and you didn’t do it through a CPA and you didn’t do it through a tax professional, you’re probably going to get a letter for it. And there were some programs in which they were allowed. They’re going to allow you to kind of back out of some of that, but a lot of that since retired. So now you if you get the letter, then you’re going to have to deal with that audit. Uh, there’s been some other things as well that have come up. Uh, there’s been a lot of promoters that have tried to attack people in different ways.

Keith A. Cothroll : They’ve attacked high net worth individuals by doing some charitable contributions and art donations that just aren’t quite what you’re allowed to do through, uh, through trusts and other ways. So if you get a promoter trying to do an art donation, you know you want to be really leery of that. If anybody comes to you trying to do wellness credits or gym memberships and nutritional supplements, that’s not a real thing. Fuel tax credits when you don’t have a semi-truck or a farm is not a real. It works for those people to work for you. Um, something to get all the time, which is if you get a letter from the tax and authority, uh, any taxing authority saying that they’re going to put you in jail, then you could throw that letter away unless it comes from the IRS directly or from the comptroller or whatever state you’re in the Department of Revenue. Otherwise, you can throw them away. And then, uh, the other things that are coming up is a large partnership. Audits is a really big deal. Now, the IRS is really going after those large partnerships. Um, and anyone that’s making over $425,000. So that’s if you’re in that bracket, you can expect to get a lot more, um, flack from the IRS. And I’m even getting a lot more audits. I’m getting a lot more revenue officers calling even on small balances or $50,000 or less. So there’s just a lot going out there. Um, we were we were looking to see what was going to happen once they hired a bunch of people, and now we’re starting to see what’s actually happening, so.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Yeah. Uh. Very interesting. So if any of you heard something that sounds interesting, you need somebody like Keith to navigate the waters for you. I’m just saying, if you don’t already have a good CPA or a tax person, then Keith is your guy. Everybody needs one.

Keith A. Cothroll : Absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Uh. All right. Let’s. This is an interesting one, Keith. Uh, tales from the Tech’s crypt. What can you tell us? Give us a story.

Keith A. Cothroll : All right, so I started using that in all my presentations that I do. Um, just as a little aside, not not really to fill in space, but just to let people know people always want to hear stories. Uh, the most recent one. I’ve got a couple going on right now. Uh, one is against a large tax preparation firm in which, um, we are arguing over whether or not my client has materially participated in the business. And as a matter of six figures of about $160,000. Whether we get that refunded to us, if we’re right, we have to pay it. If, uh, if we’re wrong, uh, another one I’ve got going on right now is, um, a client who, uh, is a out of state, uh, real estate investor and got his property taken into tax sale. And so now we’re we’re going to be able to back out probably that tax sale. But they they basically sued the wrong person, the taxing authorities. And so we’re working on getting all that straightened out. And it’s been you know, it’s already been picked up by, uh, by another buyer. That’s kind of a mess. The one that I really like to talk about. And he tells him the tax script in the last one I’ll talk about is why it’s so important to have me on your side. So I had a local realtor. She got audited at $28,000 a mile because realtors drive a lot, and they. And she was a high volume person, so she was all over the city showing houses, driving around, doing open houses.

Keith A. Cothroll : So we showed them. We showed the auditor, the revenue agent, the entire calendar and about a quarter of the listings. And he denied the whole thing. And I said, well, why are you denying it? We gave you the calendar. We gave you. We have all the listings. We just want to show you another 500 pages. Well, I just don’t think there’s enough here. And I said, well, what about the Cohen rule? It’s like, what’s that? I said, it’s your rule. And so you ought to know what it is. And, uh, he said, basically, in a nutshell, it says that if you present enough information to the IRS and if you don’t have 100% of it, though, they should give you all of it. It’s an oversimplified but that’s really, you know, what the rule is. And so he said, well, let me talk to my supervisor in the next day. I said, okay, you can have it. Well, if I wasn’t there, then that $28,000 would have been a taxable event to that client. So that’s really where I come in, in what I do for a living on the day to day is, you know, if you if you’ve got a collection matter, we we you pay what you can afford to pay. If you’re being examined, you pay what you if you’ve been audited, you’re probably going to pay something, but you’re not going to pay more than you’re supposed to. So that’s really where I add a lot of value to people.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, man, we all need you on our side. So many stories and so many things. So as we finish up today, Keith, um, tell me. Well, if somebody’s listening and they have a thing that they have a question about, could they call you like, what is that thing? So we’ve got a letter from the IRS. I get that, I get a letter from the IRS. I need to call Keith. What are the other reasons why I might engage you.

Keith A. Cothroll : With the IRS? And I guess I should mention property taxes as well, because I do that too. But you’re going to call me really, if it’s something that your CPA doesn’t know and it’s something that is a specific tax issue that’s legal, what is it called say about it? And that’s that’s really where I get into the black white letter of the tax law and what you can and can’t do. Um, so that’s where I can help out, whether it’s crypto question or it’s, um, a matter of how do I how do I do something, then, you know, that’s that’s where I can come in. So where your CPA may not know the answer, I may, I probably do, and then I can help you out in that.

Trisha Stetzel: So I love that. And oh, by the way, for the listeners, uh, Keith also likes to meet CPAs and bookkeepers and other attorneys and just saying yes.

Keith A. Cothroll : Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. Keith, thank you so much for being on the show today. Anything else that you’d like folks to know? And please make sure you tell us the best way to contact you.

Keith A. Cothroll : Yes. Um, that’s and I appreciate, uh, being on this Houston Business Radio podcast with you as well. Tricia, thank you for your time and always glad to share. You know what I, what I do with with others and in your audience. And I think the easiest way to reach out to me is 832402 4440. I can say my email. It’s basically the first initial of my name, my last name at law, which is c o t h law.com.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Thanks, Keith. I’ll make sure that’s in the show notes as well so folks can find you very quickly. Again, I appreciate you being here. Uh, it’s been a pleasure getting to play on the podcast or on the show today with you. And I know that we’ll interact in some form over the next several months, because we always seem to run into each other after all.

Keith A. Cothroll : Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: All right. That’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.

Hawaii WBE Feature: Technology & Digital Literacy

July 11, 2024 by angishields

Women in Motion

Hawaii WBE Feature: Technology & Digital Literacy

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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor engages in a conversation with Wendy Awai-Dakroub. They discuss various topics, including Wendy’s professional journey, insights into her industry, and personal anecdotes that highlight her experiences. The episode offers listeners valuable advice and inspirational stories, providing a deeper understanding of Wendy’s expertise and the challenges she has overcome.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub is a seasoned marketing and business strategist dedicated to promoting the visibility of Native Hawaiians in the tech industry. Currently, she is the CEO at Ohia Technology, where she leverages her expertise to drive digital consulting initiatives across various sectors. Wendy is also the Co-Founder of Acton Digital Academy, a nonprofit focused on empowering local youth through technology education.

With a career spanning over 20+ years, Wendy has held significant roles, including Founder of Sumo Sushi & Bento, the largest Japanese restaurant chain in the UAE, and Marketing Communications Manager at Cisco Systems for the Middle East, North Africa, and Levant regions.

Wendy holds certifications from Harvard Business School Online in Leading with Finance and Sustainable Business Strategies and a Certificate in Marketing from The Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.

She has been recognized for her contributions and has received accolades such as the Marketing Communications Manager of the Year award from Cisco Systems in 2006. Wendy is committed to advancing digital literacy and business acumen, particularly among indigenous communities

Follow Ohia Technology on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on the show, we are spotlighting one of the WBEs from Hawaii, as we are all this month. And today, we have Wendy Awai-Dakroub with Ohia Technology. Welcome.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

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

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: So, we are a new, I say three to four year, tech company opened in Hawaii recently. We focus on customized software development and mainly indigenous software customized development.

Lee Kantor: And then, when you’re saying mainly indigenous, is that to serve the indigenous consumer?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, because I’m a native Hawaiian living in obviously Hawaii, when I first moved to home – because I just moved home. I lived abroad for many, many years – I didn’t realize how the language, Native Hawaiian language, was so much prevalent. It was becoming like a resurgence of our language. And as a Native Hawaiian woman, a lot of people started coming to me like, “Hey, can you help us develop customized software in our language?” And that was something new for me. I didn’t understand it, but now, three years later, I’m helping a lot of companies develop software that can do dual language.

Lee Kantor: So, how did that make you feel, like, being away and then seeing this resurgence?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: It was difficult. I mean, so I left Hawaii in ’87 and I moved to Dubai in ’94, so I lived in the Middle East for 20 years. And I, at the time, I didn’t speak the language at all because back then when I was in high school, we just didn’t speak Hawaiian. So, coming back and then having children and realizing a lot of people spoke Hawaiian and I didn’t know any, it was a culture shock because I didn’t know my own language. We didn’t learn it in school.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: So, what was exciting, I guess, was because I’m Native Hawaiian, people thought I spoke Hawaiian. And so, the more and more they would ask me questions about can you help us create even websites in our language or software learning management system with the language, I didn’t know how to do it, but I just hired the right people and I just got it done.

Lee Kantor: But you had the IT background.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Yes. Yeah. I worked for Cisco, and there, I was a regional marketing manager for 15 years.

Lee Kantor: So, you were kind of uniquely equipped to solve this problem?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Yeah, I think I was thrown into it, honestly. I mean, I started the tech company during COVID. I had to pivot. I was in the food and beverage industry. And because I knew a lot about how to order online, our business was already taking orders online when COVID happened in Hawaii, a lot of small businesses here didn’t have online access to ordering. So, I quickly helped them to figure out how to, you know, get their restaurants up online and that’s how the tech part started. I’m like, “Okay. Well, you know, I have the experience. I know how to get companies online.” And get them to quickly start pivoting and taking orders online, so that’s how my company started, it was really helping companies sell their restaurant items online, food items.

Lee Kantor: Now, did you find that in Hawaii there was a need for maybe this type of evangelizing for digital literacy, especially among young people, or was it something that was there?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: You know, I would say Hawaii, honestly, really lagged behind the rest of the Mainland United States and the world in terms of adopting new technology. Our education still uses equipment like Dell computers that are so outdated and they’re just so far behind. So, when I came along and I obviously started working on small little IT projects right in the beginning of COVID, I really noticed the gap.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: For instance, some of the middle schools and high schools that I was on the board during COVID didn’t have access to computers until six or eight months later. So, while everybody’s gone online and learning, a lot of our students and children in Hawaii were six to nine months behind just because they didn’t have access to laptops or WiFi.

Lee Kantor: So, when you saw this, what type of action were you able to take? I guess you have a network that was able to help in this area.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: It was difficult. A lot of industry, IT industry professionals came together. A lot of people raised money to help schools and small projects here and there. But even at that point, we’re so far behind in terms of not being prepared. Nobody was prepared for a pandemic and having to go online. We just assumed everybody has a computer, everybody has WiFi, and that was just not the case in Hawaii. So, yeah, I had to pivot and work with a lot of organizations to get things moving.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: In fact, for us, our company specifically, started having more and more business, meaning a lot of people started coming to me to help develop their external websites and online ordering. But I couldn’t find anyone to develop or create websites or software. So, that’s when I realized, like, “Wow. We don’t even have the talent here in Hawaii to do website development or basic coding.” So, all of these things, I mean, it wasn’t only my company we figured it out, it was a lot of IT companies here figured it out.

Lee Kantor: So then, where did you go to find the talent?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Well, that’s the whole new revolution here going on. So, I started reaching out to small organizations and schools. And there’s a program called Tech Savvy Teens, where we’re connecting teenagers, so ages 13 to 19, who are at-risk kids who just started getting computers and not learning the basics of IT. We’re connecting them with kupuna in their senior homes, because a lot of the kupuna started reaching out again to my company going, “Hey. Can you come to our senior home because the seniors don’t know how to use their laptops, they don’t know how to use their phones, they don’t know how to order telemedicine.” They don’t understand so many things.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: And so, I worked with a nonprofit that does just that. They connect all these new teens, at-risk teens, get them into the senior homes. And you should see, I mean, it’s an amazing experience to watch.

Lee Kantor: And I think that we’re seeing that more and more where they are pairing some of the elders with some of the young folks to have them interact together so they can each help each other. I mean, it’s really a beautiful thing if it’s done right.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Right. And even then, so what we do at Ohia in sponsoring this nonprofit is that, after the teen finishes 30 hours of volunteer work, we offer them certification, like IT certification. Ohia is a Microsoft partner and a training center for Certiport, so we donate free certifications. And then, hopefully, by I think October, we should have our first cohort pass. And if they pass, I’m going to bring them on as interns. And that’s how we develop that cycle of workforce development in Hawaii.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: But I’m one of the few that are doing it. I’m just proud that I’m part of something that can be bigger. You know, digital literacy is the whole gamut. It’s not just giving someone a computer and teaching them how to use it. It’s about connecting generations, connecting people, and then letting these kids have jobs, and in the process still give back to their community, and the ones who are least not looked at, which is our kupuna. We say kupuna when we say senior citizens.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you finding that young people are hungry for this type of knowledge?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Well, at first, it was tough to get students to sign up to help others. I think they’re like, “Well, what’s the benefit for me?” So, the nonprofit decided, “Well, we’re going to write grants.” And they wrote grants so that teens could have stipends. So, every time they would spend three hours at a senior home, they get $50. So, we had all kinds of teens now signing up. Summer is going to be busy because a lot of 13, 14, 15 year olds can’t get jobs. They’re not old enough. So, that was a huge motivating factor for these teens.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: And with very little training, they’re able to go in and sit with the senior and help them with all kinds of things. I mean, some of the questions like, “Can you take my picture and put it on Facebook?” Just the random things that they ask is amazing. And when you see the seniors coming back every month asking for the same teen, it’s kind of nice. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, the impact is real, right? I mean, this is life changing for everybody involved.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: Is there a story you can share about some of those interactions? Obviously, don’t name their name, but maybe explain the transformation maybe you saw in a teen or an elderly person.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Well, I guess two stories stick out. We have one student. When she first signed up – I think her mother kind of forced her into it – wasn’t interested. She’ll just show up, help the senior, and then move on. And then, after, like, the third or fourth time she’s there, she’s asking for more time, she’s laughing. And then, she was the first one goes, “Hey, if I finish my 30 hours, can I have certification?” And it was someone who just didn’t speak, like she hardly spoke a word. And now four months later, she’s speaking. She wants to get involved more in the project. She’s helping us to launch an event at a mall. And that was a huge transformation, not knowing and then knowing this is her thing. We found her sweet spot, what she likes, which is helping others and technology.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: And then, another story we just had, in fact, last week. We had a woman who, I guess, her older children bought her an Apple Watch and a new iPhone. And she sat down with one of them with teens, and she was like, “Okay. I need you to help me set this up.” And he’s like, “Auntie, I don’t even have a watch or I don’t have a Apple Watch or a phone. I don’t know how to work this.” But literally in half-an-hour, he managed to help her set all of it up.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: And then, the husband came down with this huge donation. He just wrote a check for $1,000, he goes, “Can you buy an Apple Watch for this child?” And we were shocked, “Like what?” We told him thank you. We will donate it and we’ll help it out. We’ll purchase a watch and we can teach the kids. But, you know, they were so impressed with this child just not having any experience with an iPhone or iWatch and to set it up, that was kind of cool.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. It’s so neat to see the younger generation that are digitally native that they’re around technology since they were born. And then, the older folks who this is new to them, a lot of it, and then the ease in which that the younger person can figure stuff out, it must be really amazing to see.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Yeah, it really is amazing to see. And, again, we have the seniors, but now it becomes a party when we go to the senior centers. Like every single senior is there, they get banana bread, they get apples and eggplant. I mean, the things that the seniors give to these children, it’s amazing.

Lee Kantor: Right, because they want to reciprocate. They want to give something to them too.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: And they spend more time. And we did a study that we spent 15 minutes on the problem and an hour talking, they talk story with the child.

Lee Kantor: That’s amazing. And it’s one of those things that the impact is so much more than even that you could have imagined it being, because it’s human to human interaction.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Yeah. And I think that was the goal, was generational. During COVID, we did see that, our kupuna were getting more and more isolated. And Tech Savvy Teens just started with a few teens helping kupuna who wanted to watch church online. So, they went to a church and they were helping from a church, and things exploded into a program they have, now Tech Savvy Teens.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you optimistic about the kind of next generation of maybe female and indigenous IT professionals? Are you seeing that there’s a desire and an opportunity for them to find opportunities?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: I’m hopeful. You know, I would say I’m hopeful. I mean, a lot of the programs that are coming out in Hawaii for teenagers to get certified, there’s so many. It’s just reaching the right demographic. And there’s not a lot of Native Hawaiian here, non-Native Hawaiians in Hawaii now. It’s so expensive to stay here so many are leaving. Yet alone female native Hawaiians in the tech industry. So, I think that’s what I’m concerned about.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: But I do have a handful of girls who are excited about the tech industry and they want to become developers, and stay in Hawaii and help create indigenous language platforms. Because Hawaiians, we learn differently. We’re not linear. We’ll jump from this subject to that subject and that subject. We have to move and jump and do so many things, so to create a platform that’s like that, it doesn’t exist. We would have to create it ourselves. So, I think having more and more Native, not only female, but all Native Hawaiians in IT would be the goal. But I’m hopeful. I won’t say we’re there yet.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of WBEC-West and be part of that community?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: So, in the process of finding out how, I guess just we didn’t have a lot of money [inaudible]. It’s hard to find employees or people here that understand software development. I decided at an early point in my career that if I’m going to create opportunities or jobs for these students or these youth in Hawaii, then I would have to also create the contracts or the opportunities to win business.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: And from what I know and through the YWCA program that I was in, they told me you should get certified and start doing government contracts. And then, as a female women-owned business, I could qualify for that. And so, I give credit to YWCA for providing me with the opportunity to get certified by WBEC. I didn’t know what it was, but it’s been amazing. Just having that logo on my business card and on my website, people take you more seriously, especially when I bid for local contracts, local state contracts.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: So, the goal, obviously, is I’m going through my women-owned certification right now for WOSB, and I’m hoping to be an ADA soon so that I can win contracts and then give more jobs to people in Hawaii so they can stay here.

Lee Kantor: So, what is it that you need more of right now that we can help you?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: You know, I had registered for a WBENC event, they had an event, an expo, I think, last year. But to go from Hawaii, it was so expensive. I mean, it was really hard. I mean, ideally what I would love to see is a local event. There’s a lot of women-owned businesses here that would love to be certified, but it costs us double the amount to travel to the Mainland and attend one of these events. I would love to see a local version of the WBENC event in the Pacific Islands, if I have to be honest.

Lee Kantor: Well, we’ll see what we can do about that. Now, if somebody wants to learn more about your firm, either your nonprofit or your for-profit IT company, what is the websites?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: So, our website for my tech company Ohia Technology is ohiatechnology.com. And an information about Tech Savvy Teens, the nonprofit that we support certifications for is techsavvyteens.org.

Lee Kantor: And for your IT firm, it’s O-H-I-A-technology.com?

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Yes. So, Ohia is the Hawaiian word for lehua, the flower. And it’s the first flower that comes through the lava. It’s a red flower. And, for us, it symbolizes strength to come through lava. The first plant.

Lee Kantor: Right. You got to be tough. You got to be resilient.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: Resilient, yeah. So, that’s the name of our company.

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

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: You’re welcome, Lee. Thank you for having me. It was my first podcast, I enjoyed it.

Lee Kantor: All right. That’s good. And one more time, the website if somebody wants to learn more.

Wendy Awai-Dakroub: www.ohiatechnology.com.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

Jessica Green with Self-Made

July 11, 2024 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Jessica Green with Self-Made

00:00 /

Jessica Green is a midwestern girl born & raised who’s always wanted & know she’s worth MORE!

She’s a little bit on the sassy but smart side, with a HUGE appetite for solving problems. Starting from running away and shaving her head at 13 to graduating college with honors & creating multiple multi million dollar businesses, Jessica will come up with a solution to just about anything, and where you won’t find me is STUCK IN THE MUCK! She’s a lover of life, travel, food and all the things that make life worth living to it’s fullest.

Jessica is an entrepreneur, educator, self-published author, wonder woman wife and Mom! Just ask the 4 boys she lives with or the two bonus daughters who she loves dearly! 5 kids you say? Wait no- two of those boys are furry, but not far from HOOOMANS too in this house!

# 1 thing she is grateful for? Her amazing God, with him absolutely anything is possible!

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Finding your super powers as it relates to entrepreneurship
About Jessica’s book SuperPower to Super Profit
Self-Made Hub- Jessica’s tech platform and mentorship membership

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this morning. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Self-Made made Jessica Green. How are you?

Jessica Green: I am doing fantastic and thank you so much for inviting me on today. I always love to share with the world all of the things Self-Made and all of the things Jessica Green and how I can help more female online entrepreneurs.

Stone Payton: Well, we are delighted to have you on the broadcast. I got a ton of questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I’d love to start if we could, with an overview. If you could paint a picture. Mission purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?

Jessica Green: Well, I’ve been on a journey for about 18 years in the business world, but the last ten mainly in the social marketing space, with working with female online entrepreneurs and network marketing, influencer marketing, affiliate marketing. And there’s one thing I found in common that there’s a lot of opportunity out there, but not necessarily a lot of skill set in the tech space. So being able to take a business and, uh, infuse tech into it so that they can build, scale and accelerate online. And so I dove into helping people, helping mainly female online entrepreneurs infuse tech so that they can accelerate and scale their business with a tech savvy mentor, someone who can help them along the way.

Stone Payton: So what did prompt for you, Jessica? The focus on serving the female constituency. Was it a cataclysmic event or did you kind of know all along this is the group I want to serve?

Jessica Green: No, I just was that group, right? I was that person. And I think that’s where a lot of really good coaches and mentors come from is struggling through the same exact problem that then they can turn around and go help other people with, grab all of the ones that are left behind and can kind of help them through and shortcut things. So I did, I had a number of businesses. I launched a few businesses a number of years ago and realized real quickly that in this online world and this online space, things were moving extremely fast, right? Just ten years ago, I had kind of fallen out of a brick and mortar business and into a network marketing business, and I found that most people didn’t have a business and marketing degree, just like I did, and have all these years of business experience and building business. And I found that I wanted to help, I wanted to I wanted to help as much as I could, but actually found myself stuck in a little bit of a space of having to pay people to build websites and pay people to infuse tech so that I could scale like the big dogs. I could compete out there in the space with everybody else, and not all females have the background.

Jessica Green: And I shouldn’t even just say females. Not all people going into the online space to build a social marketing type business or an online business have the skill set and don’t necessarily have the money to be paying big agencies big amounts of money to build them a website or do simple email marketing or SMS marketing. And now, in just the last 12 to 18 months, because of AI, this world is just changing every single second of every single day. And it’s it’s a lot to keep up with. So I decided, after struggling through some of that and pouring thousands and thousands, I should say wasting thousands and thousands of dollars and time and frustration and headache that when dollars got tight and I couldn’t spend to have someone else do it for me, I just needed to dig in. I was a pretty smart cookie. I could learn how to do most of this stuff myself, and if I could learn how to do it most myself. And it was pretty simple, I could turn around and teach people how to do it. So it was me going through it and knowing there’s a different way. There’s a better way. If you’re willing to learn a new skill set and partner up with somebody who can help walk you through the hard parts, you can really have a lot of control over your own business no matter what.

Jessica Green: Maybe someday. I do believe in the saying that if you’re working in your business and not on your business, you don’t necessarily have a business. You have another job. I don’t I don’t disagree with that saying once you’ve made it. But on the journey to making it, you need to learn some skill sets. So if things get tight or you have to fire somebody or someone walks away from your business, or a team member quits and all those things, you can always step back in and take over for a short time while you get somebody else back up and running. And I found that was the most freeing feeling. That is the most freeing feeling about what I do now is being able to jump into my business and work almost any part of it, especially in the tech spot, and get it back up and running, because most things now are running from tech behind the scenes, helping you scale things and automate things, and maybe not have so many employees because you can really put a lot of that into technology. So.

Stone Payton: So what are some of the more common mistakes or patterns that you can almost anticipate when you first begin working with someone? I know we’re probably going to see this, this and this. What are some of the most common mistakes patterns that kind of thing?

Jessica Green: Um, number one, not believing in yourself that you could actually do it, thinking that you have to have all this skill set and being scared of not being able to do it. Um, honestly, it’s not as scary as it, as it seems from the outside looking in. And if you have the right person that can walk you through and be there to guide you and just answer some questions. So it’s number one, just thinking that it’s too overwhelming when it’s really not. If you have the time and you’re willing to put that time in to learn the new skill set, you can absolutely do it yourself. You do not need to pay one of these big agencies out there to build all of these things for you. I believe that’s why it’s called self-made. That is the entire reason why it’s called self-made. Um, and then number I would say, um, number two is probably so believing in yourself. But number two is actually not having I don’t think that you need to have your whole brand figured out up front, but it is the one thing that I start with because most people don’t niche down far enough, and I almost hate that word, but I’ll use it. They don’t niche down far enough, but they think that they need to throw their product or service or opportunity out there to as many people as possible, because the online space is so big and vast, and they just want to grab as many people when it actually that does the opposite when your message is trying to hit everyone, it hits no one specifically. And I find that is one of the biggest, biggest things that most newer online entrepreneurs, network marketers, social marketers, just online business coaches, whatever solving problems, they’re trying to do it for way too many people.

Jessica Green: And so their messaging that comes out, their branding that comes out, doesn’t target the person who’s actually looking for them right now, today. So they end up doing a ton of push marketing, which is a lot harder to get the people that you want to say yes than the attraction and pull marketing that you can do if you’ve really picked. And it’s hard because I even had to go through that, like I want to help all online entrepreneurs, but that’s a very big space to Niching way down to I want to help very specifically female online entrepreneurs that are in the social marketing space, meaning network marketing in between the ages of 35 and 55 like that is my niche, and I have to get really specific about that because I want to help everybody. But I also know that the person that’s looking for me needs to hear exactly what I can solve for them, and what I can solve. For a 40 year old female wanting to build her social marketing business is not going to be the same things that a 50 year old male wants to hear about his his business, that he’s trying to create? They don’t aren’t going to listen to the same messaging. So you want people coming to you rather than trying to just word vomit and throw noodles at a wall and hope it sticks. And that’s the biggest problem I see out there.

Stone Payton: I am so glad that I asked, because I think you have articulated for me this gut feeling that I’ve had for some time, and my partner is a big proponent as well, of finding that group that really does want to hear your music. And then if someone else strolls in, great, you know, maybe they can enjoy it too. But finally, play to the ones that want to hear your your brand of music, right?

Jessica Green: Exactly. That’s a great way to put it.

Speaker4: All right, so let’s.

Stone Payton: Dive into the work a little bit. What does that look like? Someone comes into your circle. You begin serving them. Is it one on one instruction? Is it tapping into a platform? Walk us through the work, especially the early phases of of the work you’re doing with the clients?

Jessica Green: Yeah, absolutely. So I kind of started this journey of building out a business called Self-made to put a coaching program together to just really help female online entrepreneurs get their branding set and time management. And like all just all the things that you need as a new entrepreneur, like a lot of people jump into social marketing, network marketing, influencer marketing because they fall in love with the product, service or opportunity. Not because they woke up one day and said, I’m going to go out and create my own business. Some do, but a lot don’t. So don’t always have the background and what it actually takes to be an entrepreneur because they never saw themselves being one. So I started off with a program to help people through that, and then shortly realized that everyone was going to really need all of the tech pieces. And I had learned all of it, and I could turn around and go teach them those things along with it. So what I went and did is created my own, uh, boutique style agency, backed by a tech platform that’s already out there and made it my own. And so our membership is we take people in for a monthly membership that covers the cost of their complete and entire all in one tech platform so they can build all their websites, all their funnels, their email marketing, their SMS marketing, their calendar booking, their I mean, you name it, our platform does it, has it, integrates it, and you don’t need anything else out there.

Jessica Green: Because what we found is a lot of people are out there duct taping 17 systems together for their email and for their websites and funnels and all this stuff, and you actually don’t need that. There’s really great all in one tools out there that can combine everything and save you a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of headaches. So we took that platform and paired it together with the business coaching and made it very inexpensive for people to be able to just belong to something and build along with some people that know what they’re doing and can direct them and guide them. So that’s really what we do. We go out there and we help those female online entrepreneurs that know they want to take the time, they want to spend a little bit of their energy, but not a ton of money going and building all the things that they need to scale their business and infuse that tech. So we start there, and then we have some other programs that we can offer along the way. If people are like, I need to dig in bigger, badder, better, faster, I need it all. I need it done quick. We have some like accelerator masterminds that will will invite people into that are pretty limited. But just because we like to spend time with our clients. But that’s it. It’s a it’s a monthly membership that gets you all of the tech that you need, plus the help to build it all.

Stone Payton: Well, it strikes me that if you can get the tech set up and in place, and particularly if it’s all available through one path as you’re describing, then you can really it seems like it would liberate you to lean into some of the things that you already bring to the table, like whatever. You’re already really good at the clarity of your own vision if you can. If you can get the tech figured out, speak to that a little bit about finding, you know, finding your superpower and really leveraging it.

Jessica Green: So I ended up writing a book through this journey because I did I what I have noticed out there in this industry, and I mean, especially since, you know, like everything changed with the world a few years ago. Right? And all of a sudden there was this like, oh, I could work from home. Oh, I could, I don’t want to go back to work now. I like this idea of working from home and kind of being my own boss. And so a lot of people with the online space decided they wanted to jump in and create their own businesses, but then they were like, oh, well, how what do I create? What do I go do? Do I go partner with a company and become an influencer marketer and have, you know, have a company that I just sell products for? Do I become a network marketer? Like, do I create my own coaching business? Like what could I do? And so I found myself counseling a lot of people and doing strategy calls with a lot of people. And so I decided to take all of that knowledge that I have of 18 years of business experience. My degrees, all of the businesses that I’ve had that have been successes and failures, I’ve learned way more from the failures and the successes and Then put that in a little bit of a book.

Jessica Green: Um, just a simple book called Super Power to Super Profits. Um, and it’s just me walking through. How do you find your own superpowers as it relates to entrepreneurship, and then utilizing those to create the business and empire of your dreams? So I always tell people when I start off coaching in that realm is if you if you create yourself just another job out there that you have to get up and go do every day, you’re not going to be excited about it. It’s just going to be like working that 9 to 5. But if we can create something that comes from passion, something that comes from what you get really excited to go work on, and you could jump out of bed every single morning and ready to walk across the hallway to that office home office of yours to work on your business. And you are so excited you’ve now created something that you will absolutely love, you will adore, and you will make a lot of money at. Because people know when you absolutely love and adore what you do every single day. And those are the people who are going to want to partner with you because they can see it and feel it, and it exudes from you.

Jessica Green: So my superpower to super profit is saying, hey, let’s go figure out what you’re really good at. What do your friends always ask you for advice on? What do you feel like you could do for hours and hours, and then look up at the clock and go, oh my gosh, I cannot believe I just spent five hours doing that. I could do that for five more hours and it wouldn’t even faze me. And no, I’m not talking about scrolling social media. That is not a career path. Um, because I think anybody can make time disappear like that. Um, so I’m very clear about not letting that happen. Um, but yeah, just I walk them through some questions and I walk through my own story. Um, as a young adult, actually a teenager to young adult. And some of the things that I went through, and it took me all the way until really my 40s to figure out what my superpower actually was. And so if I can, uh, speed that up for somebody who wants to get into the entrepreneurial journey, that’s what that book is meant to do. And then it walks them through some of the tech, how to start putting some things in place to build up your business online.

Stone Payton: So what was that experience like writing the the book? Did it come together pretty easily, or were were pieces of it harder than than others? I’d love to hear what that journey was like.

Jessica Green: If I could do it all over again, I would do it differently again. Another way I could speed up someone’s journey, I would point them in a different direction than what I took. I really wanted the book to just be a lead magnet, if I’m being quite honest with you. I had a lot to say. But it wasn’t the book that, like if Jessica Green was going to go write a book and it be like all of the things that I want to teach and share and show all of who I am, I wouldn’t. This isn’t the book. This is more of a lead magnet book, and I wish I would have done it the other way around. First of all. Second of all, I would really do my research on how you publish a book or self publish a book, or find the right company to work with. Through that process, I picked a company that I thought was a good idea. It came with some business coaching. Along with this book writing program. I would have gone to a company that was just a book writing program because I did need some help. I needed a mentor. I needed a coach. I’d never wrote a book before. I did know that I wanted to self-publish. I want because it was a lead magnet. I just wanted something simple. But the process was interesting. We’ll just we’ll just say that it was interesting. The book is written and it is out there. I can’t say that it’s like my masterpiece in any way, shape or form. So I’m looking to the second book that I write, but it’s a great book to just get people started in. Hey, I need to figure out what my superpowers are. I want to I want to start my own online business. I need someone to kind of walk me through those first few steps. And that’s what the book’s intended purpose was. So I’m okay with that. But the next book, stay tuned, it’ll be much better. All right.

Stone Payton: So you have another one in you. And I have to believe, while certainly it’s provided value to the people you’re trying to serve, I suspect it probably helped you crystallize your own thinking and equip you to even be that much better at what you were doing, just because you invested the energy to commit some of these ideas to paper, and really have to think them through and figure out a way to articulate them for others. I bet it helped you to be a better practitioner.

Jessica Green: Oh yeah. Absolutely. It’s like putting something in a really concise, organized format on how to teach. The one great thing is that I had already created a 12 week program that I was putting clients through, so I kind of took that 12 week program. That was my process of what I put clients through, and I kind of made that some of the chapters of the book pulled out like seven of the 12 different modules and made that into my book, with the exception of, like the first chapter, which tells my story and kind of how I uncovered what I’m really good at, which is problem solving, um, which is my superpower strategy and problem solving. But I take that was also really fun and cathartic. Maybe be the right word. Is telling a kind of embarrassing story about myself that I learned at 13 years old. Was was a like game changer for my life. Um, and telling that story out loud for anybody to pick up a book and read about that was interesting. Kind of cathartic, though.

Stone Payton: I would think the answer to this question probably changes over time as you evolve, as the work evolves. But I’ll ask you at this point now, you’ve been at it a while. What are you finding the most rewarding about the work? What’s the most fun about it for you these days?

Jessica Green: Oh, being a part of like so many different businesses. So we have a new client come in and we have a mastermind for our hub members every Wednesday morning. Um, and we have an accelerator program that’s like an 8 to 10 week program. We only take 12 people in at a time and so that we can spend time on their businesses, but it’s watching those businesses unfold. For example, I have, um, you know, we have some clients that maybe started with us eight, nine months ago, and you’re just now starting to see because they are really just doing it on their own. They didn’t join an accelerator. They’re just every week plugging away at building their business and watching some of that come to life. Now, having a just knowing, like when you see their business launch online and they start getting their clients and things start flourishing for them, and you start seeing their stuff on social media, you’re like, I had a little piece of that. If they if if we wouldn’t have gotten involved or connected, would they be where they’re at? Would their dreams be coming true? Would their empire be being built? Last week we got to walk through, um, a lady who’s in just a regular hub member of ours that shows up every Wednesday morning consistently and has been building out a math tutoring business, an online math tutoring business for, um, sixth grade to like through 12th grade, I think. Um, and she does it out of her home, but she really wanted to take this online and be able to do this for more people and do like, classes and watching all of her tech pieces finally get to completion so that she can launch everything and watching it unfold and seeing the website and seeing it’s just like, you know, that you just took somebody from working this like, boring 9 to 5 that they hate to actually making that dream of theirs become reality. That to me, there’s nothing like that.

Stone Payton: So are these people finding you because of the tech you have in place? Or I guess I’m interested in how the whole sales and marketing thing works for almost everyone I talked to. But in your case, like, are you out there shaking the trees? Or you’ve set things up so that they come shake the trees? Or how does that cause you have to, I guess you have to eat your own cooking to a large degree, right?

Jessica Green: Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. Yeah, absolutely. If I don’t show up online and have all the things in place online, how would anybody ever trust me? Or I heard me right and I will in no way, shape or form, uh, say that I’m perfect at those things. I just actually am super transparent to my coaching clients, too. So I had somebody call me the other day that just is one of our hub members that needed a little extra from me, and I try to always do that as much as I can. And, uh, she was asking me some questions about the front end of her business, like the getting of traffic. Right. And it’s just it’s not our specialty. We focus on the back end, like, we can tell you everything to plug in so that when you’re generating the traffic, everything goes on. Automation. Um, like, you go make a reel or a post or a TikTok and we we can help you set everything up on the back end so that everything is automated from there on out. So you could do one reel and everything sets on automation all the way to conversion, maybe 14 touch points later so that you can convert a viewer into a buyer. So we do the back end. We don’t teach people how to do social media. So when she called me and started asking me some questions, I’m like, listen, I got social media out there. I stay very present online. I have someone that helps me with some of that stuff, but I can’t coach you on that because I’m not good at it. It’s not my favorite part.

Jessica Green: I don’t do a whole lot of it, but we do have to do that for our business. So we work on it and we bring in coaches and mentors of our own for the front end of things, because that isn’t that isn’t what my business model is, and it is not our forte. Um, but I will say being super active out there on all the social platforms is one of the things that we do. But for ten, well, 14 years, myself and a business partner that I brought in, uh, we’ve been in the network marketing space wasn’t what I started off in. I fell into it in an economic downturn. I was the girl that ran from everybody. I’m no longer building in the space now, but I did for 14 years. And that grows you a very massive network of people. Um, that’s the one thing that I absolutely love about network marketing. And so because we were very successful in that top 1% in the industry, both her and I, in different businesses, um, we have a large network. And so it’s it’s a lot of hustle out there grinding, getting our own. You used a term and I don’t remember what what you said exactly was like, you know, just going out and getting our own clients. Then we do also do social media. We are just now getting into the ad space of getting some ads out there. Also not my forte. I don’t teach people how to do that. It is not my thing. But I can, you know, find some people that can help me with that because I’m very resourceful.

Speaker4: Well, that’s.

Stone Payton: Such an important point, is lean on what you’re good at and set up systems that will help you really just leverage that to the nth degree and go get best in class. Help in the areas that were in the holes you need to plug, right?

Jessica Green: Yeah, exactly, exactly. The other thing we do too is we because we both came from a lot of experience in network marketing. Um, while our company helps a lot of network marketers, we’re not a network marketing company, but we do have an affiliate program for our company. And because no network marketing so well, it was like super easy for us to deploy an affiliate marketing part of our business. So we have a lot of people that are our hub members, that are also affiliates for us, because they know they can go out and sell our service. They believe in us. They’re already hub members, and then they can also make some money with us too. So that’s another way that we drive traffic to us.

Stone Payton: Well, you clearly have the passion for your work. I can see it in your eyes. I know our listeners can hear it in your voice. But I did want to ask hobbies, interests, passions outside the scope of your work, like a lot of our listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel. Is there anything you nerd out about outside the scope of this work?

Jessica Green: So I, I love when this question comes up because I think I’m a little neurotic in my in my entrepreneurial journey, though, I know it’s not healthy at all times, but, you know, I’m not just working on my business. I’m working on so many other people’s dreams and empires that I find that is also a hobby. I say all the time, if you sit down with me for five minutes and we go have coffee, or we go to have a bite to eat, and we start talking in any way, shape or form that you could start a business or you like doing this. I’m trying to turn it into a business for you and show you how to monetize it, because I literally have fun doing that. So I spend a lot of time I don’t want to call it working because I really enjoy what I do. Um, but outside of that, um, I have three kiddos, uh, one son and two bonus daughters who are grown and have big girl jobs. We love to do stuff with our kids. We love to travel. Um, actually, as we speak, my husband is without me over in Europe, um, in Paris right now. And so we love to travel and we love to do things like that. We love to entertain at our house. And yeah, I mean, we’re pretty simple people, though.

Stone Payton: All right, before we wrap, let’s leave our listeners with a couple of actionable things. I’ll call them pro tips. Just a couple of, you know, start thinking about this or read this or don’t do this kind of thing. And look, gang, the number one pro tip is reach out to Jessica and her team, have a conversation with them, learn about what they’re doing. But let’s leave them with a couple of things to be noodling on between now and then.

Jessica Green: Yeah, I mean, my biggest piece of advice is, is just find them. Whatever you’re doing, go find someone who’s done it and has succeeded at it, but also maybe had some failures behind it because you learn more in those failures than you do the successes. It’s just the unfortunate piece about business. But, um, so when I, when I start coaching people, I actually tell them to go find a few people on social media that are doing what they want to do, but are only about 18 to 24 months ahead of them, and they’re successful. And the reason I say that is because, of course, I could go find the most successful person in my entire industry that’s been doing this for 10 or 15 years and model my behavior after them, but they’re at a different point in their journey. They’re so far beyond what I’m trying to accomplish right now. I’ll get there, but only modeling off of the activity and the things that they’re doing now kind of sets people back. So I try to have people look at somebody who’s more like 18 to 24 months ahead of them and looks like it’s becoming successful because the behaviors that you’re going to go and see or they’re breadcrumbs that they leave behind, um, are going to be what you need to do over the next 18 to 24 months, which is the most important right now.

Jessica Green: So find a mentor, find a coach. But maybe not someone who’s so far ahead of you that they’ve almost lost reality of. I always say it’s it’s almost the very same thing in network marketing. It’s like someone who first comes in and is just getting started versus the, you know, million dollar a year earner. That’s like been there, done that, spent in the industry for ten years and did all the things. They are not doing the same things every single day as the things that they want you doing when you first come in. Because the things you need to do when you first come in are quite different than what you do when you’ve been on your journey for 10 to 15 years. Believe in yourself and go find a good person to partner with. That’s like a mentor or a coach that can help walk you through some of the struggles and be there on the hard days. Best advice I could give?

Stone Payton: Well, I think it’s marvelous advice. Thank you for that. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to connect with you? Tap into your work? I want to make sure they have access to the book that you described. Let’s leave them with some coordinates.

Jessica Green: Yeah, I think the easiest way and the easiest one to remember is my personal website, which is just green. I got the dot green, not a.com, just dot green is actually an ending to a website. So um, just dot green is how you can find my personal website. And from there you can get to our business website too which is self made hub. So yeah.

Stone Payton: Well Jessica, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast. Thank you for your passion, your enthusiasm, your insight, your perspective. It’s uh, it’s been a marvelous way to invest a Tuesday morning and we sure appreciate you.

Jessica Green: Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. It’s been fun.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Jessica Green with Self Made and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

Dr. Michelle Thomas with The Exceptional Woman Enterprise

July 8, 2024 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Dr. Michelle Thomas with The Exceptional Woman Enterprise

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Dr. Michelle S. Thomas is a distinguished business executive and strategist, renowned for her expertise in eliminating growth barriers for women entrepreneurs, particularly those of color.

As the visionary leader of The Exceptional Woman Enterprise, she champions the advancement of women in business through strategic empowerment initiatives and Mastery Level business education.

Dr. Thomas combines over a decade of direct business operation experience with her roles as an author and speaker to drive innovation and excellence in entrepreneurial development.

Connect with Dr. Thomas on Facebook and Instagram.

The 2024 G.R.O.W.T.H Business Conference provides women of color a unique platform designed specifically to elevate your business acumen, expand your network, and take your enterprises to new heights.

The conference takes place in Dallas, TX on August 1-2 at The Gaylord Texan Resort & Conference Center. Find information about the conference and purchase tickets at https://growthconference.live/

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming back to the Business RadioX microphone. Author, speaker, coach with The Exceptional Woman Enterprise Dr. Michelle Thomas. How are you?

Dr. Michelle Thomas: I am doing amazing. How are you? Stone, thank you for having me back.

Stone Payton: I am doing well. It’s absolutely my pleasure. What a delight to have you back on the broadcast. We had so much fun last time when you were in studio. I’m really looking forward to this conversation. I know there’s an upcoming event that we want to dive into in a few moments, but I’m thinking to get things going, maybe remind us, give us a little bit of primer about your work mission. Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?

Dr. Michelle Thomas: So the Exceptional Woman Enterprise is a parent company of multiple subsidiaries that focus primarily on ensuring that women entrepreneurs, especially women of color entrepreneurs, receive the resources, the funding, the support and the networking community that they need to be able to achieve sustainable success. And so we focused in on this because statistically, I’m a data person. Right. And so research tells us that starting in the Covid era 2020, 2021, we saw a record number of women of color entrepreneurs to launch their businesses. Well, what a lot of people don’t know is the IRS has its own litmus test, right, of what they consider the difference between a hobby business and a successful business. And so the loose terms of it is, if you are in business five years or more, but you have to be profitable for the IRS to consider your business a true business, uh, mature business. Well, statistically, uh, a lot of women entrepreneurs launch their businesses, but within the first 12 to 24 months are forced to prematurely close before they can even realize their success because they don’t have the right access. It’s not just about money, it’s about access. And so the Exceptional Woman Enterprise, we have multiple different entities that help you achieve the access that you need to achieve the growth that you want to do. That’s the brief overview of what we do.

Stone Payton: What a marvelous and noble pursuit. I know I asked this the last time we talked, but remind us of what got you going down this path. Aside from the obvious need, how in the world did you find yourself in this, in this line of work?

Dr. Michelle Thomas: By pure accident? Let me say let me say how this happened. So, um, back in 2017, um, my husband and I are a blended family, and we have seven kids, six boys, one girl, um, two dogs, two cats. A partridge in a pear tree. If you look deep enough. I’m just saying, that’s just how my house be rocking. Okay. So now you know our kids are grown. But back in 2017, um, June 15th, 2017, we lost one of our babies. He was 19, we lost him to a car accident. And so immediately everyone flooded me with these grief books and things about loss or whatever. And I wasn’t ready for it. Right. So what I did in my own little cubby is I took my laptop and I wrote about what I knew, I just I wrote about blending the family because when my husband and I first got together, I called it the corporate merger because we were two business people that had kids. So it wasn’t just like the regular get together type of thing. You got two really strong, bullheaded leaders that now have to live in one house. It’s the corporate merger. Like there was a negotiation table just to get this to work, right. And so between the seven kids, multiple different last names, whatever, no one on the outside knew that we were blended family because that’s how we structured our family.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: And so when we had this tragic loss and Bryant was our middle kid with the biggest personality, he was like the sales person for my business, one of my businesses. And like, he was just that kid. And when we when we had that loss, it impacted my family tremendously. And because I have a house full of males, it was important for me to make sure that they were able to process their feelings. So I started writing in my own way about the experience of blending of family. So this little, this little journal thing that I created, a friend of mine was like, oh, you need to turn this into a book. So I reluctantly like the bad child. Reluctantly, I reluctantly published it, but I knew that we guaranteed was going to have eight copies sold, and that was it, right? Because I wrote my family, wrote eight deep just in this in itself. And so my mom and daddy was going to buy a copy. So, okay, that’s ten. We got ten copies to be sold and then we’ll let this go. Stone it went global. Um, I had especially what was really profound for me is I had more men to reach out to me and say thank you. If I had had this book, I probably wouldn’t be divorced now because I never understood and looked at it from that perspective.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: So that began me speaking. People were calling me around the globe to do these conferences and do these speaking engagements. As I’m in the space and in these conferences, people begin, especially women begin to ask me about my professional career and how did I get there? How did I get with the Mark Cuban’s? How did I get with all of the Dan Gilbert’s and the Eric Thomases and the Tony Robbins? And how did I get in those spaces? And so I just would have these conversations. It wasn’t a business. I was just having these conversations. And it eventually the first entity that I created was the Exceptional Woman Tour, which was my event division, where we would go around from city to city. Instead of having people to pay to come to me, I would incur the cost to go from city to city and find the the, the women that were in that city that were hungry for professional growth and, and so what what began as just kind of a it was my own process of grief. And I actually spoke because I was giving Bryant voice. I wasn’t speaking for me. I wanted to give him voice because he thought that his mother was a superhero. And so I didn’t feel like a superhero, but because my kid thought I was a superhero, I’m gonna get out here and I’m going to keep this kid’s life going.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: Well, it turned into so much demand for ethical, vetted, true business principles. That’s what we stand upon. We stand upon not just the hype or the drip campaign or the funnel campaign type of information. We stand upon true business practices that transcends any type of trends or fads or anything we process on the true business cycle. And and what I found was that a lot of people and a lot of women, this was a man thing. Most men, you guys do this organically, but from a women’s women’s perspective, we usually focus on the emotion of it instead of the hard core business principles. And so my three plus decades of executive leadership turned into the exceptional woman enterprise where I want before I take my last breath, I want to see sustainable, permanent change for us as women entrepreneurs to stand upon so we no longer have to keep looking backwards for the next six generations. That’s my goal, the foundation that we that we build through the exceptional woman enterprise. I want women, young women, young entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs to be able to stand on this new, strong foundation for the next six generations. And then my my work will be done.

Stone Payton: What a marvelous story and inspiring path. I got to ask, what was it like? Especially in the early days of becoming a professional speaker, where were you intimidated at all? Did you have to learn some, I don’t know, skills tactics on how to deliver your message effectively in that medium as well?

Dr. Michelle Thomas: So for me, it was offered. I tried that stone, I really did, I tried, I tried to go and do the master classes and figure out whatever, but it didn’t fit. It didn’t feel right. I come, I come to my audience with a conversation. I want to make sure that I’m not. Whether you pay me to be the keynote or whatever my title is on stage. I want every person who sits in that office and that audience to feel like that. It’s just me and them having a conversation because I found that that resonates better than me leading with my expertise, me leading with my bank account, me leading with I’m all this. That’s kind of stuff in this day and time, because everybody has instant access. You can Google.

Speaker4: Anything if.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: If, if I’m gonna take the time out to go and get dressed and go to an event or go to a conference, I need that conference to deliver to me something I cannot Google. Does that make sense?

Speaker4: Yeah.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: And so for me, I didn’t want to resemble everyone else on stage. I wanted that by the time we left that event, or whoever walked out of that space that I was in walked away understanding that whatever they think they can do, they actually can do.

Stone Payton: It seems to me, for outside looking in, you’ve got so many irons in the fire, so many plates spinning. But they include, uh, I want to make sure this is accurate above and beyond the writing and the speaking and providing all these resources in a, in a variety of ways for people to access them. Am I right? Do you also find yourself in direct coaching relationships with individuals and groups, as well as part of your practice?

Dr. Michelle Thomas: Absolutely. One of my we actually own two corporate office and one of my corporate office, which is called Success Industries. We named it after our six kids at the time, but it spells six six Success industries is a minority consultant firm where we go into small, midsize and corporations, and we dive into the operations of that to help them to streamline and better create an effective operations so that they can achieve money to the bottom line. So we spend our time really in multiple industries, different industries. Um, but we drill down to what the problem is, and then we offer the solutions so that instead of you having to throw money at the problem, we find out where the core of the problem is so that you can strategically place your resources where they need to be so that you can get a result. So we do consulting, I do coaching. We also have now started, um, we haven’t launched the Universe Personal. Hear about it. We’re going to be launching an academy called Melanated Moguls Academy, where from people around the country who have experienced their success and their growth, but also understand the barriers that are still out there, the micro biases that we all experience. Um, I wanted to pull together an academy that just didn’t focus in on women, but focused in strategically on professional growth. So you don’t have to be an entrepreneur. But if you want to grow yourself to the VP status or the C-suite status, the Melanated Moguls Academy is going to get you not only the mentorship that you need, but the resources that you need to grow.

Stone Payton: So you touched on this earlier in the conversation, but I wonder if you would would say some more about your decision to specifically focus on serving women, and particularly women of color. I mean, because some of this is surely strategic, some of it is certainly born of the heart. But say a little bit more about that decision.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: So through my research, I found that a lot of people only did surface level research of what was actually causing women of color businesses to fail, and they always wanted to equate it to our financial stability and the lack of funding that we got. Well, here’s the thing about business. Business doesn’t really care what color you are. Business doesn’t care what gender you are. All business. The big cog of business has been around for centuries. All it cares about is that you can do what you say you can do, right? That’s how business works. That’s the bottom line principle. And so for women, what was happening because it’s so few of us that actually have these C-suite positions and actually watch how business actually works from behind the scenes. We don’t have access to those tables, so we tend to enter in our entrepreneurial journey or our small business journey from the experience and the mindset of an employee. Even if you were a manager or a leader in it, you still make employee type decisions because someone else gave you it was a pass down effect. You learn what you needed to do because it came from the owner or the key person that you never got a chance to sit with. So what I do is I take my 30 plus years of experience at those tables with some of the most prominent people, and I convert it into language and operations and strategic movement that is tailored for a specific entrepreneur and a small business owner. So I convert that corporate lingo and that corporate operation and move it into a space that any entrepreneur, in any small business owner, can grab on to implement into their process and achieve big business success.

Stone Payton: So now that this work has snowballed like it has and you’re clearly have hit your your stride at this point, what is the what’s the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you these days?

Dr. Michelle Thomas: To be able to hear the stories of people or meet people that I may have met five years ago, six years ago, maybe they attended one of my conferences. Maybe they heard me speak somewhere that I have never physically met before. But when I’m in a space and they get a chance to actually come and tell me their story, and I hear the shift and the impact that that conversation that I had, not directly with them, but they received it and were able to achieve success that they weren’t ever able to dream of. Because a lot of us are first generation, right? We are sitting in spaces and we’re navigating in in spaces that our parents or no one in our family has ever stepped into. This is a venture that we can’t call our uncles or aunts and be able to say and ask, how did they do this? Because we’re first generation. And so when, when, when when it’s that group of people, the underrepresented communities. My joy comes from taking a person that statistically has been led to believe that they could never have this level of success and watch them blossom into their true self, utilizing the very skills that they were born with. They just need to sharpen them a little bit and get a little bit more business experience and watch this person achieve something that no one ever believed that they could do.

Stone Payton: Well, that has to feel good. You must sleep incredibly well at night, not just as a product of all your work, but the the impact that your that your work is having. That’s fantastic. All right I want to hear about this event. You’ve got one coming up in in August. Walk us through it. What can we expect to see there.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: Oh my goodness. The 2024 Growth Business Conference is going to be and what I call home, um, in Dallas, Texas, August 1st and second. Um, I called Dallas home because I spent 16 years in Dallas. Uh, most of my kids were born in Dallas. And so I grew up from a business perspective in Dallas. Dallas took a broken girl from North Carolina that drove in with no job and no money, and taught me how to own my space, not try to skate off of it, but really own my space. And so coming back to Dallas is really important for me. And so the 2024 Growth Business Conference is going to focus in on getting our entrepreneurs and our attendees to not only learn the essential resources that they need, but we are actually implementing in every step that we’re doing, action items that they’re going to implement during the conference. Here’s what I find out. During conferences, we make people feel invisible for one, two, three, or four days, right? When you’re in that energy, you’re in that space. You feel like that you can accomplish anything that you want to.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: But then the next Tuesday, when you’re at home and all the bills are coming in and everybody’s pulling and tugging at you, see, somehow something happens with that energy, it dissipates real quick. And now you’re trying to figure out how to get that back. Well, what we’re going to do is while you’re in the seat, while you’re in the presence of the experts, you’re going to execute it in your own business. Bring your laptop, bring your phones, bring everything that you got, because we’re going to implement it right there so that you can become the expert of the skill. And when you go back to your office or go back home, you can now sustain it and grow it. That’s the key. You don’t walk away confused. My guarantee for all of my conferences is that you walk away with three resources and steps that you can implement immediately, and receive results from those things. We don’t do drip campaigns. We’re not giving you anything that you got to pay me more money to find out more about. We give it all. We give.

Speaker4: It all.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: On stage two days. Day one is the first day is the general session where our speakers, our experts are pouring all type of financial knowledge, operational knowledge and people knowledge. That’s sales, that’s customers, that’s your employees. We’re going to pour all that into you. Day two, August 2nd is strictly to drill down what you learn on day one and to break out sessions so that we can really answer your questions and really implement that and instill it into your operations. And so our conferences have a different experience to them. And I’m not saying that because it’s mine. I’m saying that because that’s the feedback that I get from everyone in attendance, that it’s a whole different experience than they’ve ever had. So this year is going to be August 1st and second. It’s going to be at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center. I’m encouraging every entrepreneur, every business professional to attend this conference. But we did something different, Stone, that we haven’t done in the other five years of doing this. We are going to have a business expo and we’re going to have an Authors Corner. So I want to speak right now to those business owners who need customers, who need to get their businesses out there, who want to find the people who need the products and services that they are selling. Get a vendor booth here. We are going to strategically drive sales to you. That’s our job for our indie authors out there. If you have publications, if you have a book that you’re putting out there, if you have, if you just want to poll the audience to find out if your concept is going to work, get your indie author book booth so that you now can meet the very people who are going to buy your publication and your book, and your best seller.

Stone Payton: I love it because while you are clearly the the grand master of this, uh, this this event, it’s not the Doctor Michelle show You have people with specific expertise and experience in these different domains. So they’re getting the best of the best, and they’re getting a platform to practice application in a safe environment. And they’re getting an opportunity to share their own stories and promote their own work while they’re there, aren’t they?

Dr. Michelle Thomas: Absolutely. And when I say, I mean, you hit the nail on the head, it is not. I warn my audience, people, you might find me sitting beside you because I take more notes than I am on stage. I because again, I want to make sure that people understand that we at the Exceptional Woman Enterprise, we walk our talk. I’m not going to stand there and tell you I know everything, but what I do really well is position my business and position myself around people that have more skills and strengths in areas that I am weak in. And I make sure that we are shored up in that way, so that the experts who need to be able to pour into you are the people that are talking to you. So this is how we strategically place this conference, so that if I don’t have an answer for you, there is someone in the room that has an answer for you. But it’s more than just you sitting in the seat taking notes. I want you to feel involved and action oriented. So there’s going to be a portion of this conference. I’m letting everybody know because you’re my friends. Don’t nobody else knows about this where we’re actually in the middle of the conference. We’re going to stop everything and we’re going to help you find your next customer, your next employee, your next business partner. Right in the middle of the conference, you’re going to walk away with some work. You’re going to walk away with a sale. You’re going to walk away with a new business partner during this conference.

Stone Payton: Wow. Okay. So at this point in early July and this thing is in early August, there’s still some registration available. There’s still, uh, booth space available. Yes.

Speaker4: Yes. Okay. Yes.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: So I, um, I actually put this in the chat so you could share it with everyone, but everyone can go to Growth Conference, dot live, live. And you can secure your vendor booth, your author, your indie author author book. You can get our VIP pass, which will give you a whole lot of access to our experts and some expert things that really behind the scene, things that you’re going to get as a founder or someone that wants to be in that VIP room. Um, our general session. But we even broke our tickets down this year because I know not everybody may have two days to spare to a conference. Right.

Speaker4: So you get to choose.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: You can a la carte however you want to attend this conference to things that are specific to what you need. So you make that choice. And I wanted to make sure that I got on your show, and I talked to people globally to make sure that if you need to be in this space, we have a room for you.

Stone Payton: All right. Let’s make sure that we give them that website once again, and let’s give them some coordinates to tap into your work in general. And maybe at some point, if they want to have a substantive conversation with you or someone on your team, let’s leave them with some of those coordinates as well.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: Absolutely. So the website for the conference is Growth Conference Dot live. And you can get all the information about the conference there. If you want to connect with me, you can connect with me through Exceptional Woman Network.com and all of our information. If you want coaching, mentorship, if you need someone, if you want to do specific coaching packages through me, then you can email email me at ashaunna a s h a w n a. That’s a s h a w n a at Michelle s Thomas comm. That’s m I c h e l l e the letter s as in Sam t h o m a s com. So I’ll get all of this information to you soon so that if they needed it, they missed it on the the live. You guys can post it, but find me if you want to find everything out about me, you can look at Exceptional woman Network.com. And you’ll always. They’ll get you to me. And we’ll find the resources that you specifically need to get your business where it needs to go. And again, I just want to plug in. This conference is for people who are tired of the predatory like promises that are plaguing us so much about I can make you rich in 37 days, those type of things. This is not that conference. This is not the get rich quick conference. This is true business principles that you can rinse and repeat throughout any industry to help you grow.

Stone Payton: Doctor Michelle, this has been, as I knew it would, an absolute delight. I’m so glad that we had you back on the broadcast. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, your enthusiasm, and the the nature of your work and the impact that you’re creating. You are doing such important work and we sure appreciate you.

Dr. Michelle Thomas: Thank you so much, Simon. And anytime. Listen, I’m all I love being on your show. This is amazing.

Stone Payton: Absolutely. My pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for Doctor Michelle Thomas with the exceptional woman Enterprise and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

Hawaii WBE Feature: Friendship through WBEC-West

July 4, 2024 by angishields

WIM-Friendship-Through-WBEC-West-Featurev2

Women in Motion

Hawaii WBE Feature: Friendship through WBEC-West

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In today’s episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor, Dr. Pamela Williamson, and their guests Cora Spearman-Chang and Bernadette Rivero, discuss the impact of WBEC-West and the significance of friendship and community in business. Cora, CEO of Coradorables, and Bernadette, President of The Cortez Brothers Inc., share their experiences of support and camaraderie within the WBEC-West network. They emphasize the importance of authentic connections and collaboration, especially in male-dominated industries. The episode highlights how genuine relationships and community support can drive business success and personal fulfillment, with Dr. Williamson underscoring the organization’s role in fostering these meaningful connections.

Bernadette Rivero is President and Executive Producer at The Cortez Brothers, Inc., a Los Angeles-based creative production company specializing in bringing branded content to life.

She started working at an advertising agency while in high school, then segued into journalism, with stints at CNN International, NPR, The Marketplace Morning Report and the Weather Channel, where she chased hurricanes as a one- woman-band.

Since opening its doors in 2005, her content production company has worked with ad agencies and Fortune 500 brands across the United States, filming campaigns all around the globe.

Recent clients include Cadillac, Nissan, Honda, Kraft, MGM Studios and others.

Follow The Cortez Brothers on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Cora Spearman-Chang is the CEO and Founder of Coradorables & Cora Spearman Hawaii, Hawaii’s first product-based certified B corporation. Made in Hawaii retail brand that evokes a mid-century modern Hawaiian-kissed getaway lifestyle for men, women, and children.

Despite her battle with head/neck and brain cancer, Cora’s resilience and determination led her to found Coradorables in 2010, inspired by the birth of her first daughter. Her journey from adversity to success is a testament to her strength and serves as a powerful inspiration.

Recognized as 2024 Hawaii Power Leader by PBN, SBA Small Business Champion, and the Emerging Designer of the Year at the 2013 Hawaii Governor’s Fashion Awards, her designs now grace the shelves of 5-star resorts and hotels, online platforms, and upscale specialty shops worldwide.

She was also honored as a 2020 Pacific Business News Women Who Mean Business Honoree & a dedicated for the past 5 years Mentoring Monday Mentor. Cora’s WBENC-certified brand was Hawaii’s first featured retailer at Saks 5th Ave Waikiki, is a former Academy Awards Gifting Suite attendee, and a featured Made-in-Hawaii brand at Hankyu Department Stores Japan. Her creations, all designed, sourced and manufactured in Hawaii, have been worn by the stars of various television shows and featured in the pages of Vogue UK, Tatler, ELLE, Essence and beyond.

Cora’s commitment to sustainable fashion practices is not just a part of her colorful fashion, but it’s the ethos of her entire company. As a 2022 United Nations Climate Ambition Accelerator Graduate & Global Compact Member, she is a leading voice in the industry, frequently invited to speak on the national stage about sustainable fashion practices.

She has shared her insights on the 2022 NRF Retails Show’s “Future of Sustainability” panel alongside industry giants like LVMH and Macy’s, and her expertise has been recognized in Inc. Magazine.

Today, Cora lives in Honolulu with her husband, Kalanialii, and their two children, Izzabelle Ka’iulani and Zoe Heimakaokalani. Together, they bring a made-in-the-islands aloha spirit with them wherever they go.

Connect with Cora on LinkedIn and follow Coradorables on Facebook and X.

About Our Co-Host

Dr. Pamela Williamson, President & CEO of WBEC-West, is an exemplary, dedicated individual, and has extensive experience as a senior leader for over twenty years.

She has served as the CEO of SABA 7 a consulting firm, overseen quality control at a Psychiatric urgent care facility of a National Behavioral Health Care Organization where she served as Vice President and Deputy Director,and has served as the CEO of WBEC-West, since 2008.

Her extensive experience in developing and implementing innovative alliances with key stakeholders has enabled the organizations to reach new levels of growth and stability. Her ability to lead and empower staff members creates a strong team environment which filters throughout the entire organization.

She takes an active role in facilitating connections between corporations and women business enterprises and sees a promising future for WBENC Certified women-owned businesses.

Dr. Williamson holds a Doctorate in Healthcare Administration, a Master’s degrees in Business Administration, and bachelor degrees in both Psychology and Sociology.

Connect with Dr. Williamson on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here with Dr. Pamela Williamson, another episode of Women in Motion, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. And today’s episode is an exciting one because this is – we’re going to really dig into the impact of WBEC-West and friendship and community. And we have folks here, Pamela, that really encapsulate that.

Pamela Williamson : We do. I’m excited by this episode, and I know I probably say that about every episode that we do, but this one I’m excited about because one of the questions I get asked a lot is just what are one of the benefits? So, a lot of the benefits of being part of WBEC-West or any community of women is the connections that you make. And when I share some of the stories, people often look at me like, well, that just can’t be true. You cannot build that type of relationship with someone who might be a competitor. And I say it happens. And so, I think the two women that we have on today kind of encapsulate that being. And so I’m excited for both of them to be on. So, I’m going to start with you, Cora. So, Cora, can you kind of tell us a little bit about your background and what inspired you to start your business, and anything else you think we should know before we kick off?

Cora Spearman-Chang: Well, sure. Aloha. My name is Cora Spearman Chang, and I’m the CEO and founder of Coradurables and Cora Spearman Hawaii, Hawaii’s only product-based certified B Corporation. And luckily, not only WBENC certified business, which we’re very proud of. We are all locally sourced and manufactured. We’re an heirloom fashion brand for people who aspire to a joyful, bright, vibrant, Hawaiian-kissed lifestyle, like, for men, women, and children. We’re sustainably manufactured and sourced all here in Hawaii. And basically, when you invest in Coradurables, you’re helping to support over 30 locally family-owned and women-led businesses. So we’re very, very excited about that. You can find Coradurables on your luxury cruise ships and luxury resorts, as well as Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, soon nationwide, but right now, in New York and online.

Pamela Williamson : Thanks, Cora. It’s – again, thank you for being here. And then, I also want to introduce Bernadette. And so, Bernadette is someone that you met actually at one of our conferences. So, Bernadette, can you talk a little bit about your background, what inspired you to start your business?

Bernadette Rivero: Sure. My name is Bernadette Rivero, and I am the president, executive producer, and co-founder of the Cortez Brothers, Inc., a production company based in Los Angeles, California. We film everything, and my primary clients are Fortune 500 brands, their advertising agencies, and film and television studios. You can find more about us on cortezbrothers.com.

Bernadette Rivero: What inspired me to get into the industry was starting to work in advertising when I was 14. I was working in a grocery store. My English teacher in high school at the time was horrified that I was up until 10 or 11 at night a few times a week and helped me get a job in a local in-house advertising agency. So, I’ve worked in content creation in one way or another for what feels like my whole life, and I’m lucky to get to do it on a daily basis for a lot of really great brands and entertainment studios.

Pamela Williamson : Thank you, bernadette. I think one of the biggest questions that I have before I pass it on to Lee is how important is it to have other women in business to connect with. Cora, I’ll throw that one to you.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Oh, it is paramount. You can’t – there is no better relationship that you can have than with another woman who’s going through the same thing. It’s like when moms bond at the playground or over their kids going to school together, or when it’s the same for the business owners, you know, because we’re basically birthing these, our figurative babies, which are our businesses, and we’re chatting over our labor pains and all the different things that go on. But it’s unique to find like minds and like hearts, you know. And so, for me, meeting Bernadette has been the best part of any cohort, any meeting, any conference that I’ve ever gone to because she is now my family; she is now my ohana.

Pamela Williamson : And Bernadette, what about you?

Bernadette Rivero: Oh, I feel the same way. I am so blessed and fortunate to have met Cora throughout the course of participating in WBENC and being a women business owner, and it’s because I remember how lonely it felt before that. There was a time when I – for a few years I was working as a journalist because, again, I’ve always worked in content creation and I’ve worked for CNN and NPR and The Weather Channel, and I was covering breaking news in a disaster zone. And there were hundreds of journalists gathered around an earthquake, you know, recovery zone. And I remember looking out and looking around and seeing hundreds of journalists, and I was one of only two women with a camera in her hands and thinking for the first time, oh, it’s a little lonely out here. This is weird.

Bernadette Rivero: And I really haven’t felt that since becoming involved with WBENC and then meeting Cora because I always have someone I can talk to now. There’s always someone who else who sort of shares the journey and knows the ins and outs and the ups and downs, and it’s been really great having someone who’s first and foremost, you know, a friend, but also a sounding board at the same time. And it’s – and I can’t – I can’t tell you which came first, the chicken or the egg in that case, but just having someone else out there who’s another women business owner, sort of on the same journey, although we’re in very different types of businesses, has been invaluable.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Yeah. No, I remember the first time we met at a WBENC conference. I must have looked like a crazy person, like running up to you after you and Suze Monroe had spoken and I was like, you are my tribe. You are my people.

Bernadette Rivero: All right. So from my point of view, you have to understand it was, you know, I had stepped off the stage, we were doing a discussion about, you know, working for Disney, I think. And out of the corner of my eye, I sense what I can only now describe as sort of a ball of tropical energy coming my way.

Cora Spearman-Chang: A hurricane.

Bernadette Rivero: Of color. There was just this explosion of color in an otherwise very staid conference room. And that was Cora, someone – the next thing I know, someone’s putting –

Cora Spearman-Chang: Chocolate.

Bernadette Rivero: Cookies. Chocolate-covered macadamia nut cookies in my hand, which is a great way to skip right to my heart, you know. But you never think going into a business conference situation. You’re going to come out with something so fun and joyful as a friendship.

Cora Spearman-Chang: A sisterhood. I mean, now – I mean, I just couldn’t imagine. I couldn’t imagine. It was the best thing. And for us to be able to talk about our ups and the ebbs and flows of business, you know, and it’s been for years now. Like, literally now, Bernadette is the godmother of my youngest daughter and so – and she’s flown out for the baptism and first communion and confirmation of her – of Zoe Dodd or Zoe as she calls her.

Cora Spearman-Chang: And oh, my goodness, it’s even – even when it comes to parenting. And I say, hey, you know, she’s getting straight A’s, but you know what she’s hanging out with a little bit of kolohe girls. And I was just like, get comadre on the phone. So I call up Bernadette and she’s like, let me speak to her. And then they will Zoom, you know, and my daughter go in her bedroom and just have FaceTime with Auntie Bernadette. And it’s definitely a community. It’s definitely a tribe. And as they say, it takes a village, you know.

Bernadette Rivero: Cora has taught me what the word ohana means, right? It really does mean family. My kids know her as Auntie Cora. And that’s how we extended our family across an entire ocean. I’m in Los Angeles, Cora is in Hawaii, but it feels like there’s no distance at all. So business, I’ve learned, doesn’t always just have to be business. A lot of times it’s life and friendship too, at the same time.

Lee Kantor: Now, Pamela, can you talk a little bit about things that WBEC-West does to kind of foster these types of relationships? Because this is special and it’s not common. And there has to be some things that you’re doing as the leader of the organization that allows this to foster and to grow.

Pamela Williamson : I think one of the biggest things that we do is we really push for authentic relationships, meaning we try to create experiences that allow people to show up as their authentic selves and build real relationships by getting to know each other in different states. And I don’t mean states like location, I mean states of who they are.

Pamela Williamson : And so, one of the things that we do is we have an event that’s just about connecting and cooking. So it’s not really about your business as much as it is about getting to know people’s likes and dislikes and how they interact with each other under different ways of being, different types of stressors and just really finding out who, for example, Cora is as a person, not just about her business. I think that’s the biggest thing that we do.

Cora Spearman-Chang: And I think that a lot of it is it’s always in a business when you look at a business, the trickle-down effect. It’s the management, it’s the leadership. And you, Dr. Williamson, are the epitome of sisterhood. And you lead with such grace. You lead with such kindness, such compassion. Like I said earlier, it’s like you’re a phone call or a text or an email away, and you always have our backs, and to me you’re extended family as well. And so it’s sort of the vibe that you’ve created throughout the entire network, you know, and I think that has a lot to do with who you are as a person and how you lead. And just kudos to you for that. I’m very grateful.

Bernadette Rivero: And echoing what – I didn’t mean to cut you off, but echoing what Cora said, it’s true. There’s very much an emphasis on stepping away from being business-oriented 24/7 and actually connecting with people on an authentic level. I struggle a lot with trying to keep a business facade on it at all times, and never talking about anything personal, and Cora has helped me open up and talk more about life, what it’s like being a mother, having kids, talking about where we’re from, what we’ve done, and it’s the sense of openness that I think that’s come under the leadership of Dr. Williamson that’s again trickled down throughout WBENC, you know, through WBEC-West specifically. There’s something special in those waters.

Lee Kantor: Now, Bernadette, can you share – you talked about how you met, you know, coming off the stage and being greeted by Cora? How did the relationship evolve after being – you know, when you met each other, it seems like very frenetic? But how did you kind of slow down and deepen the relationship and realize, hey, this is somebody that is going to be a part of my tribe?

Bernadette Rivero: We were locked in conversation, and I was also very distracted by the cookies. So I wanted to know more about Cora and we ended up walking together to lunch. I think there was a lunch session, you know, right as we were finishing, and I wanted to keep talking with her because she’s fascinating and it was just a really good conversation.

Bernadette Rivero: We sat together at the next session that came, at a big round table, and I saw some of her catalog pieces. I was looking through it. She was sharing, you know, sort of what her company did, because it’s one thing to say you have a fashion company, it’s another to actually see it in front of you. And little did I know that one of the models in the catalog would become my goddaughter one day. When I look back on it, all I can do is smile. You know, things are destined, I guess, for a reason.

Bernadette Rivero: And we had this amazing session where she’s very outspoken and she’s very confident and assured, and it’s hard not to be, you know, deeply involved in wanting to have some of that energy in your life because it’s so positive and it’s just glows. And then after that, Cora, I can’t remember when did we end – we ended up at a spa together somehow.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Yeah, well, that was at another conference.

Bernadette Rivero: Oh, another conference.

Cora Spearman-Chang: That was another WBENC conference. And, it was – we were so – we would always – WBENC would be our set meetup when we first started our relationship, when we first started meeting and greeting each other at these conferences. But we were at a spa, and that’s when you announced to me that you were pregnant with Evie, Evita. And I was just like, “Oh, my gosh.” You’re like, “No one knows yet.” I was like, “Oh, my gosh.” And so we were so excited that she was birthing this new baby and scaling her brand, and she was doing all this cool stuff. And it was like, “All right, when are you going to have this baby so that you can come to Hawaii?”

Cora Spearman-Chang: And that’s when we started having that conversation because actually, I had asked Bernadette to become an advisory board member of mine. And so, it was – I deeply valued her opinion on all things, you know, business and all things, you know, motherhood, you know, as well. We have – we’re both Midwesterns. So we both came up in the Midwest and now we live both on the West Coast. You know me a little more. But we bonded over several different things. We were both Rotary Youth Exchange students when we were young. And so coming out of the Midwest and becoming Rotary Youth Exchange students, it’s like its own little tribe, right, Bernadette?

Bernadette Rivero: That was what caught me off guard, I think, at the first WBENC conference that we had met, we continued the conversation and we ended up, I think, getting drinks in the lounge later that night.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Yeah.

Bernadette Rivero: And it was one of those conversations –

Cora Spearman-Chang: And Suze Monroe was with us.

Bernadette Rivero: Susan Monroe was there.

Cora Spearman-Chang: But she wanted us to be quiet because she was watching the game.

Bernadette Rivero: It was. It was a very sports-oriented night. But the minute I found out that Cora had had a rotary experience as well, because I had come through the Rotary International scholarship program and we’d sort of had that experience of going to another country and having to be an ambassador from the Midwest, and I couldn’t stop talking to her. There was just a lot that we had in common. And the conversations continue –

Cora Spearman-Chang: And full circle, full circle. Right now, your daughter is in Japan, where I was where I went to high school for Rotary. She’s there right now.

Bernadette Rivero: She is. She got there early this morning. And all of my fears about having my child in an, you know, 11-hour flight away totally allayed because Cora has been there. She did that. She spent a year in Japan. We spent a lot of time at the first WBENC event talking about that, your experiences. I’ve loved Cora’s insistence that it is natural to do business internationally, globally. Because what I hear from a lot of clients is it’s very hard to find companies that know how to work on a global stage. And Cora makes it seem so easy because she had the experience living and working in Japan. Speaks fluent Japanese. Her business operates across, again, oceans as if there’s absolutely no border or separation there at all. And it reminds me as a business owner, it’s okay to be okay with that fluidness of doing business globally. She makes it seem very glamorous.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Oh, I’m just a mirror. And Bernadette does the same exact thing, except across the borders on South America, throughout Europe, you know, shooting campaigns, major campaigns that my daughter’s, like, still ooh and ah about. We have it as a screensaver of L.O.L., you know, commercials and dolls that you’ve done. It’s just – you’re hashtag goals this and I’m ever proud of you. I will ever be your biggest cheerleader. And I am so grateful to WBENC for having met you like that definitely brought us together. And shout out to our niece Lam, who was insistent on me becoming WBENC certified.

Bernadette Rivero: May she rest in peace. I have lovely memories of being with our niece and she’s just, was, and is part of that longer overall circle, I think, of bonding and friendship that I’ve been lucky to find through WBENC.

Lee Kantor: Now, can both of you share some advice? Maybe for either the person that’s new to an organization or is thinking about joining an organization. But how do you kind of lean into an organization like you have and not just get involved from a business standpoint and have business objectives from being part of it, but also elevating the relationships within them and finding those special people that you can kind of bond with beyond your business and beyond the organization? Any advice?

Cora Spearman-Chang: My advice is always to show up as your authentic self. You know, be – let your freak flag fly, so to speak. You know, because it’s like your vibe will literally attract your tribe. And, you know, people who are into talking about, you know, Star Trek will invite their Trekkie vibe. You know, it’s be yourself. Be authentically you. And those who are for you will be for you and will gravitate towards you. And your relationship will have the solid foundation that is needed for any relationship to thrive, you know, because you’re being your authentic self.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Be vulnerable, you know. Be open. Be honest. You know, have integrity. You know, it’s all the bases – all of the, I think, key base points of what you would utilize in forming a business you also use in formulating your relationships, especially ones that you want to last the test of time. And you can only do that if you show up as your true self.

Bernadette Rivero: On my end, the advice would be you’re not coming in to look for contracts, you’re coming in to build relationships. Because any time you join an organization, you have to start by letting people know who you are and asking questions to find out who they are. And finding out that there are other business owners that have things in common with your business helps make yours stronger.

Bernadette Rivero: Finding out that there’s other businesses that are completely distinct from yours and are completely on different journeys, you’re still going to learn aspects that apply to growing your company. But the best part of all is finding people, humans with stories that you can exchange stories with along the way because that’s what helps you refine your message, refine who you are, refine how you do business, and build again relationships and structures along the way that help you become a better business owner.

Lee Kantor: Now, Bernadette, one of the things Cora did early on was invite you to be on her board of advisors, I believe, or on the board or one of her boards. Is that something that were you like, “Sure, I’m in,” or was this something that you had to think about? Because it seemed in the storytelling it seemed pretty fast. It happened early on in the relationship.

Bernadette Rivero: It was a game changer for me because I’d never been invited quite like that to be on a board of advisors. And it wasn’t that it was fast. It was after we’d had conversations about marketing and advertising, which is what I can drone on about for hours unless you put a drink or a cookie in my hand. And so I think she knew that I knew what I was talking about. So it was easy to create a bridge and an invitation for me to have an excuse to know more about her company but more importantly about her.

Bernadette Rivero: And I said yes because it caught me off guard, honestly, and I’ve never had the wherewithal to try that on my end. I don’t have an advisory board. I should. I think about it all the time because Cora puts them together with such finesse, with such ease and professionalism. But what it did on a practical level was make me become invested in her company. And because I already liked her as a person, wanted to see her succeed, seeing her company succeed was an extension of that.

Bernadette Rivero: Where it really deepened was throughout the pandemic because production globally shut down for several months, and I really did not know if my company was going to survive, if my industry was going to survive. What I knew was going to survive were my relationships, and I had time to dedicate to making sure her company was as strong as it could be. And that made me learn more about her company.

Bernadette Rivero: It’s been an ongoing journey to learn the roots, who her customers are, who her clients are, where to position her branding, what advice I can give, and the advice that I can’t give because there are other smarter people on her advisory board who succeed in areas I don’t have expertise in. And it made sort of like a fabric of sorts. It knitted us together both personally and professionally in a way that I find really rewarding, and it gives me a thrill every time her company succeeds.

Bernadette Rivero: Every time she accomplishes something, it’s been a brilliant journey to be on with her because I’m a part of that advisory board. So, I have skin in the game, so to speak. I would care about her as a friend anyway. I would care about her as an individual as she’s succeeding. But having a small piece to play in that makes it all that much sweeter when she does incredible things. She’s flying out to New York today to go talk to a luxury, you know, chain like that’s – she’s rolling out some incredible levels right now.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Oh, but I don’t do any of it alone, you know, and it’s your network is your net worth, you know, and, goodness gracious, if you looked at my net worth right now, it’s because I have a powerful network of a person like you, such as yourself, Bernadette, and such as Dr. Pamela Williamson. And to have you all in my corner, it literally makes me feel, in a lot of ways, invincible or like Teflon. You know, I walk in with a probably like a false sense of self, but it’s like authentically who I am. I’m talking and like, oh, I’m breakable, you know, until I get broken. It’s like, oh goodness, I still have a lot to learn.

Cora Spearman-Chang: WBENC, I can’t say enough great things. You know, it’s not about joining just to talk to the Macy’s and to the Target’s. You do do that. And I do know that those relationships can take years. Again, it’s a relationship for people to get to know you, get to know your business and eventually, you to penetrate those doors.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Like, I met Diana Pawn online through a WBENC panel that we had. And Diana convinced me to sign up for Macy’s, the workshop at Macy’s. And I just completed that. And now one of the meetings that I have when I fly to New York today is with Macy’s. So all of that and again, that goes back to the WBENC. And the first thing they ask you or one of the last things that they ask you is, “Are you WBENC certified with Macy’s?” And it’s like, “Yeah, I am,” you know, so WBENC is the glue that kind of, like, ties us all together, you know, or binds us all together.

Lee Kantor: Now, Bernadette, is there anything that you’d like to talk about? Any project or launch that’s happening?

Bernadette Rivero: Let’s see. What do we have? We are constantly in a state of filming and bidding on jobs and shooting commercials and campaigns. We just shot a second unit on a very big feature film that will be out, that I can’t speak about, I think by the end of the year through a large studio, and that was a very exciting process. We just wrapped a rebrand for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a newspaper, and that was exciting because coming full circle as someone who used to work in journalism to come back to help relaunch the image, the visual image of one of the oldest newspapers in the United States was a really fun deep dive. And as someone who used to live in Atlanta, getting to capture and film Atlanta from all its different, you know, corners and aspects and the people really filled my soul, working with, you know, the ad agency and one of our directors there, because my company represents directors. We work with directors who each film in a very different way, are artists at the end of the day. That was exciting.

Bernadette Rivero: And I just always love and look forward to projects that allow us to take someone’s idea that exists only on paper and bring it to life. Like Cora said, you know, hearing that her daughters have seen our L.O.L. Dolls commercial that we shot in Bulgaria and filled their lives with color and energy and excitement excites me. So those are some of the projects –

Cora Spearman-Chang: And you shot it underwater. That was amazing.

Bernadette Rivero: Yes. We filmed underwater because the only thing more fun than filming is when you get to dunk the whole cast and crew underwater at the same time.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Completely submerged.

Bernadette Rivero: Completely submerged. Yes.

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

Cora Spearman-Chang: Well, we are – well, goodness gracious, I always welcome help, welcome any assistance, any support. Definitely, follow me, follow our brand on social media, on Coradorables, on Instagram and Twitter or X or whatever it’s called now, and as well as all the other platforms. But also support – I just got notified that I won 2024 small business champion with the National Retail Federation. And so, they’ll be flying me to DC next month, where I’ll meet with a lot of policymakers.

Cora Spearman-Chang: But last night, I happened to have been on a phone call with other female business owners and community activists, and they’re trying to push a Momnibus, as they call it, in regards to prenatal care as well as OB-GYN care and care for black women who are dying giving birth and throughout the birthing process. So that’s going to be a big mission that we’re going to be pushing on maternal health issues and advocacy within America, within our healthcare system. So definitely going to need our sisters of all races, creeds, etc. to help us to bring awareness to that and to push that bill forward as it makes its way through the Senate and the House.

Cora Spearman-Chang: So, definitely, advocating for female rights, female reproductive rights, and just the right to, you know, be able to do business and do business well and getting the support that we need in regards to financing, etc., you know, just all the different things that are being attacked with the Fearless Fund and with Hello Alice and being able to advocate for women just in general, just all of us need to pull together as a network and a consortium of like minds and like spirits to move the needle forward so that we can all do, make the world literally, without sounding trite, a better place.

Lee Kantor: Pamela, this must just fill you with pride, this conversation with two folks who met through your organization and through your community. And I’m sure this is just one of many that have, kind of, grown like this, but this just must make you beam.

Pamela Williamson : It does. You can’t even – I cannot even express how proud I am of them both, for all of their accomplishments, but also just the fact of the support that they give each other. And so, we know as an organization the value of having this type of relationship. We know it helps to lift you up. And that’s what we’re all about, lifting women up.

Lee Kantor: And the ripple effects that go beyond just their businesses, to their families, to their communities, it just keeps growing. The impact is real.

Pamela Williamson : The impact is real and the value of having a tribe is real. And so, I think that these two, their story definitely shows that.

Bernadette Rivero: I feel very lifted, so mission accomplished because I want to lift others, primarily Cora. But when I find other businesses that are women-owned, women-driven, that are giving opportunities to underrepresented voices, which is why my company is here in the first place. Right? That’s what is driving me. It’s not even a challenge. It’s an opportunity to lift others up as we’re being lifted ourselves.

Cora Spearman-Chang: It’s literally the fabric or the textile in which you make your business, Bernadette. It’s the voices and the amplification that you give other directors, young directors, specifically females who are starting in the industry and being able to highlight them and give them opportunities that they normally would not have access to is just who you are as a person. And, you know, I’m, like I said, honored to know you, let alone to make myself, you know, insert myself and be related to you by ohana, by hook or by crook.

Cora Spearman-Chang: You know, I’m just – I love you as a person. I love what you do with your business. And just it’s a testament to who you are. You know, it’s a testament to your spirit. And it’s a testament also to, you know, with me now, knowing your mom and your dad and how you were raised. So it’s definitely a legacy. And you do your legacy proud.

Lee Kantor: Now, before we wrap up, Cora, website, last time for ways to connect with you.

Cora Spearman-Chang: Ways to connect with me is at Coradorables and then my website is www.coradorables.com.

Lee Kantor: And Bernadette.

Bernadette Rivero: Best way to reach me is to go through our website, cortezbrothers.com, C-O-R-T-E-Z, Brothers dot com. We love having conversations with anyone who’s looking to film something anywhere around the globe. It’s what we love to do is put those together and film and make magic and make content together.

Lee Kantor: Well, Dr. Pamela, what a show.

Pamela Williamson : It was amazing. And I just – you know, I hope whoever is listening today, they walk away with just knowing that, you know, authentic, building authentic relationships is definitely one key to success.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor for Dr. Pamela Williamson. We’ll see you next time on Women In Motion.

Lois Rusco with TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation and John Jackson with Christian Brothers Auto

July 1, 2024 by angishields

Chamber Spotlight

Lois Rusco with TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation and John Jackson with Christian Brothers Auto

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Lois Rusco has been an entrepreneur for more than 20 years. She has started and operated three profitable businesses. Recently, she sold her virtual office company and has focused on philanthropic engagement.

Lois has a BBA in Accounting and an MBA in Marketing/Management. Her background also includes work with large consumer packaged goods companies in accounting, finance, sales, marketing/brand management, and she also worked in public accounting (former CPA), and business consulting with BDO.

Lois has served TurningPoint as a volunteer, Board Member, and Treasurer on the Executive Committee, on staff as director of development and interim executive director prior to being named Executive Director on February 1, 2024.

She has supported TurningPoint through prior sponsorships and believes in its mission as she has family and friends who have and continue to battle breast cancer.

Follow TurningPoint on LinkedIn and Facebook.

No matter what he has done professionally, John Jackson has always been in the people business. For several years, he was a pastor.

Two and a half years ago, after several years as The People Officer in the C Suite of a successful West Coast Tech Start Up, John decided he was ready for a change.

He was looking for a small business to purchase that would allow him to install and protect the culture of the business. Christian Brothers Automotive was the perfect fit.

John left the tech community of Nashville and moved to Atlanta where he purchased the Sandy Springs location.

Connect with John on LinkedIn and follow CBA on Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Sandy Springs, Georgia, it’s time for Chamber Spotlight, brought to you by CorpCare, your Employee Assistance program partner. Caring for them because we care about you. For more information, go to CorpCareApp.com. Now here’s your host.

Lola Okunola: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Chamber Spotlight Podcast, brought to you by CorpCare, an employee assistance program company. I’m your host, Lola Okunola. And today we have two special guests, Lois Rusco, the executive director at TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation Center, and John Jackson, the owner of Christian Brothers Automotive, here in Sandy Springs. We’ll be discussing their organizations, what makes them unique, who should be their customer or who needs them. And we’ll be exploring any potential synergies between the two businesses. Welcome, Lois and John.

Thank you.

Lola Okunola: So, Lois, we’re going to start with you. Um, please tell us about TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation Center. What makes you unique? I’ve heard bits and pieces here and there. But tell us. Tell our guests today and our listeners.

Lois Rusco: Absolutely. We are a 501 C3 charitable organization, and we provide rehabilitative services to breast cancer survivors along their journey. We promote and provide evidence based services. And so we have doctors of physical therapy on staff who are specially trained in oncology, physical therapy and helping breast cancer patients to move their arms, help them with lymphedema, help them with chording issues, things like that, but really here to help them just improve their overall quality of life and improve their breast cancer journey for a better result. In addition to physical therapy, we also provide one on one counseling and group support, and that’s also virtual as well as in person. We do nutritional counseling. We also do specialty oncology exercise and massage therapy. So it’s really a holistic approach to our care so that we can help that person get back to where they were, or even better than they were before they were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Lola Okunola: Wow, that sounds really thoughtful and impactful. Like, how did you how did this come about? Like was someone maybe the founder? Did they have a family member or something? Like, how did you think of this?

Lois Rusco: Yes. What what happened was our founder, who’s Jill Binkley. She is a two time breast cancer survivor and a physical therapist. She founded our organization 20 years ago because on her breast cancer journey, she could not find the care that she needed to be able to get back to raising her arms to even get a plate off a shelf or, um, you know, just everyday activities or even cooking or gardening. And she just found that there was a huge void in that area. So she developed Turning Point to address those needs. She started in a one room location in Dahlonega, and, um, she and another woman started the organization with physical therapy and massage therapy, and it’s grown ever since, over the last 20 years that we are providing all these extra services to, to help them through their journey.

Lola Okunola: So now you said you’ve grown. Um, are you still based in Dahlonega or I’m assuming you’re now maybe closer to Sandy Springs? Or who do you. We are actually.

Lois Rusco: In Sandy Springs. We have a clinic here in Sandy Springs, just off of Northridge and Highway nine. Okay. Um, We recently opened a satellite clinic in Atlanta, uh, that opened last year, um, around end of August. And that has been put in place to address the underserved needs of the black and LGBTQ communities in downtown and south Atlanta. And, um, we’re just really excited to have that location open. And all the patients that we’re seeing there are really incremental to what the patients that we see in Sandy Springs. So we’ve had a lot of growth even within the last nine months.

Lola Okunola: Wow, wow. That’s really interesting to hear. So I mean, I’m curious and I’m sure our listeners are too. I mean, you said it’s the numbers are incremental. So are things getting worse or better?

Lois Rusco: Well, no. Um, I guess you could look at it either way, but I say they’re getting better because people are getting diagnosed with breast cancer much earlier. Stage one, stage zero. Because of all the, um, breakthroughs that have been made in research and diagnostic testing. So we are seeing more patients earlier, which is going to bring a better outcome longer term if we see them earlier in their diagnosis. So yes, we’re seeing the growth. But and yes, there’s more people being diagnosed, but it’s good because it’s earlier and they’re catching it earlier. So the outcomes are much better longer term.

Lola Okunola: Okay okay. Well that’s good to good to know. Thank you for that. Um, one of the many benefits of being a chamber member is, first of all, being able to be on this podcast and then also, um, getting, um, free ads in our newsletter. And I know that Turning Point always has something going on. I have noticed that every month. So do you want to share some of those things, some of the the events that you have, why you do them? It sounds like it’s a lot of fundraising, but it also sounds like really, um, you know, fun events as well.

Lois Rusco: Yes, we do, uh, have a number of events throughout the year. And yes, they’re all very fun and I think they are anyway. But but, um, we kick the year off with a gala in March, and that’s our largest fundraising event of the year. We usually have 350 to 400 attendees. And, um, the money there goes towards our specific programs exercise, physical therapy, massage, those types of things as well as our operational support. And then we follow that up with a golf event in June, which we just finished, which was very successful this year. It was our second year. And that tournament benefited the Our Georgia outreach program, which goes to rural Georgia. Many people in rural Georgia don’t have great access to quality cancer care, and it could take them a long drive. They may not be able to afford to get to our clinic. So we have an outreach program to provide financial assistance as well as virtual appointments, or we can provide transportation assistance to get them to our clinics. So that golf event supported that initiative. And then we also have a pickleball event for the first time this year. It’s coming up in September. So we do appreciate being able to advertise those through the chamber. So you’ll be seeing that one too. But that’s going to be at September 21st, which is a Saturday. And then we finish out the year with a final golf event that we partner with, toys for tots, and it’s actually in December. So the weather, you never know what you’re going to get. But we always have a blast. Um, and that’s a really great event. Um, the pickleball and the golf event in December, uh, we raise money to keep our operations open and to also fund our Atlantic clinic. So lots of fun times.

Lola Okunola: Yeah, lots of fun events, but for an amazing cause to.

Lois Rusco: Yes, very much so. Yeah. To to help these breast cancer patients is just it’s really rewarding. And to see them improve as they go through their treatments and therapies is just amazing.

Lola Okunola: Wow. Thank you. Thank you for all you’re doing. Um, Lois, we thank you for sharing that. Thank you very much. Um, now we’re going to move to John, and we’ll come back to you again, Lois. Um, John, thank you again for coming. Um, and finally, we’re getting to do this. I know you’ve been wanting to be a guest, and and I’m so happy that you can finally make this one. Um, tell us about Christian Brothers Automotive, Sandy Springs and what sets you apart. I mean, I don’t want to draw conclusions from the name, but I have a little idea. But I’m going to let you tell us.

John Jackson: Yeah, well, first of all, thank you. It’s a privilege to be able to have this opportunity. So thanks for having me. But the I think the brand distinctive. We’re a 40 year old a little over 40 year old nationwide brand about 300 locations nationwide. We’re a premium aftermarket, uh, auto repair service. So I think the thing that when people always ask me, okay, there’s repair services everywhere. What makes you guys a different. Um, the brand distinctive is you’ve already identified a little bit that it is a Christian brand. So we base it upon treat your neighbor like yourself. And I tell everybody that works in our team. Whoever walks in that door to our mother, brother, sister, father, we take care of their car like it was a family member. And that’s a little bit unique in our industry. I think most people walk into a car place, feel like I’m about to get screwed. Yeah. So their their defenses are up and all of that. And we work hard every day to deal with people with honesty, transparency and integrity. And I think that’s reflected. Now. We’ve got a 4.7 on Google with over a thousand views. If you go to look at that, most of those comments are about how they’re treated, the transparency, the honesty that we deal with people when they walk through the front door.

John Jackson: So we try to build relationships with people, not just fix their cars. And by doing that, build a relationship of trust that the perfect partner for us is somebody who truly wants to take care of their goal. And we become a partner with them in that of not over prescribing repairs or things like that that they don’t need, but providing for them good maintenance, good care for their cars. We’re all holding on to our cars a little bit longer, it seems these days with the pricing of cars. And so you want that car. I know you want that car last. And so we’re trying to do is help people as economically as possible to, to extend the life of their car, make sure that car is safe for them and their family as they’re driving in it. So that would be the huge brand distinction for us, is that we really do try to treat people the right way, treat them fairly, and do this industry in an honest and straightforward way.

Lola Okunola: That is so refreshing to hear. I mean, I the first time you told me about it, I was like, wow, that’s amazing. Um, we all I mean, in Atlanta, you cannot not have a car. I mean, right, so I mean your car and with the pricing of cars, as you said, I mean, it’s this expensive machinery. It’s an asset that you it has to run and you have to fix it. And that breaks down. It’s just nice to know that there is a company out there that’s really looking out for you. Are there any particular cars that you service or do you service all cars?

John Jackson: We service everything except we don’t do the EVs yet. The Teslas and things do work on the hybrids, but we don’t do the full EV components yet. That’s a whole nother category that we have some brands out in Colorado that are test marketing this, but so we’re working on the conventional parts.

Lola Okunola: Well, I mean, the EV discussion is probably another podcast.

John Jackson: That’s a whole nother podcast for sure, because.

Lola Okunola: I’m reading and seeing that a lot of car manufacturers are kind of dialing back on their EV. Um, production.

John Jackson: Yeah, I won’t even dive into that. But let’s schedule another call and.

Lola Okunola: Wow.

John Jackson: All those reasons on another call.

Lola Okunola: Yeah. Well, tell us, um, tell us exactly where you’re located. And just maybe a few tips, you know, for car owners. Like what? What are the things that they should pay attention to? You know, some people are really good with maintaining their vehicles and some people are really bad. Like they wait for the check engine light to come on. I don’t think you’re supposed to do that. Right. So, like, what are those key. Give us some quick things that people need to to do and know when to call you.

John Jackson: Okay. Well, first of all, location. We’re we’re on the north side of Sandy Springs. We’re about a mile south of the Chattahoochee, where it goes into Roswell. So we’re at the northern end of Sandy Springs, um, up near the north exit that, uh, Lois referenced. So we’re not each other, uh, I found. And secondly, I think the main tip is change your oil. You’d be amazed how many people just kind of ignore that every thousand miles. It’s not that expensive. But that is the lifeblood of your vehicle. And then the other thing is, is it’s all about your authority and your position on your vehicle. But understand these are regimes and that they run and they there’s multiple fluids that go through that, those engines and components and those things wear out over time. And if you just drive them until it breaks, it’s probably going to be a more expensive repair if you maintain it like you would your home, or so you know. We look at this as like for many people, this is probably the second most expensive investment you make in life.

John Jackson: You’ve got a home and then you go to your car. So it’s something that we feel like, um, you would want to take really good care of. And that’s where we can partner as the experts, the guys out that are able to step in. And we always, when you come in to do an oil change with us, we’ll give you a courtesy inspection and tell you about a life of all those fluids. We’ll check your filters for your brakes, your wipers, all those things that are just kind of nuisance maintenance issues that people don’t really address until they break. Um, we can tell you about where they are in the lifespan of those issues. So that would probably be one of the bigger things. You just kind of stay aware and maintain slowly along as you go, instead of waiting for the massive breakdown that then you go, oh my gosh, it’s going to cost this much money to repair my car. Yes, it’s expensive to do that. So it’s it’s cheaper actually to maintain it than, than it is to do the big repair.

Lola Okunola: It’s a great tip. Thank you so much for sharing. Um, so now I want to talk about, first of all, I see that given, you know, your respective businesses, I can already point out some similarities and you might not see it, but everybody has a car. I’m gonna assume everybody in Atlanta has a car. Everyone on this call has a car. Most of our listeners do. And then on, fortunately, everyone knows someone that’s dealing with or that has dealt with breast cancer. Um, you are both very passionate about doing things the right way and caring for people. Do you see any way that you could potentially work together? I mean, being that you’re close by Lois and them need turning. Turning point. Um, need some, you know, funding. And, you know you are all about good causes. Is there any way that you could work together? Potentially. And sometimes, you know, on these calls there really isn’t any real synergy. But sometimes we find synergy in places that we didn’t even expect. You know, maybe it’s some sort of drive that you help promote, um, John or something that you, that turning point does with, um, Christian Brothers? No pressure. But do you see anything?

Lois Rusco: I actually do.

Lola Okunola: Okay.

Lois Rusco: I do. I passed by your building every day on the way to the clinic.

Lola Okunola: Oh, wow. Look at that.

John Jackson: Why haven’t you stop, Lois?

Lois Rusco: Because my car just now has 3500 miles on it. So I will come in and get an oil change.

John Jackson: Okay.

Lola Okunola: I was going to say she’s waiting for the check engine light to come on.

Lois Rusco: No, I actually don’t do that. But anyway, I see some synergies, honestly. Um, I’m a faith based individual, and the reason I’m here at Turning Point, I believe, is because I was led here. I was always in an entrepreneur or consumer packaged goods. And so I just thought it was interesting when you were the one on the call this morning, I’m like.

Lois Rusco: Somehow we’re being brought together, but I think there’s a synergy just because of how you want to care for your customers. We want to do and provide the best patient experience. And I think there’s a huge synergy there, just how you treat people and how you want to work with others is really how we want to do that as well. So I see that as a synergy. And of course we can always use funding. Um, one of the things that we’re looking at now is getting a little more creative with how we fund and doing more corporate partnerships, and we’re just kind of kicking this off. But we’re looking for people to be a transportation partner. For example, we pay for folks to get here, Although many people have a car, we do have a lot of patients in Atlanta that don’t. And or they’re they’re not able to drive. So we provide transportation assistance through Lyft or Marta to get them to our facility and to get them back home. So that could be a way that we could partner. Um, I don’t know. That was just one of my thoughts, but, um, I just think you’re from what you explained with your organization. I really think that we kind of have the same mindset and want to, um, lead our organizations in the same manner.

John Jackson: Absolutely. First of all, I love that because I agree, not every organization is committed to excellence. So it’s really kind of a bright, shining star when you’re finding other people that are that are really making that attempt day after day. Yeah, I love that part of it. Um, but I think the faith component drives who we are as well. Um, we as a brand. And I don’t have a date for you yet, Lola. But in November, our brand nationwide does what we call a national day of service. And we reach out to organizations like Turning Point, like churches, like other area ministries that have qualified people who are kind of at risk. And my guys come in and volunteer their day. My vendors donate parts, and we do free service on cars for women, single moms, people who are at risk in the community.

Lola Okunola: That is so amazing.

John Jackson: Yes, it’s an annual event once a year and I’ll get you the date when we lock on it in November. Another thing we do, we’ve actually I’m going to say this very carefully because one of our owners said it on the news recently and everybody started calling, we’re the free cars. We don’t have a ton of free cars, but we do frequently, um, people will donate a good used vehicle. It’s got some mileage on it, it needs some repair and things like that. They’re moving on to a newer vehicle, but it’s not a junkyard car either. And we will invest from our foundation in the repairs of that vehicle. And we have in the last year, given away two free cars to moms who, um. And I’ll just this is one of the more moving stories for me. Um, a church in down in Atlanta was rescuing a woman that had been sex trafficked, and she was trying to get out of that. She had a couple of small kids, and she got a job. She’s getting her life together, and her engine blew up. And these guys call me and said, can you help? And I said, I don’t have anything on my life.

John Jackson: Let me check. So I sent an email. There’s 17 of us in Atlanta to, uh, the other owners around town. And one of the guys said, you’re not going to believe this. We just finished working on a car. The lady we’re going to give it to, circumstances changed you and made it within 24 hours. We handed that woman a key to a brand new car. Not a brand new, but for her, a new car that she was able to continue at her job, take care of her kids, and keep getting her footing in life where it needs to be. So it’s fun for us to be able to not. We don’t want to be a garage in the community. We want to be a light in the community. So it’s not just fixing cars with people. It’s, um, looking for opportunities, our brand distinctive is called the nice difference that we try to find ways to not just fix your car, but help you, uh, and as you come across our path, if there’s ways that we can be of assistance, we try to go the extra mile to help people that way.

Lois Rusco: That’s wonderful.

Lola Okunola: I am blown away. That is amazing.

Lois Rusco: It’s amazing what you’re doing. That’s great.

John Jackson: I love to hear from Lois. In November, she started up a couple of ladies for me that need some free service on their car, so.

Lois Rusco: I’m sure that we might have some of those that would really, really appreciate that. And, you know, we can always use volunteers. We have all these events that we do. We’re always looking for volunteers. So there could be some synergies there as well. But I would gladly tell people about your service. And um, and if there is an opportunity, if we hear about it, we could maybe refer to you and just see what could happen there. Awesome.

Lola Okunola: Yeah, um, John, please, if you, I would love for you to share that information with me. I would love to put it out there, if that’s okay with you. Um, just, you know, so we can partner with you and help you in any kind of way. That’s really amazing.

John Jackson: Like I said, we don’t have a date yet. We we normally always do it late Fall, something like that. So I will definitely be in touch with you about it.

Lola Okunola: Yeah. See? Look at that. We always think there are no synergies and then we find it.

John Jackson: Breast cancer recovery and garages. Whoo!

Lois Rusco: Yeah, I know.

Lola Okunola: Who would think?

Lois Rusco: One of the other things we may be able to work on as well is we are. We need awareness. We need people to know that we’re here. We’ve been here for 20 years, and the first thing people say is, I’ve never heard of you. So if there’s a way that we could just get our information to your employees that might benefit in this area because we do, um, treat in Georgia, but we also have that virtual program where we’re licensed in Tennessee, North and South Carolina as well. If you have, um, locations in those areas, it might be beneficial. Um, for the folks within your organization. Either they might have it or may have a family member that could benefit. So if there’s something there just to get the word out, um, to folks, that would be great too. Awesome.

Lola Okunola: Okay, well, is there anything else? I mean, I want you to to take this opportunity to, um, give out your contact details, your address so people that are listening know exactly where you are and you know how to how to get more information. Just before we wrap up, Lois, do you want to….

John Jackson: Lois, do you want to go first?

Lois Rusco: Sure I will.

Lois Rusco: Yeah. We’re, um, our Sandy Springs clinic is located at 8010 Roswell Road, and we’re in suite 120, and that’s Atlanta. And then my email address if people want to contact me for any more information, it’s l r u s c o at my turning point. Org and then our clinic phone number is (770) 360-9271. And we’re open Monday to Friday 730 to 630.

Lola Okunola: Awesome. John.

John Jackson: Okay, uh, we are at 8630 Roswell Road, right down the road. Did not realize this. Um, and my email is John J. Owen Jackson at CB auto dot net. Uh, you can reach us at the office here at (770) 992-0906. And I think it was that it we just given info.

Lola Okunola: Are you open every day?

John Jackson: Great question. We’re open from 7 to 6, Monday to Friday. Uh, we are not open on Saturday or Sunday. We believe in work life balance for our team.

Lola Okunola: I’m not surprised, John. I’m not surprised.

Lola Okunola: Wow. It has been such a pleasure. Thank you both so much for joining us today. Um, thank you for sharing your incredible work. And I mean that like, incredible work. Thank you to our listeners. Thank you for tuning in to the Chamber Spotlight Podcast, brought to you by CorpCare. Until next time. Take care.

John Jackson: Thank you.

Lois Rusco: Thank you.

Dr. Suzanne Carrillo with Wellness Within Chiropractic

June 27, 2024 by Tom Sheldon

Northeast Georgia Business Podcast

Dr. Suzanne Carrillo with Wellness Within Chiropractic

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Dr. Suzanne Carrillo/Wellness Within Chiropractic

Wellness Within Chiropractic provides effective Chiropractic care in Hoschton, GA. With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Carrillo is committed to providing gentle, personalized care to help you achieve optimal spinal health and overall well being.

They firmly grasp that people are at the core of everything we do. Wellness Within Chiropractic recognizes the importance of individual wellness and understands that by caring for the well-being of each person, a remarkable butterfly effect can take place. Prioritizing the health and happiness of their practice members, improving their lives and also extending its positive impact to their spouses, kids, family, friends, and even the wider community. By nurturing a culture that values and supports each individual’s wellness, they hope to create a ripple effect that spreads far beyond the office walls, making a meaningful difference in the lives of those connected to their office.

Northeast Georgia Business Radio is presented in part by Regions Bank.

Start Building your financial confidence at Regions Bank. Member FDIC and an Equal Housing Member.

Janis Thornton with JT Fitness and Golf

June 27, 2024 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Janis Thornton with JT Fitness and Golf

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Janis Thornton loves to play golf and has been playing for over 20 years. She also has a passion for how our bodies move and wants everybody to age backwards. Janis is greedy, she wants all golfers to play golf well into their 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

Janis owns JT Fitness and Golf, LLC, an online personal training company that specializes in Golf Fitness.

Janis worked in sick care for 25 years working in cardiac rehab and the pharmaceutical industry. Now she happily works in healthcare with her online business.

Janis has been featured in Golf Digest, has written a Golf Fitness Course and is working on a Golf Fitness book for Golfers.

Connect with Janis on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with JT Fitness and Golf. Janis Thornton. How are you?

Janis Thornton: I am doing great. Stone. Thank you so much for having me on.

Stone Payton: Well, it is a delight to have you on the show. I got a ton of questions. Janice, we probably won’t get to them all, but I think maybe a good place to start would be if you could share with me and our listeners kind of a broad perspective mission, purpose. What are you and your team really out there, out there trying to do for folks?

Janis Thornton: Well. So JT fitness and golf is all about helping people age backwards. I love working with golfers, especially since I am an avid golfer myself and being in my mid 50s, I want to be able to play golf well into my 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. So I want to help my fellow golfers be able to do the same thing. Because Stone, quite honestly, I’m going to admit it. I’m actually really greedy. I want to have friends to play golf with as I get older, and so if I can keep them healthy, that’s what I want to do.

Stone Payton: Well, based on that pursuit, I got to believe golf is a part of the answer. But I got to ask, what? What is the back story? How did you get into this line of work serving these kinds of people?

Janis Thornton: So I actually spent 25 years working in sick care, meaning I spent ten years working in cardiac rehab. I spent another 15 years working in the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore I saw a lot of illness. And quite honestly, I got tired of it. And I’ve always been, uh, working in with strength training, with being a personal trainer and just wanted to take my get out of sick care, start my own business. So that way I could really focus on working on the wellness side of things, because now I truly believe I do work in the wellness side of things instead of sick care.

Stone Payton: Well, what was that transition like? Was it were there some surprises, at least early on, making that transition from that world into this entrepreneurial world where you were doing completely your, your own thing?

Janis Thornton: Well, yeah, there definitely is challenges that go along with starting your own business. Uh, because when you go, at least I will speak for myself, starting working in working in corporate America and always kind of having someone guide you along because you always had a boss to becoming your own boss. I will say that was the hardest thing is just like learning how to truly build your own business has been challenging, fun, but challenging because there’s so much to learn about actually starting a business.

Speaker4: Absolutely. Well, now.

Stone Payton: That you’ve been at it a while, what are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about the work for you?

Janis Thornton: For me is when I can truly help someone make positive changes in their life. When they send me an email and they tell me how they’re able to do something that they weren’t able to do six months ago, or that they saw improvement in their golf swing or their hitting the ball farther down the fairway, or they can walk 18 holes now when they couldn’t. That makes my whole day knowing that I’ve just truly helped someone be better, healthy, healthier, wise and that they have a stronger mental attitude. Just it brings me great joy.

Stone Payton: So I, uh, I’d love to hear some more specifics about the work. And I will confess, I’m not a golfer, with the exception that I do play in a lot of these things where they where they have to let me hit the ball once on each nine for a fundraiser.

Janis Thornton: Yeah. Scramble.

Stone Payton: I love the environment. I love hanging out. I just never have invested the time and energy to get good at all at at golf. But I’m interested in in the, in the work and specifically like are there some unique challenges maybe to people in the golf world that are different above and beyond, or just different than maybe fitness challenges and other domains?

Janis Thornton: Well, golf is a one sided sport, so when you are playing golf, you can actually you really increase your risk for injury because you’re swinging right handed or you’re swinging left handed and you’ve got 100 swings, maybe on just one side. And over time, that puts a lot of pressure on your body and stress on your body. Uh, so when it comes to training for golf, you do have to make sure that you train both sides. And not that not everyone doesn’t need that. But we need to make sure that we reduce our risk for injury. And that’s where strength training really comes in. Um, to that golf or to that person. Now, I will say this, though, I feel like every individual should actually train like a golfer because in golf it’s a very rotational sport and we have to do rotational exercises. However, the general public, we sit a lot. We are riding in a car a lot during the day. We’re at the desk eight hours a day and we need to be training, like I said, training rotationally because think about it. Have you ever been working in your yard, or have you ever been just working in the house? All of a sudden you reach for something and your back tweaks? Oh yeah. You’re like, Holy crap, all I did was reach for something. Guess what? When you train rotationally and get rotational exercises into your workout routine, that’s going to reduce your risk of having that happen.

Stone Payton: Okay, it’s my show. So let’s talk about me for a minute.

Speaker4: Okay? Let’s talk about you for a minute.

Stone Payton: So I’ll be 61 next month. I haven’t played golf. I’m I think I’m reasonably fit. I walk around a lot in this little town that I, that I live in. I get some some exercise, hunting and fishing and that kind of thing. Uh, but if I were to come to you and you tell me if I just wouldn’t even be a viable candidate, but maybe I come to you and say, look, I want to continue to get fit. I want to find other ways to get and stay fit. Or maybe I just want to be better at these scramble tournaments or play a little customer golf. Can you kind of walk me through what our what our work together would look like, particularly in the early stages?

Janis Thornton: Yeah. So first of all, to get better at golf, you actually need to hire a PGA teaching instructor to help you hit the ball better. So I will preface that I do not give golf lessons. However, I’m sure you have a local PGA instructor that would happily help you with that. So yeah, I actually don’t. I do meet with people who are, uh, non-golfers as well. Um, and working with me is different than so when you work with me, it is all still on your time. So I have an app that you download onto your phone, and I push you workouts to that app so you’re able to do workouts at home or at a gym. Now the nice thing is, I have all how to videos that go with all of the exercises, so you’ll actually know what to do with each exercise. I find that a lot of people just want to be told what to do, and not necessarily that I want to meet you at 1:00 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Uh, because a lot of times people say, oh, work got in the way, or my kids, I had to run them to the doctor.

Janis Thornton: I need to cancel. Well, this way I take out that excuse of whatever your excuse is that you can’t meet me for the day, but I still provide you with the workouts, and you’re able to schedule it into your schedule that best fits you. Plus, like, for example. Right now, you and I are three hours different. Well, let’s say you wanted to work out at 6 a.m.. Well, I hate to tell you, I’m not getting up at 3 a.m.. Sorry to work out with you. However, you would still be able to work out at 6 a.m. because you’ve got the workout that you want to do. Now, bonus! I’m always available to you once you’re my client. I’m available, so if you have questions, you need modifications, then that happens. And of course we do a fitness assessment at the beginning. And if I feel like you need some actual one on one time with me, we’ll set up zoom calls there. I will set up for about 5 to 10 sessions, just to make sure you feel comfortable, to be able to move forward into my app.

Stone Payton: I really like that. It sounds like you get the best of both worlds, where I can, on my own time, when it’s convenient for me, begin to implement the discipline, and I’ve got the access to sounds like videos and information that will help me on my own, but I can tap in and have conversations with you directly, even though, to your point, you know, I’m I’m two time zones away.

Speaker4: Right.

Speaker5: Yeah, exactly.

Stone Payton: I, I gotta believe well, this is true in my business, in the media business at the Business RadioX network. And it was certainly true in the training and consulting arena back when I had something closer to a real job. But there I got to believe that there are probably some myths, some mistakes, some misconceptions that maybe even a pattern that you you see over and over again. Are there some common myths, mistakes, misconceptions in your arena?

Janis Thornton: Well, definitely. When it comes, I think there’s a myth of strength training for a lot of people, and especially women, that will feel like, oh, if I do strength training, I’m going to get big and bulky. However, what people forget is as we get older, some of the things that we lose so much of is muscle mass. We lose balance. We lose strength, mobility, flexibility. Well, we need all of those things in order to age gracefully and age backwards. And that’s what my programs create for you and give you, is that you will increase your muscle mass, which is a good thing because it increases your metabolism. Because as we get older, that slows down. You’re going to increase your flexibility and mobility because I provide class like follow along videos for that, um, for you to do. Also, I improve your balance. And if you ever notice older people when they walk, look at the people who actually shuffle. So that means that they are scared, number one, and they don’t have the balance that they need to actually take steps or the strength. But guess what? When you do strength training strength, that there’s so much power in strength training, it’s crazy. And I just can’t express it enough how important it is to get strength training into your workout sessions. And my business loves to help you be able to do that easily.

Speaker4: Well, I’m glad.

Stone Payton: You’ve brought that out because I feel like I’ve had, um, females in my life, friends, family that were a little bit shy about the idea or had the wrong idea about the the impact, and apparently the very positive impact, if done properly, of females engaging in strength training.

Janis Thornton: Yeah. You don’t have to lift super heavy weights. I’m saying you’re not going to just lift three and 5 pound dumbbells, because guess what? Your groceries weigh more than that. Or your grandchild that you want to pick up weighs more than that. Um, however, you don’t have to be lifting 50 and 80 pound dumbbells either to get a great workout. There’s so many different ways that you can increase your strength that it’s, you know, you have to get away from that bodybuilder mentality. And that’s what I do because like I said, I love to train for golf. I feel like you do train a little bit differently. And my workouts, I make it fun. Uh, quite honestly, because it’s not all just strength training. I improve your strength with using, um, a swing trainer. I help increase your thoracic rotation with a device called the True Turn Pro. And all of these devices truly help your spine, help your joints, help your mobility and flexibility. So it’s just a lot of fun.

Stone Payton: Now, did you know right out of the box, or was it even part of the initial business plan? If you don’t mind sharing to to lean on technology, to have the app to have the virtual access?

Janis Thornton: So I will say it was because one of my friends that I had met who was a personal trainer, she had an online business and at the time I was creating mine and I was thinking, oh, this online thing will be great because she goes, genus, your clients can be anywhere and then you’re able to actually work from anywhere. And at the time I was traveling a lot with my husband and I’m like, what business can I have that I can travel with my husband still and still serve clients and online I can I’m able, I can be anywhere, they can be anywhere, and I’m still able to serve them.

Speaker4: So when.

Stone Payton: You. Yeah, absolutely. Congratulations on that. It sounds to me like you’ve cracked the code for exactly, uh, what you, what you wanted to do and how you wanted to to serve. So have you had the answer to this is certainly got to be. Yes, but I’m going to ask anyway. Have you had the benefit of one or more mentors as you’ve gotten your business up and off the ground and running to kind of help you navigate new terrain?

Speaker4: Oh yeah.

Janis Thornton: I try to have a lot of different mentors in my life. Uh, just because and from different avenues, not just in the fitness world, but like, right now I’m part of a mastermind group and have some great mentors there, just helping me guide how to create, really create this business and make it successful. I’m fortunate enough that, you know, people that I play golf with, some of the women that I play golf with are retired from corporate America, or they still are. They’ve starting their own business. And like one of my friends, she’s really good at operations, so she helps me out a lot, or just getting ideas from all these other people. It’s always fun. I have a bouncing. I’ve, like my board of directors, are all my golfing friends because I’m like, okay, I need my board. Help me with what do you think about this or this idea? You know, what should I do? And so it’s nice to have a lot of mentors and people in my life that I can bounce ideas off of.

Speaker4: Well, there’s.

Stone Payton: A pro tip right there. Establish a board.

Speaker5: Exactly. And you don’t.

Janis Thornton: Even have to pay for them to if you get the right people, which is nice, just play golf with them.

Speaker4: So, uh, how.

Stone Payton: Does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a practice like yours? Do you find that you are out there shaking the trees a little bit, or are you kind of getting to the point where it’s more inbound and sort of coming in over the over the transom or. Yeah, how do you like. The reason I’m asking is, I mean, this conversation you got me sold. Uh, you know, I don’t even play golf. Great. But how does the whole sales and marketing thing work in your world?

Janis Thornton: For me, it’s all about I do a lot of networking, so that way I can just meet people to share what I do with my business and then doing speaking engagements, doing this kind of thing, you know, getting on people’s podcasts, doing a lot of social media. Uh, I really do stick to LinkedIn, though, uh, for my social media. And then, you know, I try to write like a LinkedIn article or, for example, I have a e-book on my website that people can download. And then if you’re on my email list, you know, you can learn, get fitness tips, you know, 3 to 4 times a month. I promise I don’t inundate people with emails, uh, because I know some people do. Anyway, um, you know, I try just different ways to show my business and showcase my business.

Stone Payton: So what was that like, writing a writing a book? Did some parts of it come together a lot easier than others? I’m interested to hear about that experience.

Janis Thornton: So I’ve written a golf fitness course, um, for personal trainers. So I will say that was a task I did last year and it took me. I’m going to admit, it took me a good three months to really kind of plan out what I actually even wanted. And then I went into coming up with, okay, what do I want in it? What videos? And then it was just the process of shooting a videos that go into this course. And what content do I want to have in there? How do I want to make this course different than other golf fitness courses that are available to personal trainers to take? Uh, so it was it was fun, a lot of work. And now I’m going to take that course. And this year I’m actually going to be writing another. Well, I’ll be writing a book just on general golf fitness for the average person. So that way they can start incorporating more golf fitness into their lives.

Speaker4: Oh that’s fantastic. Yeah.

Janis Thornton: So I can’t.

Speaker4: Wait. Well, and I’m.

Stone Payton: Sure it’s a marvelous resource, the one you’ve already written and the one that you’re working toward for the reader. Did you also find that investing the time and energy to commit your ideas to paper did it? Um, I don’t know. Did it help you crystallize your own thinking and solidify, like, even equip you to be that much better in your counseling coaching support role? Did it make you that much better, a practitioner, having taken the time to kind of get it all down and lay it out like that.

Speaker5: I’m gonna say.

Janis Thornton: Absolutely. There was a course that I took and it was actually for a Pilates instructor course to become a mat instructor. And one of the lines that the lady that Tanya said in there was, if you want to become an expert, teach. And I thought I let that resonate for months in my head. And that was one of the things that really got me motivated to actually write the golf fitness course. I’m like, you know, I want to be better at what I do. So what did Tanya say? She said, teach, so why not create this course? And then I and then, you know, God works in mysterious ways, because then all of a sudden, last year, I had this physical therapist that I met on LinkedIn. He approached me and said, he goes, I’ve been following you on LinkedIn. You should write a golf fitness course. So I’m thinking, okay, this is just a little weird. However. And then in my mastermind group, they’re like really big on writing a book, writing something, publishing yourself. I’m like, okay, here we go. So to me it was like, this is meant to be. This was definitely meant to be.

Stone Payton: Now, you mentioned a little earlier in the conversation speaking, and that’s another area I’m kind of fascinated with. Was that daunting at first or were you a natural? Did you learn did you learn something about like mechanics of delivering a keynote or how did that all work for you?

Speaker5: Well, I will tell you.

Janis Thornton: If you knew me back in high school and college, I was incredibly shy. Quite honestly, I’m actually still kind of shy. If I’m in a room full of new people, I’m that person who likes to just sit back and observe and let everyone else do the talking. Uh, but once I get going, I’m good. Um, but I will say it still is daunting to me. I have to I’m an introvert. I have to gear up when I do a talk and get myself pumped up to really do it. However, I also know that I am the expert in the room and the information that I have is really good for people and they’ll be excited about it. So that’s what I focus more on to get me through, because I will give a secret away, because there might be someone else out there who’s like me, um, I get red and blotchy when I get really nervous. And so public speaking, I really have to gear myself up because I’m in front of a big group of people. It’s can be very daunting to me.

Stone Payton: So I don’t know when or how you would find the time, but I’m going to ask anyway. Interests, passions, pursuits outside the scope of this work that that you enjoy. You have a tendency to nerd out about that are kind of outside the scope of this fitness work. Like a lot of our listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel.

Speaker4: Mhm.

Janis Thornton: So I will say I definitely love to travel. And the deal is I’m married to a man who loves to play golf as well. He’s he’s more addicted to it than I am. So every vacation is around golf. I do play a lot of golf. Uh, because again I feel like I need to play golf. And so that way I can keep promoting what I do. Uh, but, you know. Sure. I love to go hiking. I love to, you know, be by the ocean, those kinds of things. Also, um, like I said, I do love to travel, so everything will be most of the time, though, centered around golf. That might sound boring, but I don’t want to injure myself trying downhill skiing or, you know, even hiking. I do love to hike. Um, however, I don’t do anything crazy just because I’d be really sad if I tripped and fell and broke a leg or hip or arm. That would be sad, because that means I won’t be able to play golf and I would be unhappy.

Speaker4: So what’s.

Stone Payton: Next? What’s on the horizon? You’ve mentioned pursuing this other book. Uh, any designs on continuing to scale the business or serve a different niche or anything like that? What’s what’s in the near future?

Janis Thornton: So I well, I’m really glad you asked that question because I’m about to launch five new courses, uh, which is very exciting. So they’re based around like if you have neck pain, there’s a course for that. If you have shoulder pain, I have a course for that. If there’s if you have back pain, there’s a course for that. If you’ve got hip or knee pain, I’ve got courses for that as well. And then I’ll even be coming out with a 28 day mobility challenge. And you do not have to be a golfer to take on any of those courses.

Speaker4: Well, I love.

Stone Payton: That you’re drilling down on these specific, uh, areas of challenge for people because it sounds like that you can really you can help specialize or even the, the individual, to some extent, with the right coaching and direction from you can can really personalize your fitness program and your specialized knowledge and expertise to address the exact challenges that they feel like they’re facing.

Speaker5: Mhm.

Janis Thornton: Absolutely. That’s what’s fun. So yeah I’m putting everything together right now. I have the neck course almost finished, almost ready to go. And then I’ll be working on the other four. And so hopefully in a few weeks they’ll all be finished.

Speaker4: Wow.

Stone Payton: You got a lot of irons in the fire Miss Janice.

Janis Thornton: I do, but it’s fun and it’s I love being able to be creative and just be able to help. I want to be able to help a lot of people and just be able to make them feel good. And again, as we get older, sometimes it just gets hard. However, when you do exercise on a regular basis and take care of your body, it’s amazing what it can do.

Speaker4: All right, before.

Stone Payton: We wrap, I’d love to leave our listeners, if we could, with 1 or 2 actionable pro tips. And look, gang, the number one pro tip is to to reach out and have a conversation or go tap into into Janice’s work. And that’s the number one pro tip. But sometime between now and then, if there’s something they can be doing, not doing, reading, thinking about, let’s leave them with a couple of pro tips as a result of just having kind of eavesdropped on this conversation.

Janis Thornton: So the first pro tip is to find movement that you enjoy. That’s you’re going to do on a regular basis, whether it’s with me or someone else or you love group classes, you love to hike outside. Whatever it is, find something that you would love to do each and every day. Because our body craves movement, the more you move, the better you’re going to feel. For those of you tip number two, for those of you who do have a desk job, please make sure that you get up from your desk every hour. Do walk around for even if it’s a couple of minutes, get some water. Make sure you’re filling your water glass each and every hour so you stay hydrated during the day. But get up. Do some stretches. You even do five squats at your desk something, but get movement throughout the day because they’re saying now sitting is the new smoking and it’s deadly to you. If you just sit all day because of it, then you’ve been you slept all night. You and might. If you lay on your side, you’re kind of in a fetal position. You sit in your car to go to work, then you sit at work. You sit in that. Car again to come home, and then you sit some more once you get home. So our bodies are made to move. So let’s get moving.

Speaker4: I am so.

Stone Payton: Glad that I asked and both tips are incredibly valuable for me. It makes me feel better, even more encouraged about, you know, like I, I really enjoy moving in the woods, so traipsing through the woods. While it’s something I thoroughly enjoy, it’s also getting me out there and moving. So. And that’s so yeah, that find something that a way to move that you enjoy. That’s a that’s a great tip. And you’re you’re so right I guess I hadn’t really thought about it. We I guess as a population we sit a lot more than our, our parents or our grandparents did.

Speaker5: Oh, absolutely.

Janis Thornton: And just to your point of view, hunting out in the woods. So here’s the other great thing that’s happening is you are out in Mother Nature. You are getting to just be because I have a feeling when you’re out there, you love being out there that it just brings calmness to you, that you’re like, this is the best. And that’s just something to, you know, appreciate when you’re driving down the road and you get to see a bunch of trees or the flowers or let’s say you’re hunting for that deer. You see it off in the distance. They’re cool. I mean, it’s great to be out in Mother Nature, so we all need to just slow down, stop and smell the roses and enjoy what’s around us.

Stone Payton: Amen. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to tap into your work and connect with you?

Janis Thornton: The easiest way is going to be to go to JT fitness and Golf.com. And on my website you can schedule a call with me. You can go ahead and just check out my website and we can connect that way.

Stone Payton: Janice, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast. Thank you for your insight, your perspective. Thank you for your enthusiasm. It just comes through over the airwaves. You are doing really important work and we sure appreciate you.

Janis Thornton: Well, Stone, thank you so much again for having me on. I greatly appreciate it.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Janice Thornton with JT Fitness and Golf and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

Christian Kuswita with ACAP Cobb & Cherokee

June 27, 2024 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Christian Kuswita with ACAP Cobb & Cherokee

00:00 /

Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors

Christian Kuswita, President and Owner of ComForCare Home Care Cobb County and Co-Coordinator of ACAP Cobb & Cherokee , is a passionate and diverse entrepreneur and marketing professional with the goal of leveraging 20+ experience in marketing, sales, and customer service to help older adult clients live their best life possible. Aspire to create a family-first working environment to empower, nurture, and mentor client-driven caregivers.

ACAP Cobb & Cherokee has been established to offer information, resources, support, and community to enhance the quality of life for area caregivers and their older adult loved ones. Beginning in February 2024, the chapter will provide caregivers with resources, choices, and information that will promote confidence in navigating the often stress-filled responsibility of providing care for aging loved ones. We seek to grow a community of caregivers so that strength can be realized by program participants in company with others who share similar journeys and concerns.

Connect with Christian on LinkedIn and follow ACAP Cobb & Cherokee on Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this morning, and today’s episode is brought to you in part by our Community Partner program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending Capitalism, promoting small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Main Street warriors.org and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors Diesel David, Inc. please go check them out at diesel.David.com. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the Broadcast Chapter co-coordinator with ACAP Cob & Cherokee, Mr. Christian Kuswita. Good morning, sir.

Christian Kuswita: Good morning Stone. Thank you for having me here.

Stone Payton: Well, it is a delight to have you in the studio. I have a ton of questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I think it would be a great idea if you could share with me in our listener listeners mission. Purpose. What are you and your team over there at Acap really, really trying to do for folks? Man. Yeah.

Christian Kuswita: So Acap stands for adult children of Aging parents. Um, the mission is simple. We want to provide free community and education to adult children and also their, you know, the spouses of an older adult, um, to provide them with the equip them with information before a crisis happens. Um, a fall, for example, a hospitalization, um, chronic diseases, a lot of that happens and create that crisis. And, and we want to be there before that happens to get them the information and community and help that they need.

Stone Payton: Well, it sounds like a noble pursuit to me. And I got to tell you, you’re striking a chord. I shared with you before we came on air. My folks, uh, 81. I said 81 and 83. Actually, dad’s birthday was just the other day. Um, so for a little while, 81 and 84. And I got to believe there are things that my brother and I should be doing to help them get prepared for this next stage. And I got to confess, I don’t even know. I do know that we don’t know the questions we ought to be asking, the things we ought to be doing, the challenges we should be anticipating. Right?

Christian Kuswita: Yeah, absolutely. So the the mission started with my own, um, experience and then the pursuit of actually helping others in my company. So my dad actually, um, passed away about 12 years ago from a stroke. It’s not the stroke that killed him. It was the isolation that killed him. Because we actually got a really good, uh, personal care aide that could help him. But then. The person could not really connect with my dad. And so that isolation, since everybody worked, um, really that I think what what really made him give up on life and then passed away, um, that actually started me to do or to open Comfort Care Home care, which is an in-home care that helped a lot of older adults in Cobb and Cherokee with their, you know, their their needs, their personal care needs, their compassion, compassion, uh, companionship, need. However, what we found a lot of the times is that, you know, when when somebody seek help to us or many other professionals that help seniors in Cobb and Cherokee is when a crisis happens. When a crisis happens, people’s life are turning upside down, especially their adult children, their spouses. And then they’re they’re sometimes make the wrong decisions about, you know, things they don’t know a lot about what they need to do. They chose, you know, wrong companies. They got into a lot of, you know, frauds and stuff like that, scams. And so I think what’s important about Acap is providing those information early on, equipping themselves with those information. And so when crisis happens, they’re ready, right? They’re ready. They don’t have to be there. The process can be a lot easier, right. And the journey can be easier if they’re equipped with the right information and resources.

Stone Payton: This sounds to me like the best time to do this is yesterday, and the next best time is today. Exactly. And quit saying tomorrow.

Christian Kuswita: Yeah, and that’s why Acap is not so. So the the the meeting is once a month. The Acap cop and Cherokee meets once a month. Usually it’s going to be the third Thursday of the month, um, from 630 to 8:00 in Marietta. But we are online too. So if they go to Acap community. Org, for example, there’s a ton of information. So when you sit yesterday and today, I completely agree, because even if our show or our meeting is not until, you know, some sometime third week of June, but they can go to Acap community org and still get a lot of podcasts, a lot of, uh, recorded of the past meetings. Uh, there’s blogs so you can start learning about that particular, you know, all the aspects right now.

Stone Payton: Okay. I want to hear more about this backstory, because I think what you shared was what compelled you to get into this business of home care. Was your experience with your with your father. Uh, say more about that, if you will. And I’m interested in the the notion of I mean, you also just opening a business. I know as an entrepreneur myself that can be a little bit daunting. What was that experience like?

Christian Kuswita: It was it was interesting. So so we actually opened our business, uh, in August 2020. And you know what happened in August 2020. Yeah. Right. And so, um, but but going back to, to why we did this and why my wife and I opened this company is, you know, as we saw what happened to my dad. And by the way, you know, my, my wife’s grandmothers, both of them actually passed away due to falls. Um, one of her grandmother actually had an incident where she fell, um, wasn’t found for probably 18 hours. Um, and the only reason that she was found was because, you know, her caregiver came in the morning. Um, the door was locked, and she almost left until she saw the curtains. Starts moving, and she was. What’s going on there? The the colonel was moving. So then she called 911. They opened the door and she was lying there for 18 hours, and she was still had the strength to just pull the curtains slowly, just in hope that that it would alert somebody. And luckily, the caregiver saw that she went to the hospital, rushed to the hospital, and she passed away. So, you know, those information and those experiences that we had really compelled us to look at, you know, how can we help? We can’t help them any longer because they already passed. But how can we then help, you know, somebody else that is hopefully not in that experience, but help them to live independently and safely for as long as they can? And I think the, the in-home care, um, industries is what we, what we, what we chose to. And I tell you, we’ve helped so many, so many older adults, um, live safely and independently. We call it live their best life possible.

Stone Payton: Yeah. So you’ve been at it a little while now. I can’t believe you started when you started that. That in itself is incredible to me. We were able to weather that storm, but I don’t know if we’d have ever gotten off the ground. Me and Lee with Business RadioX network if we’d had started then, uh, but now that you’ve been at it a while, what are you finding the most rewarding about the business? About the work? What’s the most fun for you?

Christian Kuswita: Well, you know, it’s funny. People always ask us, and, you know, of course, you you you didn’t know what the business. Is all about. And you could ask so many questions during the discovery period, but you wouldn’t know until you really doing it right. And so, you know, many people came to us and said, hey, you’ve been in the business for almost four years. You’re doing really well. You are developing your brand. You’re you’re you’re delighting and helping your clients. Is it hard? And I said, absolutely. It is hard. I mean, it is the hardest thing that my wife and I had done in our life. Right. Um, but I always tell this analogy about golf, right? Um, I suck at it. Okay. I’m very bad. Going to be.

Stone Payton: Friends. Me too.

Christian Kuswita: Right, right. I, you know, but I love going out and and and go to, to golf course because, you know, some of the most beautiful sceneries are in golf courses, but I don’t I don’t play well. But every time I go out and play a round of golf with its nine holes or 18 holes, there is just one hit, one hit that made me always come back, right? Um, that one hit that made me mesmerized and said, oh my gosh, I’m so good at this, I love it. I want to go back. I think this work is like that. So whenever my wife and I, you know, you know, all the challenges with finding caregivers, a lot of changes with the client’s needs, you know, all those things, um, every time we help an individual and when their spouse or their children came to us and said, hey, Christian and Earlene, you know, my dad’s life, um, the last three months of his life was really help because of your help and your caregivers. That’s the fuel that we get every single day to wake up and help everybody that that needs this, that is that is the purpose of this job. This job. Well, I.

Stone Payton: Can I can see it in your eyes and I can hear it in your voice. And I know that you’re quite, uh, sincere when you when you relay that. I gotta believe that you run into some of the same. I’ll call them myths, mistakes, misperceptions, misconceptions about this whole arena. Can you share some with us so that we can be on the lookout and try to guard ourselves against falling into these traps? Yeah.

Christian Kuswita: So you’re meaning about in-home care, correct? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Um, so there’s a few. We call it myth. Uh, on in-home care. I think the biggest one is, uh, Medicare. Right. So some people would say, oh, yeah. You know, does it cover by Medicare? In-home care is not Medicare covered. The only reason for that is because Medicare will cover, um, health related issues or activities. So things like wound care, um, you know, changing or colostomy bags, oxygen now in home care is deemed as or classified as non-medical and therefore unfortunately, it is not covered by Medicare. There are some other sources of payments other than out of pocket. Most of our clients pay out of pocket, but then long term care insurance can cover home care if they have um, uh, VA benefits called an attendance benefit can cover that. And then lastly, Medicaid can cover that, right? So that’s the first myth. The second myth is we talk about that non-medical side side side of it. Uh, people always say, hey, you know, can you change the oxygen level, you know, for my dad, or can you provide, uh, administration of medication in home care? We can’t do that because we are non-medical. A good example is the medication. We can remind somebody to take their medication, but we can’t manage or administer the medication. So the medication has to be already managed by, you know, the family members or even the pharmacy in pill boxes. We can then remind the client to take that medication. So those those are the two biggest, I would say, myths. Uh, in in home care there are certainly several others, but those are the two biggest ones.

Stone Payton: Well, then it occurs to me that perhaps many people should start earlier than later, even if it’s because it’s not like we got to have you again. You know what? It’s my show. We’re going to. Let’s talk about me a minute. My folks are 81 and 84. You know, my brother’s down in Tallahassee. Um, right now, things are pretty good. Mom did have a pretty nasty fall not too long ago. Uh, and things are fine, but, you know, how bad would it be? Or reframe differently? How great would it be if somebody came in, provided a little companionship, gave gave them a little bit of a break from each other, maybe help prep a meal or maybe some of these other services. I don’t know what they’re allowed to do, but, uh, you know, just kind of keep things on track and be a be around. That’s that’s right in your wheelhouse. Right?

Christian Kuswita: Yeah, absolutely. I think you are absolutely right. There are certainly many individuals, older adults that really don’t know what in-home care is, and they resist the care. Right. And especially when you already have a crisis that can be difficult. So easing them in um, is is a great idea. Um, a lot of home care companies, I think almost all of them have a minimum. And the minimums can be different. Like in our case, for example, the minimum is only four hours a day. We don’t have a requirement that you have to come, that we have to come three days a week. We just have the requirement of four hours per day. That means that, you know, we have clients that call us for once a month for transportation, right. And so we want to make it very easy and very simple for you to use us. And then when we start doing the, um, the companionship right early on, we can set it where, you know, it’s a fun kind of trip with a friend. Now, again, many of our caregivers are older, too. Our average caregiver age at about 40. 35, maybe 48 years old. And so that’s good because one is they’re more reliable, right? The older they get, the more responsible they are.

Christian Kuswita: Um, the older they get, the more passionate and have a lot more experience. And so we can really, truly do that companionship. We have a client now that does twice a week with us at four hours, and she just goes shopping with them like go shopping, watch a movie, just have fun, go to restaurants. She lives in the community, but she really doesn’t connect with the people there because she is still very independent. Uh, mobility is very good. And so she wants to do the things that she would like to do. Our caregiver was, is 48, I think, the one that helped her. And so it really fits with her a lot. It’s almost like a daughter that she never had. So easing in, we can design an activity for that four hours depending on what the client likes, your mom or dad, for example. And then we can make sure that those activities are meaningful. And then if something happens, you know, in the future, they don’t they already have that experience with us. Right. And so they’re more willing to accept the help. And I think that is that is really crucial.

Stone Payton: Yeah. Clearly there’s the immediate value that I feel like you outlined very well and I find incredibly compelling. But it makes that next conversation, that next set of conversations easier when it’s time to transition and ramp up the the level of care that makes all the sense in the world. Yeah.

Christian Kuswita: So from from doing a companionship and transportation care to then next step would be personal care. Much easier when they already start at the beginning, even if they’re doing it once a month or once every week or twice, uh, every two weeks, it doesn’t matter. To start is is always a good, um, a good direction as well.

Stone Payton: So what I’m picking up from this already. So thank you. This has been incredibly valuable for me. I hope the listeners are getting something out of it, but this is a great opportunity for Stone to learn something. If you want to talk to smart people and learn something, get yourself a radio show. But. But what I’m picking up from this is, uh, you know, Russ and I, my little, my little brother and I, we could begin almost immediately to avail ourselves of this education and input from Acap. And at the same time, maybe one of our early, uh, activities is to look into just getting a little bit of companionship, just, you know, to get things, get things going. And then we touched on it briefly, but I get the idea that there’s tremendous value in getting all of your, uh, your ducks in a row, you know, like, where’s, uh, and, you know, take all the help I can get with approaching the conversation, you know, where’s the money? Where’s the insurance? What do you how do you want things done? There’s, uh, there’s a lot to do.

Christian Kuswita: Yeah. And and that’s a great point, stone. So, Acap, um, I run is a nonprofit organization, and it is by chapters. Our chapter, of course, is copying Cherokee. Uh, it is run by Volunteers of leadership team. We have we have 15 leadership teams. And our team, um, and we Kelly and I handpick all of those people in there to make sure that two things. One is we have a very diversified. Industries experts in the team. So, for example, Kelly is in senior placement, right? Uh, uh, helping seniors to look for, um, independent living community or assisted living memory care. I’m in in-home care. So we go and and and make sure that people live safely, live their best life possible. We also have, um, Nelson elder care law is represented, uh, somebody from Medicare, somebody from Edward Jones, financial planners moving, um, moving managers, uh, community is represented. So we have modification company. And so that’s number one. So the diversification of the leadership is important because we want to make sure that if there’s any questions like I have to be honest, I don’t know all the questions. I don’t know all the answers about older adults and their needs, because I’m only very focused on one side of the industry. But if but if somebody comes to me, I tell them I will find the answers right? I can find the answers because of the people that I’m working with right now. And these eight cap leadership teams really showcase that.

Christian Kuswita: The second thing is the people that we chose that we pick really think about the others first and not their business, right, because that’s important. And we tell everybody because again, vendors also come to our meeting in a cap and we tell them this is a safe space. If you are not a sponsors that provide the funding for us, you have to come without with your companies, you know, put the put them at the door when you come in. Right. There’s no solicitation. We even like our leadership teams. We only wear the A cap badge. I mean, I’m wearing my comfort care badge, but if I go to the meeting and I’m not the sponsor, I’m wearing my A cap badge. I don’t say who I am unless I’m a guest speaker. If I’m guest speaking, we want to make sure that there’s credibility. So I have to say, who do I work for? Um, but this individuals that that serve the a cap company Cherokee serve others first and serve their companies later. That’s critical because when somebody goes to them and asks them questions, they will give them the real answers about how to help and not about the benefit of their companies. Now, if their company seems to match of what the the, um, children is needing, then yeah, hopefully that will connect. But it’s to help first and to serve first.

Stone Payton: I love it. Uh, and people who listen to this show know that we often. Subscribe to and try to make a point of reminding people to serve first serve early, serve often. It all comes back to you if if it should and it and it often should and and often does. So when you were making the transition to building your business up, did you have the the benefit of one or more mentors to kind of help you navigate the the terrain early on, or were you just baptized by fire or how did what was that like?

Christian Kuswita: I think it’s both. It’s both. I think the number one mentor that I have to mention in my life was my dad. Um, so he’s an entrepreneur. Um, it’s funny that I told him so many times during our conversation, you know, as as father and son, I said I would never work for you, right? Because because the time that he spent away from the family, building that business, I think was the number one thing. But guess what? I’m here. Yeah. Um, so, so I think with him is spending time and him mentoring me about how to run a business, because it’s not just the sales and marketing side of it. It’s is is the customer service and how you treat people, how you treat your employees. How do you build a culture of the companies? How do you then treat your referral sources, right? Your partners, those are all important. But then also, you know, simple things like, you know, making sure that there’s enough toilet paper in your in your restroom, right. Because that’s just, you know, you wear so many hats. But I think seeing him did what he did, you know, growing the company was always to me I think it’s, it’s a, it’s a number one thing. Secondly, it’s my work, my past work in corporate America. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve worked with so many great individuals and mentors. Um, you know, from the different companies I’ve been and I’ve been in different areas such as customer service.

Christian Kuswita: I’ve been in, uh, product development, product management, sales and marketing. Um, and I’ve seen operations work with operations, manufacturing, things like that. And so I kind of know and want to want to demonstrate the good things of what I’ve learned and not to do the bad things that I’ve learned. Right. And so I think that kind of helpful, too, in this job. And and also interestingly, there were, I would say, 2 or 3 people that really helped me when we first opened the business. And one of them actually is our competitor. Um, one of our competitor became one of my biggest, um, mentor. Um, and also there’s another lady that that actually is, uh, owns a sister company that is owned by the same company that owned the brand Comfort Care. That also helped us. So there’s 2 or 3 that really just, you know, we still have to do everything right. It’s our it’s our company. But they kind of put us in the right direction and pointed us to the right opportunities and kind of, you know, guide us through the way. And I’m forever thankful to those people. Right. Because, again, I think you have to have great mentors in your life, not only for work but also personal life. Right? Because that’s how we all learn, you know, because we’re never perfect, never perfect.

Stone Payton: It’s so encouraging and reinforcing for you to to say that about mentors in general, but encouraging for you to share your experience with a competitor. I had a mentor early in my career. I kind of grew up in the training and development world, and he said, Stone, serve your competitors and you won’t have any. And to a degree that that has come so, so true. And this whole serve first serve early serve often value system clearly, uh, you you have it as as well.

Christian Kuswita: Yeah. And and you know, to be honest. And if you look at the, the statistics and it’s really staggering, um, that I think every day 10,000 US citizens, um, turn 65 R right. And so and so that statistics and the change in our demographic every day in the US is staggering meaning and plus also a lot of those people that turn 65 will have issues. It could be chronic diseases, could be dementia and other and other diseases, Alzheimer’s, Lewy body vascular dementia, things like that. And they will need help. And I think it is it is illogical and it’s not logical for you to. Push away your competitors, because at this, at the same time, you know, as a company, you’re going to need help. You have you need all that you can have to help, you know, the seniors. And so I don’t think our company is equipped to handle everybody. And so that’s why the competitive landscape is important. And we want great competitors, because if we need to refer some of our clients because we can’t handle them or the volume, the volume, then we have people that we trust that we can refer to and we refer to our competitors to, um, for that. And we vet them, we vet them, we know who’s good, we know who’s new, we know who’s not very good. So we when we have to refer, we refer to those that we really, really trust.

Stone Payton: One of the things that I absolutely love about the way that you’ve chosen to approach and serve your market is I’m getting the the distinct impression that you’re the guy that knows the guy, uh, you know, like, uh, as for example, I have gotten to know the folks over at, uh, Nelson Elder care, uh, law. Uh, but, boy, if I were on the hunt for somebody, I got to tell you, after this conversation, my first call is to Christian, right? And I do. You you clearly have that position in the community. I got to believe you enjoy being the guy that knows the guy, too, right?

Christian Kuswita: I do, I do because I think, again, the brought up, you know, from my dad, you know, I, I’ve been always very social. Um, I like to know people. I like to build relationships. And so I think logically when we open the company, you know, my wife said, I’m not doing things that you’re going to do, you’re going to do and you’ll be the face of the company. And so I did. And part of that too, um, is to to find a network with like minded individuals. Um, and there is actually a really large, very passionate, very intimate networking in Cobb and Cherokee for seniors called the Cope and Cherokee, uh, services for the elderly. Um, and we meet twice as actually we meet once a month, uh, but we rotate between Cobb location and Cherokee location. Um, we are you know, it’s funny, when we first when I first joined, it’s during Covid, the first meeting that we had after Covid where we could do a face to face, there was only less than maybe 25 people. Now we have about 70, 80 people strong that come in.

Christian Kuswita: Um, we have more than 150 members, you know, and so but those are the people that are, um, serving, you know, in home care. They are hospice, home health, uh, elder care laws, Realtors that specialize in older adults, moving managers. So those are the people that I work with and our network with. And when I say intimate and and and passionate, you know, it’s funny because the group grows every single time. But then you have that. Core people that is always there. And then the people that come in that that have a different intent of just serving others, you can see that they come in once and they just they just don’t fit in. Right. And so that’s the the thing about this networking group is that, um, you know, this is one that I think I would recommend if somebody is serving the older adult community, you can go to Cope and Cherokee Service for the elder website, look at their meetings, come and join us because I think you’ll find this networking is also very valuable.

Stone Payton: So you touched on a pro tip that probably applies to setting up and building a business with anyone, but particularly a spouse. And that’s a clarity of roles, because say more about that and any other tips you might have for a couple that are looking at launching and growing a business?

Christian Kuswita: Well, you know, what’s funny is, um, my wife never worked in a day in her life until we opened this company. Really? Yes. So she she has a marketing degree. But then because we came so we immigrated from Indonesia in 1999. And so with my schooling and then work, uh, she couldn’t work because she’s my she was my independent until my she was my dependent until probably, uh, you know, 6 or 7 years ago when, when we got our green card. Actually, more than that, like ten, ten, 15 years ago. Um, so when we opened the company, it was the right time because, you know, we are financially sound. So we could have investment to open the company. We are and our kids are, are much older and so they’re self-sufficient. I joke with my wife like, you know, at that time we could leave the kids for a month, as long as the the fridge is full, they’re not going to die. They’ll be okay. Right? They have a car. They can, you know, one of them can drive them around. They’ll be fine. Right? Um, and then. And then we love Atlanta area. So we moved around so much. And now that we’re in Atlanta area, the diversity, the weather, the location, the people, we just loved it. So so we want to plant our roots here. We said, you know what? We’re not going to move anywhere. Um, you know, I don’t like my job and I want to quit. I said, what what’s your thought about opening our own company? And so the funny thing about when I said that she hasn’t she never worked in her life is that she she does not she she did not have that corporate America mentality.

Christian Kuswita: Right. Good example. Um, when when we first open our door, of course, we have to, um, we have to, um, orientate, put orientation for our caregivers. I, I develop a 35 pages PowerPoint slides, right, that I put on the TV and every caregiver that came in, you know, I said, okay, here’s number one, safety is first, blah, blah, blah. And I went through everything and then guess what? They’re all fell asleep. They all fell asleep. Right? Because again, caregivers are not corporate America. They don’t have that experience. They see me. They see me as, oh, this is somebody that worked in companies like, that’s not my style. I don’t connect with them. Um, my wife just said, forget it, don’t do that. So then she started with just talking one on one, just having conversation, talking about life, talking about their kids, talking about, you know, where they move from and just basically getting to know them at the same time. Then, you know, they’re doing the same thing. They’re they’re signing off the paperwork, they’re doing the drug test, they’re doing the background check and all those things. And you know, it. It took longer. It took two hours, three hours to get it. But then it’s so much different because the caregiver is starting to connect with her on a personal level. Right. And so this industry is not about, you know, some yeah, pay is important, but it’s not about benefits.

Christian Kuswita: In-home care companies have probably the less benefit than other health care type industries. So being able to connect on a personal level that my wife can, can do helps tremendously. Um, and that’s the thing that I value from her, you know, you know, at first I said you got to learn everything from me. But then after I see some examples that she did, I’m like. Damn. Don’t learn from me. Do what you do because I think what you do work. Then why do you. You know, why do I have to push that? And so that’s that’s been the case. I mean, she’s been rocking it. We’ve been able to recruit caregivers. Uh, tremendously. We’ve been able to get clients being happy because she, you know, very personal not only to the characters but the clients. And so that works. Um, but also working as a couple has a lot of issues, too, right? Because again, there’s two different mindset trying to run the same thing, trying to row in the same direction. And that will always come to conflicts. But as long as you know where the line line, you draw the line, right? Like I’m marketer, I’m client, client relationship. I do all of the other things that are business related. But then she deals with the operations side of it. And if I don’t try to cross that line, I think we will have a pretty good relationship at the end. Trust me, I never slept in the couch yet since the four years that we opened the company, so I think we’re still doing pretty good.

Stone Payton: That’s an important metric. You don’t have to sleep on the couch.

Christian Kuswita: You’re right. Percent. How much you sleep on the couch during the four years? That’s a really good. Yeah, I agree with that.

Stone Payton: Well, I don’t know when or how you would find the time, but I’m going to ask anyway. Passions, interests, hobbies that you pursue out outside the scope of this work. Is there anything you like nerd out about and go do to just kind of get away from it for a bit?

Christian Kuswita: Yeah. So we like to travel. Um, and so hopefully we’ll, we’ll still have time to travel. Um, the, the, the bad part about working, still working in the business, not on the business. We still have to work during our travel. So if we have to go, um, to, to vacation, we still have to work. We love to play tennis. And so we played a lot. And I think because just the traditional I think we’re getting sucked also to pickleball. So we’re starting to play pickleball as well. Yeah. Um, we enjoy great friends and food. And so we get together a lot with some of our great friends and just, you know, drink, um, you know, wine and food. Um, those are probably some. And spend time with the families, of course. Right. Um, so those are some of the things that that we love to, we love to enjoy as a family together.

Stone Payton: So do you find that when you do step away a little bit, even if you’re still working a little bit, that it does kind of give you a chance to to recharge, refresh, get a different perspective and be that much better equipped when you get back to serve, even even better, I know I do.

Christian Kuswita: Yeah. Well, I think there’s there’s two parts. Number one is if, if when we do really vacation with the families, we got so tired when we come back, we need a vacation, right? To me, I think my my recharge time is the weekends where there’s nothing going on. Um, and, you know, I just take my my wife, we go to winery drive and just do nothing. And, you know, at that point in time when it’s like in the afternoon, you know, that the shift starts in the morning or the shift will not start again until at night. That middle part is kind of void, which is great. Right? So there’s no issues. That’s where we can really enjoy. So we just sit down, get a bottle of wine, look at the views, drink, talk, eat. Maybe there’s music there. Um, or if there’s just a time that there’s nothing going on, we just can, you know, go to our neighborhood pool and just relax there. Those are the the the type of things. Vacations. I think we’re trying to do too much sometimes that we’re like, oh my gosh, like, I need another three days. But those, those relaxing moments, you know, weekends are the ones that I really enjoy to recharge myself.

Stone Payton: All right, before we wrap, let’s make sure that our listeners have good, easy to reach coordinates to tap into all the marvelous work that Acap is doing. And let’s make sure that if they want to have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, uh, maybe they’re even interested in in, in working with you. Uh, or maybe they’re like me and Russ, it’s time to learn to learn more, but let’s leave them with some coordinates. Uh, whatever you think is appropriate. Websites, LinkedIn, whatever.

Christian Kuswita: Yep. So, Acap, uh, you can go to Acap community. Org. So Acap community.org and then look for the cop and Cherokee um chapter. So if you go to location, go to Georgia, there’s a cop in Cherokee location that’s specifically to us. There are also two other in Georgia. So if you’re listening, let’s say from uh, Atlanta area, there is the North Atlanta one. So you can look at that. Um, they meet on a different day. I think they meet on the second Tuesday. We meet on the third Thursday. And then there’s also in Gainesville in Hall County. Um, and then if you go to Acap community, or you can also look at all of the podcasts, all of the videos, recordings, you know, things like that, topics, you can go there. Um, and then if you want to learn more about Acap or about comfort care about our, uh, our company in Cobb and Cherokee, feel free to give me a call. My direct cell number is seven seven. 02947176. You can text me there. You can call me there. That’s my my cell phone that I carry everywhere. And so it’s 24 hours a day. So if you have any questions about anything just let me know on that number.

Stone Payton: Well, Kristen, it has been an absolute delight having you in the studio this morning. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, your enthusiasm, and your your commitment to genuinely serving. This has been a a marvelous way to invest a Tuesday morning man. And we we sure appreciate you.

Christian Kuswita: Thank you so much, Stone. Thank you for.

Stone Payton: Listening. My pleasure. All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Christian Kusuda with Acap Cobb and Cherokee and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.