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Search Results for: kids care

Work/Life Balance, with Dianne Grote Adams, Safex

September 19, 2022 by John Ray

Safex Dianne Grote Adams
Inspiring Women PodCast with Betty Collins
Work/Life Balance, with Dianne Grote Adams, Safex
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Safex Dianne Grote Adams

Work/Life Balance, with Dianne Grote Adams, Safex (Inspiring Women, Episode 50)

As a working mother juggling family and a career, Dianne Grote Adams felt a compulsion to start her company, Safex, with a core value of giving employees the opportunity to realize a better work/life balance. In this interview with Inspiring Women host Betty Collins, Dianne discussed the development of Safex, what role the focus on work/life balance has had in attracting and retaining talent, and much more.

The host of Inspiring Women is Betty Collins and the show is presented by Brady Ware & Company.

Betty’s Show Notes

Balancing your professional and personal life can be challenging, but it’s essential.

Often, work takes precedence over everything else in our lives. Our desire to succeed professionally can push us to set aside our own well-being.

Creating a harmonious work-life balance or work-life integration is critical, though, to improve not only our physical, emotional, and mental well-being, but it’s also important for our career.

My guest is Dianne Grote Adams. She is president of Safex, a health and safety consulting business, who started her company in 1992. As a working mom with a young family, she wanted to create a company that would respect the abilities of people in a technical career while also offering them some flexibility. From its beginning, Safex has offered flexible scheduling and benefits—vacation, insurance, and paid holidays—for anyone who works more than 25 hours.

Did you find that you attracted the right team around you because of that philosophy?

A lot of people, I think, have this myth that part-time workers aren’t committed.  And they say, well, they’re not really committed to their careers. And I found the opposite. They have time to do personal things. And guess what? They don’t make doctor’s appointments during work hours. They don’t make personal calls during work hours because they have other days to take care of that. So I find actually they are probably more committed because they knew they have a special opportunity that others might not have.

But there are people who maybe can’t handle flex time and flexibility. They need more structure. Do you find that sometimes that’s a challenge?

I think there are certain people who maybe need more guidance or more coaching to help them learn how to manage flex time. Many of us didn’t grow up with that as an option, right? Can everyone be successful? I don’t know. But you’ve got to be able to manage responsibility and accountability.

What would you tell employers who are starting businesses to get into this mindset today? How do you get started?

It has been a focus on what does that person. What is that person supposed to contribute, what are they supposed to do? And if you can put a good definition around that and they meet that, then why should you care what the exact hour is or whether they rode their bike for an hour at lunch or they left early to catch a concert?

So in your journey, what comes easy for you in the work-life balance?

For me, it’s really easy to tell someone else to go take the time off. I struggle still with that work ethic that I grew up with, that I need to be first in, last out, and yes, I need to on Sunday night to prepare for the upcoming week. I just don’t give myself that same grace.

Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.

For more information, go to the Resources page at Brady Ware and Company.

Remember to follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.  And forward our podcast along to other Inspiring Women in your life.

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Betty Collins
I’m Betty Collins. And this is inspiring women. And today we’re going to go through a topic that all of us think about, all of us wish it were just easy. All of us some of us think it’s a it’s a myth. Some of us think it’s a lifetime journey of perfecting. But it really comes down to work life balance and knowing how to make that happen. And sometimes I do really well at it. Other times I’m like, okay, I’ve got to reset again and figure this out. So I think it’s a challenge. It’s all part of your journey. And then one day you figure out it’s probably is a little bit of a myth, but it’s something you can do if you’re intentional about it. It’s like everything intentionality makes it happen. So today I have a very special guest, Dianne Grody Adams, and she founded a company built this company for for quite a while and has and everything about it had in mind a work life balance. So we are just fortunate to have you today, Dianne. We are so glad that you are taking some time with us and the audience. And I know they’re going to be inspired by what you have to say. So the first thing I do want to do is just tell us a little bit about take a couple of minutes to tell us about Dianne Grote Adams.

[00:01:14] Dianne Grote Adams
Wow. Gosh, what is there to tell? So long time Columbus resident, born basically here and grew up here and started the company actually worth 30 years old this year. Very good. So but you’re right, work life balance was something that I aspired to when I was working and thus led me to start Safex. I started working back many years ago and obviously in the traditional workforce didn’t always have as much flexibility as I would have liked to have.

[00:01:49] Betty Collins
Correct. Today we’ve learned all about flexibility because you have a crisis come in and then everyone all of a sudden just went to flexibility. Right. But in 30 years ago, that wasn’t the case. So when you say you have something in mind for that, that you wanted to keep that at your forefront. Tell me just some specifics of what that would be back when you’re thinking through this has to happen, you know.

[00:02:14] Dianne Grote Adams
So I think the big part for me, the motivator for me was I had a professional career, I started a family and I couldn’t balance traveling full time and raising two sons and being a good wife and a good employee. Right. And I didn’t feel like I should have to sacrifice any of those things. So I looked for options and I found a part time job in my field, but it was not very fulfilling. The pay was terrible. There were no perks you got, as many of us probably have done. Hopefully it’s better now. But at that time, right. So as I started to start the business, I thought, well, why does it have to be that way? Why couldn’t I work less than 40 hours a week and still have benefits? Or why couldn’t other mothers or fathers that wanted to be caregivers? Or maybe they just were at a different point in their career and they didn’t want to work 40 or 50 hours a week. Right. Why couldn’t we model a company like that? So that was the intent.

[00:03:14] Betty Collins
Okay. Well, in those beginning stages was of of that and that was part of your culture, probably that was just part of the quote, the mission statement. That was part of how you thought. Did you find that you attracted the right team around you because of that?

[00:03:32] Dianne Grote Adams
That’s a great question, because a lot of people, I think, have this myth that part time workers aren’t committed.

[00:03:36] Betty Collins
Yeah.

And part time B, let’s define as less than 40 hours. And they say, well, they’re not really committed to their careers. And I found the opposite. Those of us who work there knew that we had something special, that we could come to work for three days a week, and then we could have time to do the personal things. And guess what? I didn’t make doctor’s appointments during my work hours. I didn’t make personal calls during my work hours because I had those other days to take care of that. So I found actually they were probably more committed because they knew they had a special opportunity that others might not have.

[00:04:13] Betty Collins
Right. And 30 years ago, this conversation would have been the extreme or it would have been on the out an outlier. It would have been like, okay, good. I’m good luck with that. Right? So you probably had a lot of critics at that point, but at the same time, you felt like you developed a great team that probably stayed with you a long time because of it. One of the things that I that I tell women is your seasons are different. So my twenties look nothing like my thirties. You know, my fifties weren’t my forties. I don’t know what 60 is, but it’s coming there. I’m going to find out pretty soon. Okay. And so sometimes when you look at work life balance, it’s just an easier time to make it happen versus other times. So as an employer and as that person that was building your team. That as far as the work life balance where you flexible as they tendered in came in and out of those seasons. So whether men or women it doesn’t matter.

[00:05:08] Dianne Grote Adams
Certainly and you’re right on and that we all have a different desire or need depending on where we are in our work journey. And sometimes it’s a young family that wants more flexibility. We’ve had other extreme where someone is in their sixties, wants to keep working, but they don’t want to be there five days a week. And so they would like the alternative as well. So I agree with you. It’s not limited to a certain demographic or a certain age group.

[00:05:37] Betty Collins
Right. And in today’s markets, completely different issues of the day. But I mean, people are really back to I want more flexibility. I got used to flexibility and now the things that in their seasons are become extremely important to them, which is not a bad thing. Right. So have you made we had this thing called COVID. You know, we had this thing called a pandemic. Have you made changes since COVID or, you know, as yet another generation is joining the workforce? How are you dealing in all of that? So 38 years ago, you were on the cutting edge. Now it’s like och post-COVID, millennials, all of that.

[00:06:14] Dianne Grote Adams
So actually what we’ve been saying to people is, you know, we’ve been doing this for 30 years. This for us isn’t something really new. But we did recently document our work, flex time, I guess for help for the younger people coming in. We actually got feedback from them is I like the thought here, but I think I need a better understanding and some. Boxes around what you want me to do and not do. Which I was kind of surprised because I was kind of like, Well, you got to take care of your customers and you’ve got to meet your client needs and your internal client needs. And other than that, if you need to run with the doctor under the doctor, but they wanted a little more structure around it. So we actually put it on paper and said, okay, here are your options and laid it out for them.

[00:07:03] Betty Collins
Right. So do you find that this model doesn’t, though, work for everyone? You know, because it’s like, oh, man, I get all this. But there are people who maybe can’t handle flex time and flexibility. They need more structure. Do you find that sometimes that’s a challenge?

[00:07:21] Dianne Grote Adams
I think there are certain people who maybe need more guidance or more coaching to help them learn how to manage flex time. Many of us didn’t grow up with that as an option, right? You went to school and you were expected to be there certain hours and you had homework and it was due a certain time in your first jobs if you’ve been working a while. We had very structured schedules, right? So I think some people need guidance on how do they manage that right now. Can everyone be successful? I don’t know. But you’ve got to be able to manage responsibility and accountability.

[00:07:59] Betty Collins
Right. And I think and I’m sure that you do this for Betty Collins. I do better when I’m in an office. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve always been in an office, but I know when I’m home, I’m like, I’ll just get one more thing done here and I’ll change one more laundry load and maybe I can just shop off to Kroger and then I’ll come back. So for me to go in and out like that, it’s not it’s not a good mindset. I need to stay focused and in there. But when I was raising my kids and that season of Sports and Youth Group and you name it, I could do it then. I can’t do it now. Like I could leave and go. I got to go to the game and then I’ll come back and fit and I was able to. So some of it has to do with the season, but for me, I know if I had I would have to still have a lot of structure around it. So but that’s just me. So when we’re balancing things, what do you find that people like to balance the most? I mean, for me, I look at my life and go, okay, this is the order. I have a spiritual life. I have a mental health life, a physical life. And then there’s this big category called The Routine of Life. And as long as I balance this first, I can handle routine fairly well. So when you’re finding people want that balance, is it that cut and dry? Because I’m a CPA and I’ve got four sections, you know, but when they talk about balance, what do you find your employees want to balance besides doctor appointments or or maybe that’s a lot of what it is.

I do think a lot of it is just life. Yeah. There are things you have to do, right? It’s part of that. Adulting. Yes. And it takes time. Yeah. And if all the people you need to make a phone call and appointments for work 8 to 5 and you work 8 to 5, that’s hard. So that is part of it. I think others I think it’s all over board depending on what their interests are. Right. I have some people who want to go use the gym for lunch or I have some people who want to go the grocery store before they pick a child up at childcare or somebody wants a long weekend to go hiking. So I think it’s really all over the board what those other things are, depending on what their personal interests are.

[00:10:01] Betty Collins
Yeah. So for you, you know, this is part of your culture. It’s been part of the why and the how, because it was personal to you 30 years ago that I need this in my life for people who still don’t grasp this, like maybe my older partners, they just don’t grasp it. What would you tell employers today or women who are starting businesses or anyone who’s starting a business, you know, to get this mindset, especially if it’s hard for them, like how do you really just get in there and go because this works? How do you get started? You know, how do you change that?

[00:10:40] Dianne Grote Adams
For us? I think it has been a focus on what does that person what is that person supposed to contribute, what do they is supposed to do? Right. And if you can put a good definition around that and they meet that, then why should you care what the exact hour is or whether they rode their bike for an hour at lunch or they left early to catch a concert? I mean, why should you care as long as you have our clearly communicating what the expectations are as consultants? I mean, it is a little easier. You have a certain amount of revenue you’re expected to generate and you have certain deadlines to meet with your clients. If you’re not meeting those, then it’s an obvious discussion that we have a problem. But if you are meeting those, should I really care?

[00:11:25] Betty Collins
Right. Right. And I mean so. So your company is very intentional about setting expectations. We are. Okay. So tell us a little bit about your company. So people kind of know that they might be going well, this is easy for her because. You know, what is it that Safex does?

[00:11:43] Dianne Grote Adams
So let me say first, I’m not going to say it’s easy. Well, and I grew up, as many of us did, with this work ethic that you’re in the office at seven, you’re the last to leave. And that’s what life is all about and that’s how you prove yourself. So that was the mindset I started with, and that is how I spent the first ten years of my career. So this was a mind shift for me, no question. And there were days I still have a little heartburn when I’m not sure that everybody has the client’s best interests at heart. But then you have to have a conversation, right? So that being said, because we are occupational safety and health partners with our customers, they often have a project and it has a known deadline. We have a budget. There are known hours to complete that project and each person knows how many hours of revenue they need to generate in a year. So you break that out month by month and then it’s easy, relatively easy to have a conversation about this is what you need to accomplish. And so if you have the open conversation and you share all that information and maybe that’s what helps us, we’re very transparent in our books, the revenue we generate, the hours that everybody is billing, the clients that are happy with us, the disappointments. And so that open communication perhaps reinforces the message of how much we trust you, but also the huge responsibility you have to maintain that trust.

[00:13:13] Betty Collins
So people really trying to to hear you today and go, I mean, I would love to get there. It all started with a Y and it was personal. But it also is your intentional. You’ve set expectations, communication being very open. So as I say in here, your flexibility cannot cause chaos to the overall client in your peer. Correct. And that’s just an expectation that has to be there from the beginning. So who have you seen do did you have a mentor or somebody that you saw in life that did this well or no? I was the mentor and I helped other people do this. It could be either way.

[00:13:56] Dianne Grote Adams
30 years ago, there weren’t a lot of people doing this right. I more went to This is not what we want to do. So how do we do this differently? Yeah, and it wasn’t just my desire for my life. My husband was working in consulting at the same time and he would often be out of town for ten straight days, back home for four gonn again ten. And he didn’t have a choice about that schedule. He was told, this is where you’re going. Yeah. And they expected him to figure out child care or whatever or they assumed he didn’t have to worry about it, that I would worry about it, whatever the case might have been 30 years ago. But then I also saw he came home. He was exhausted. Right. He didn’t have quality time at home. And then he still had to do his timecard and his marketing responsibilities and things. So those four days off really weren’t a four days off. Yeah. So I saw that as, okay, these are other things we can’t do, can’t dictate schedules. We can’t dictate. You have to go out of town this week. You’ve got to have a conversation with people on where they are in their life and who can we count on to travel this month or who can we travel on to next month? Or maybe you can travel next week, but the following weeks, not really good because your spouse is.

[00:15:09] Betty Collins
Gone, right?

[00:15:10] Dianne Grote Adams
And so those kind of conversations is what helped allow us to create that.

[00:15:15] Betty Collins
To create that. Yeah. Again, the flexibility can’t cause chaos, but let’s see what we can do to make it all work.

And there are days it doesn’t work. Yeah, we’re there more than we want to be or.

[00:15:27] Betty Collins
Right. Because if you.

[00:15:28] Dianne Grote Adams
Say we’re out of balance and we need to pull back and have a conversation about it, it happens.

[00:15:32] Betty Collins
Yeah. So. So for you, do you I mean I mean, you’ve had this incredible journey of a great company. You’re pretty known for it. Do you find that even though you’ve done this this long and I don’t like to make my podcast about about pandemics, but it was a pretty major thing. Was there any adjustment, though, even to that? Because now we can’t be maybe as flexible because clients we can’t be there when you know what I mean. There was definitely I know for us, for instance, auditors couldn’t just go on it, you know, and then all of our clients are doing these whole audits electronically, which they really didn’t want to do. And you’re doing safety. I mean, so was it Hey, we’ve been doing this, so we’re good to go. And the pandemic, or did you still find that challenging with with doing like everyone did?

[00:16:23] Dianne Grote Adams
There are certain things that we were probably more prepared for than others. Yeah, but no question, there are certain tasks that had never been done remotely that we either had to figure out, can this even be done remotely? Or is that something that’s going to have to wait? Yeah. So no, there’s still some adjustments that absolutely had to be made.

[00:16:45] Betty Collins
So this is a terrible question, but I’ll ask it anyway so you can say no. Edit this, take it out. So the question is so in your journey, what comes easy for you with work life and balance? But what comes hard? I mean, like, what’s the good and what’s the bad? And again, you don’t have to answer, but we’re waiting.

[00:17:03] Dianne Grote Adams
Oh, no, it’s okay. Yeah, there’s nothing to hide. Yeah, I struggle still with that work ethic that I grew up with, that I need to be first in, last out, and yes, I need to on Sunday night prepare for the upcoming week. I am so wired that way that I really struggle to not think about work on the weekend. Now that might be in part business owner and not just employee, a combination of the two. So that for me is still hard. Yeah, what is easy for me. A young man came to me yesterday and he said I got my work all caught up and I’m supposed to be here till the end of the day. But we have our new puppy and it has its first vet appointment. And I’m not a dog lover, so I didn’t really get it, but I’m like, okay, he’s all gushy about it, you know? And he says, I really want to go with my wife to see to the puppy’s first vet appointment. I said, So go. He goes, Really? I’m like, Yeah. Did you not read our flexible work policy? You can do that. You’ll work, you’ve met your needs. Go. So for me, it’s really easy to tell someone else to go do that. I just don’t give myself that same grace probably.

[00:18:18] Betty Collins
Well, it’s amazing to me and how I would answer is it’s the it’s the constant engagement that we have set ourselves up to be. And that first one is just the email, shut it down, quit having it on your watch, your phone everywhere round. That’s one that people you don’t really have your flexibility in my mind on the weekends if you’re getting emails from the person who wants to work all weekend and yet how you not you know and that one is the hardest for me and I’ve even learned I have ideas or emails that I draft and wait until Monday morning to send them all out. Good for you. You know, because you’re you may be wired to do this, but you’re your people maybe don’t want to do this or they don’t want to keep getting this stuff that engages them back in. And so as employers, we need to set a better example of that to me. But how did we ever do this? Because email, it’s hundreds a day. It can be where it wasn’t like I was on the phone all day in the eighties. But, you know, that’s one to me that’s a challenge for me and work life balance. Don’t answer email, shut it down. But then don’t send emails and think people will just come in on Monday and answer them. You put them in an anxious spot, right?

[00:19:39] Dianne Grote Adams
I agree. I resisted email on my phone long after. People are like, What do you mean you don’t check your email on your phone? I’m like, Because the minute I look at something, then my brain engages and I can’t disengage. But I don’t have a smartphone or a smartwatch because I don’t want email.

[00:20:00] Betty Collins
On my.

[00:20:01] Dianne Grote Adams
Wrist because I just will go nuts.

[00:20:04] Betty Collins
And I did turn off notifications because that does help at least. So then it is. If I don’t see a bunch of notifications on those two things, I’m not going to dig in to.

[00:20:14] Dianne Grote Adams
I have all my notifications off 100%.

Yeah.

[00:20:17] Dianne Grote Adams
Even in the office. Because if I’m focusing on something, I don’t need those little reminders that somebody has something to tell me. Right. Because sometimes what I’m. Doing is more important than whatever that person had to tell me at that moment. And if I’m engaging with a client, I need to be focused on what that client’s needs are. So I don’t use those at all. But you have a valid point.

[00:20:38] Betty Collins
It’s tough. It’s tough. So use the employer. If you’re really say you have work life balance and the weekend is yours, then don’t make it theirs. Don’t make it yours. I mean, you know, so the other thing I would ask, work life balance, we always think of it’s well, that’s the mom.

[00:20:53] Dianne Grote Adams
That’s for women, right?

[00:20:55] Betty Collins
It’s not for the dad or whatever. Maybe the dad is more of the caretaker or those type of things. How do your if you have a balance of men and women do men I mean, does it seem like it’s always geared to women and that’s what they think? Or are men going, no, I get this.

[00:21:14] Dianne Grote Adams
30 years ago when we started, we had some men who felt put out would probably be a good way to put it, that all of our women didn’t work full time and they worked like Monday through Friday every day, and that they had to take the really hard road. And we talked about it and got through it. But over time, no, it’s been men and women who have taken advantage of the part time at side effects. My husband joined us after a few years and he worked less than full time for a number of years because the our sons were in ball and it was perfect for him. Right. He got to leave at 230. When they got out of school, he went and helped coach. I mean, it was a great family environment and I would come later then and we’d have dinner together as a family. So for us, that worked great. I had he and another person came both men and at the end of their careers worked less than full time and we’re still able to mentor our young people, do productive work, feel good about themselves, but didn’t have to be there Monday through Friday. So I think it’s not just a woman’s issue, but it does take very strong men, I think, to be able to buck the tradition and be that less than full time person. And I think it’s more acceptable now than certainly 30 years ago.

[00:22:32] Betty Collins
Right.

[00:22:32] Dianne Grote Adams
And I’ll brag a little bit, my son is the primary caregiver of his two sons. And when right before he got married, he said, you know, Mom, what I would really like to do is be the stay at home dad. And I said, well, then talk to your wife to be about that. It may not happen for whatever reason, but that’s a conversation you two need to have. She’s an attorney. Her hours are not as flexible, and that’s a choice they’ve made. But he’s thrilled and he’s good at it. And so I think just giving all of our family members the option for whatever works for their family is what is that real work life balance.

[00:23:07] Betty Collins
What I really like is that your employees, your environment, your clients, whoever they solve from the top that it’s for, it’s for both. It’s for parents, not moms or it’s not the single dad who has to was you guys showed that example that this is how we want our work in life and balance to be. So then it gives people kind of the they see it and then they go, oh well maybe maybe I can do this right. So for women business owners who tend to go, everything is on me because it’s hard, right? And you’re and you take it all on. And one of the reasons I would say that women struggle in business more because men will start a business and it goes like this. Women are like this. You know, it’s the journey is a little bit longer. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It’s just they don’t and a lot of it is is because they think they have to do it all instead of you can have it all, you don’t have to do it all. So kind of our end today, I’d like to talk about how we inspire women to to think about that statement of you can have it all. You just don’t need to do it all. Can you kind of expand on that?

[00:24:27] Dianne Grote Adams
Sure. I think there’s two components to that, though. I’m not in business and this will upset some people. I’m not in business to see how much money I can make in a short period of time. I’m in business to provide a decent living for my family and for those that we work with. So my end game might be a little different than other business owners, so I didn’t need to go from 0 to 102 years. Right. So that being said, I might have a slightly different perspective, but it is hard, I think as a woman who was brought up, that you are the rock, right? I guess the core focus to be able to ask for help. And Betty knows I am a caregiver now and that is the hardest thing for me to do is to ask for help. And so I have been honest with our team that I can’t do what I use. To do, and it’s killing me in my soul because it’s still something I love. But I need other things for people to either pick up or if I ask you for help, it’s because I really need help. I’m not trying to quote unquote dump on you. Right. And I think, Ben, it’s back to that, just being honest and communicating. I don’t think anybody judges if you’re honest, I think we all think we’re being judged. Right. But if you have the conversation about it, I don’t really think people then are judging. It’s when you try to keep it a secret and they don’t understand that misconceptions maybe.

You’re guarding it close because oh my we can’t show that or but women business owners have a tendency to and not even the end game the end game they don’t see the full potential of who and what they could be because they’re wrapped up in in doing it all.
Because what you want to be and what you want to do might be completely different. At the end of the day. I mean, as a CPA, my goal is not to focus on your depreciation, and those things are all important. But the goal for me has always been if the marketplace is successful in this country, the world works, it just does. And when you get to be that employer you have, that means you have employees and you’re the provision, right? You’re the provision. And those are households and those households firm communities. And so how do I make sure that success happens and it’s not doing it all? Because, you know, there’s another balance and another world out there.

[00:26:57] Dianne Grote Adams
So one of our core values, we say, is equality. And that’s part of what we tell people when we first come is like, you have a different experience than me. You have a different skill set than me. None of us are better than the other. Without our collective skill set, we can’t be successful. Right. And so I think saying that does help a little bit and living that, not just saying it, but living that also helps you ask for help a little bit or say, you know what, your strength is really good in this area and I’m going to take 6 hours to do this because I am not good at this. I can do it, but I’m not good at it and being honest. And then that person picks it up, gets it done an hour, you’re like, Well, that was a much better use of time, right? And I’ll go do something that I’m better suited to do.

[00:27:43] Betty Collins
Yeah, well, today we’ve had Dianne Adams with Safex, and you have just been a delight. You have restored my. Maybe I don’t need to go through a big plan and reset. I just need to go know there is work life imbalance. It takes work, but it’s worth it. So we appreciate you coming with us today. We appreciate you talking to our audience and being part of this.

[00:28:06] Dianne Grote Adams
It’s my pleasure. I love to share our story and to hear from other women.

[00:28:11] Betty Collins
It’s a great story.

[00:28:12] Speaker1
It’s a wonderful part of being in business. Right. All right.

[00:28:16] Speaker1
Thank you very much.

Automated transcription by Sonix www.sonix.ai

Tagged With: Betty Collins, Brady Ware & Company, Dianne Grote Adams, Inspiring Women with Betty Collins, safety consulting, safex, work-life balance

Andrew Reibly and Bobbi Cowart with VIBE Realty

September 19, 2022 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio
Cherokee Business Radio
Andrew Reibly and Bobbi Cowart with VIBE Realty
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Andrew-Reibly-headshotAndrew Reibly is a VIBE Realty Brokerage Owner, Realtor, State Licensed Residential & Light Commercial General Contractor, Residential Housing Investor in Georgia.

His goals are to help a diverse group of clients to buy & sell real estate, and build and/or renovate their homes and businesses while maintaining quality craftsmanship and a strict budget.

Specialties: Realtor, Managing residential & light commercial construction projects, as well as assisting clients in buying & selling residential and commercial real estate. Specializing in FHA 203K renovation loans.

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn.

Bobbi-Cowart-headshotBobbi Cowart has vast professional experience in banking, insurance, and real estate. Her wide array of skills and expertise have helped propel her forward as a leader in her career. That leadership has inspired her to achieve the dream of owning and running her own real estate brokerage. Bobbi began her career working in the banking sector for over twelve years. She has always worked with smaller, community banks where she felt there was more of a personalized experience for her clients.

After leaving the banking world, Bobbi worked in the insurance industry and was licensed in property, casualty, life, accident, and health policies. Bobbi turned her eyes to the real estate industry and began working towards her license while working in insurance. She became licensed for real estate in 2009 and has been a full-time realtor since. She initially specialized in commercial real estate and land, however, residential real estate is where her heart belongs.

Bobbi is a fun-loving person who loves the personal relationships that real estate allows her to establish with her clients and colleagues. She is a proclaimed people person and loves to spend time hanging out with others whether it is having fun or collaborating on a deal. She loves to laugh and has a not-so-secret talent for winning at common bar games such as darts, pool, and shuffleboard.

Her contagious, fun personality has helped her become an industry leader in the area. Her favorite part of the job is the relationships and the feeling of knowing that she gets to help her clients with such a sweet life moment. When she is not working you can find her listening to live music or snuggled up with her fur baby, Snickers.

Connect with Bobbi on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

Renee Dierdorff: [00:00:27] Hi everybody. My name is Renee and I’m with.Amy.And we are with Kid Biz Radio. We are here to create conversations about the power of entrepreneurship and the positive impact that journey can have on kids. Today we are here with Bobbi Cowart and Andrew Reibly from Vibe Realty right here in Woodstock. Thank you for being here.

Andrew Reibly: [00:00:46] Thank you.

Bobbi Cowart: [00:00:46] Thanks for having us.

[00:00:47] Yeah. So as you know, we’re all about businesses and kids learning through being business owners. So can you tell us a little bit about your business and how you got started?

[00:00:58] Sure. Yeah. So I am originally just a custom builder and renovator, and when we had the recession back in oh nine, I decided to get diversified and become a realtor. So I still do both. And Bobby and I met at a previous brokerage and became fast friends and have done deals together, have been project partners and that kind of thing. And yeah, so that’s my story.

[00:01:26] Okay.

[00:01:27] Well, I was a banker in a previous life and when 2739 happened, I lost my job because I was a commercial lender for small community banks and had to regroup and figure out what to do. I had a ton of real estate knowledge through that, so real estate seemed like a natural path and I had a great mentor that encouraged me to get my real estate license. So I did.

[00:01:49] That’s great. Great. I know you said you do general contract work as well. So is that something? I mean, do you feel like that’s more full time or is it like which one do you do more often? Or is it really just.

[00:02:03] Really they’re both. Because the way I categorize it is it’s real estate services. I’m just a full service, real estate service company and guy. So I can help you buy a property or buy land and build on it and sell your property. So it’s just a full service deal that goes hand in hand.

[00:02:20] Do you feel like it’s really helped with your general contracting Business.

[00:02:24] Big time? I mean, great book to read, especially for your listeners and the kids is Who Moved My Cheese Say Wonderful book. It’s a very simple if you all heard.

[00:02:38] I haven’t.

[00:02:39] Trust me when I tell you. You all should read it. Yeah, everybody should read it. It is a wonderful book and it’s just basically about getting diversified, but it’s a very easy, simple read. It’s almost Dr. Seuss ish. Yeah, so. But it’s great. I think I wanted to have my business model that way. And so to answer your question, it was it’s diversified sort of within the same kind of industry. So I think it’s been phenomenally helpful.

[00:03:07] They complement each other.

[00:03:07] hey really do. My main revenue stream would be the building side, and then as a secondary is the real estate, if you want to kind of, you know, rank them or whatever. But they’re relatively close and it’s all tied together in terms of you also think of everybody, of course, initially thinks of revenue streams and stuff, but for the marketing aspect as well too, right? Because if I’m talking to you about buying and selling you guys house and the real estate side, I’m also a builder. Oh, I have somebody. Or maybe I want to do that. So it really is a great marketing tool for that.

[00:03:46] And you have the knowledge of what someone’s getting into and what to look for.

[00:03:51] That’s a huge deal on the real estate. A lot of my clients like using me because I think there’s better. Realtors like Bobby, I think is a better realtor, but people will use me because I’m a builder, so they’re like, I want your builder I on these projects. Or if it’s an investment deal, I do investments as well, like flipping houses and things. So they bring me in on that as well.

[00:04:14] So it’s a huge advantage for our brokerage to I. Most brokerages don’t have a general contractor who especially is an owner. And because he’s not just an agent, he’s an owner, he’s invested in this business. So our agents have access to a general contractor. So it’s huge when you get those scary inspection reports on a home, he they have someone they have a resource to come talk to, not just the inspector, but someone who’s actually renovating and building. So I think it’s a huge advantage for our agents and not ever, unless you’re with Vibe, you’re not going to have access to luxury paying.

[00:04:55] Nice marketing.

[00:04:56] I was going to ask if you guys leverage that in your general marketing that you do and you mentioned.

[00:05:01] It, but it’s certainly a value add for our brokerage. And and and it’s not just corporate speak, you know, it’s it’s actually in marketing. You know, of course, you become friends with people in the brokerage and they know they can come in any time and chat with me about, you know, what I think about this or that and is this serious? Not serious and happens all the time. And I think it is a great value add for our our agents in us for sure.

[00:05:27] That’s awesome. So you guys were talking a little bit about invest, sorry, investments and things like that. And our topic today is introducing kids to personal finances and budgeting. And I think regardless if someone has children or not, this is a lot can be added to the conversation because everyone has experience with money. Everybody uses money. You have your own childhood experiences and how you learned it or didn’t learn it for sure. And I think that all of the different perspectives and frames of references to where you are now can help other parents out there and kids learn.

[00:06:05] Agreed. Agree. Bobbi was saying beforehand she goes, well, I don’t have kids, so I don’t know, but she’s a banker, so.

[00:06:11] I know about Money.

[00:06:12] That’s a huge and as a value add to viability, being a banker and a commercial lender, she brings a huge part to the financial piece and to this to this conversation. I think she would be she’s super valuable as well.

[00:06:27] Maybe I’ve experienced some things like maybe with young like young buyers, maybe they’ve come through that they didn’t know and things like that. Just buying a house. I mean, that’s kind of part of the whole money. Talk to how it works, how credit works and all. I mean, it could opens up to a larger conversation. Our target audience around middle school is tend to be where we get a lot of interaction. And so. Trying to not dumb it down like it’s the worst word in the world or phrase in the world. But make it engaging for kids that age.

[00:07:02] And simplify.

[00:07:03] And simplify like you were.

[00:07:05] Have to be.

[00:07:05] Complicated, right? We’re talking about the move. My cheat who move my cheese being like I no one wants to read a textbook on that kind of thing. Right. For even for adults, it needs to be engaging.

[00:07:15] Absolutely.

[00:07:16] So.

[00:07:17] Well, and I’ll tell you and and really, you know, I think it becomes a it’s a self-indulgent for adults a lot of times. And I’m that way I’m very nerdy. I love to drill down. And I know I probably drive people crazy with data points. And I want to know this and listen.

[00:07:35] No, not.

[00:07:38] You know, it’s fair. And but the that’s just because I enjoy a self indulgent. I think I think we all want to feel like we’re smart and doing that. But listen, honestly, there there nothing in life has to actually be complicated. Absolutely nothing. And if you’re super smart, you can run down rabbit holes and all, but you can also then translate it to that. And I think what you all are doing is wonderful with kids and entrepreneur. Oh, yeah, because I’m obviously we’re entrepreneurs. I’m a serial entrepreneur. I love having my multiple businesses and I think it’s the absolute backbone of our country’s economics. And, you know, I can’t imagine ever being stuck in a corporate office and God bless people that can do it because.

[00:08:31] Right.

[00:08:32] We got to have them, too, right? I mean, they’re they’re like the old Wiley Coyote and Roadrunner where they clock in and clock out. It’s definitely not a thing for me, but I think it’s great that people can do that. But teaching kids to be entrepreneurs is phenomenal.

[00:08:47] Yeah.

[00:08:48] I think one of the biggest things that impacted me from like thinking about how I manage my money and especially savings is very important to me. I learned it because my parents didn’t do that. So any time there was an emergency or something breaks at the house, my parents were constantly scrambling, trying to figure out How do we pay for it? Can we get a new credit card? So that sticks with you. I learned by seeing maybe what not to do. So I’m not a parent, but I was a child, so I kind of saw some things that.

[00:09:28] That makes a difference.

[00:09:29] Yeah, it’s structured how I tried to live my life.

[00:09:32] Yeah, I.

[00:09:32] Think those lessons are just as impactful as.

[00:09:35] Absolutely.

[00:09:36] As, you know, what to do. In fact, I think those lessons are actually more impactful. You know, you can learn stuff, but we all know I used to when my kids were growing up, I coached football and softball for my daughter. And, you know, it’s one thing to tell a kid that you’re going to get hit and it’s going to hurt. It’s not going to kill you. You’re going to be fine. But until you actually get hit and have the wind knocked out of you or a ball hit you or something, you know, skinning your knee and then you figure out, okay, maybe I should not do that kind of thing. So I think that’s super impactful. I think seeing what not to.

[00:10:16] Do and being able to share that experience, you know, that’s what we kind of are wanting to do here is be able to share the things that you did learn. And I know some people learn through experiences, you know, have to learn the hard way. They say, Oh, absolutely, I’m not that person. There’s people in my life that are my husband is one of them. That’s, I think, why we work well together, because he just had the courage to try things anyway and learn that way. Yeah, but I was the one afraid to break the rules and I want to know what the rules were and that kind of thing. So I was like, Oh my gosh. I had to, you know, I needed to know step one, two and three. But yeah, being able to share the things because regardless of how prepared you think you are, there’s always something that life, a curve ball or something that life will throw you. So it’s not I just kind of wanted to jump into a topic because she and I both have I don’t know if you’ve heard of the green light card.

[00:11:10] I have not.

[00:11:11] It is a and I’m sure there’s other ones out there, but she and I both use these with our kids and they are debit cards that a kid can have that runs through your bank. But you have an app so you can pull money from your bank into your parent wallet and then disperse that money to the kids and they can save, spend, give that whole thing. But they see it digitally. That’s how everything’s done. I know when I was growing up, my mom gave me an old check register and we did my money that way and she would write me a check. And because that’s what that was, what it was. And the late eighties, right? There were.

[00:11:43] No portals.

[00:11:44] There weren’t. There weren’t. And so, you know, we’re just taking the same idea of. Teaching your kids money and good habits, etc., etc., and doing it the way it is today. I don’t know if you want to talk about the positive experiences you’ve had with it or.

[00:11:59] Yeah, I can. Absolutely. So I have three daughters and they each have a green light card and it’s been really beneficial because it’s a lot easier because I never carry cash, but to give them their allowance and they can see money coming in, they can order their own things on Amazon and see money going out. They can use them, they have PIN numbers, they can go to the store and use them. And so they each individually have their own businesses. So when they get a profit from our expose and have a really good day, we disperse it between spending and savings and they can see their savings grow versus and their and their spending categories. So I think for them it’s been really beneficial. It’s not just like because they can it’s visual, it’s not just like at the bank somewhere and they don’t know what’s going on. Yeah. So then seeing like, oh well my sister has this much in her savings and maybe I should catch up or whatever, you know, or like I have this much in spending and do I need to spend it all right now or can I transfer some? And so they they’re learning a lot through that. I think it’s been great.

[00:13:00] Makes them think twice before buying the thing at the store.

[00:13:03] Well, some one of them is very money conscious. The other two are like, let’s spend it now.

[00:13:09] Well.

[00:13:09] It’s cool that and I think that school and you were talking before about you and your husband, huge difference between boys and girls, how we do things and we talk about that a lot. And I think it’s I think it’s great to have both perspectives. You know, it’s yin and yang. I always say that girls are more smarter than guys. Exactly. But it’s not better necessarily. It just means you guys think about things more. And, you know, I know most guys like me are like, I want to think about it, but there comes a time. I’m like, we’re going to try to.

[00:13:42] Make a decision.

[00:13:43] And not get. In fact, we just had a mastermind where don’t get paralysis by analysis. And I think I think women are prone to do that a lot of times because of the security aspect. It’s like, that’s not safe. I got to do this. I got to protect my family. It’s just it’s just in you. And I think you have to account for that, you know, and those are smart deals, but to me, it can also be a little bit of a curse. Whereas guys, we can also be a little too dumb and quick. So there’s a sweet spot, I think. And I think Bobby and I work well together because we tend to do that. You know, I’m like, you know, let’s, let’s think about it for a minute, but then go. And she’s like, Wait, wait. I got to think. And I’m like, I just, you know, basically grab her hand and we’re.

[00:14:24] Doing this.

[00:14:24] And she’s like, Oh, God, here we go.

[00:14:26] And she you get a day.

[00:14:28] The only issue I have is a lot of times we’re jumping out of the plane and I’m still trying to put a pair of.

[00:14:33] Shoes on, you.

[00:14:34] Know, yeah, it’s going to happen.

[00:14:36] And I tell her, you have the rest of your life to put your parachute on on the way down.

[00:14:40] Oh, gosh.

[00:14:43] I’m an old paratrooper, so we’ll we’ll do airborne jokes sometimes.

[00:14:47] That’s okay.

[00:14:48] It is good to have someone, though, to push you outside of your comfort zone, because when you are ultra conservative, especially on a financial side, that can be very good, but it can also hold you back from making investments that can make you a lot of money. So yeah, sometimes it’s good to have someone that’s like, okay, we analyze the numbers. We’re like, Go, let’s, let’s do it.

[00:15:10] Go do it. Scared? Yeah, I think that was kind of my motto.

[00:15:13] That’s kind of how this brokerage was to a certain point, right? Like we talked about it, we talked about it years before we did it, and then circumstances were different for both of us. We were at the same brokerage again and not happy with certain things. So we started a discussion and I had to push him into the discussion. And then once I pushed him in, he’s pushing me out of the.

[00:15:36] Plane like a minute. Yes.

[00:15:39] So be careful what you wish for, then.

[00:15:41] Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s right. Yeah. Well, she and I work well, the yin and the yang, too.

[00:15:46] With this complementing different personality.

[00:15:50] Yeah, I think you come up with a process, right? And then both of those are valuable. I think our politics today could use that, you know? I mean, look what a mess that is. And people don’t even want to talk about it. And what a great subject that we all want to talk about. But then it gets too messy.

[00:16:05] Sometimes it gets.

[00:16:05] Too messy and it’s like, y you know, you need both sides of those things.

[00:16:09] Information.

[00:16:10] You need information. And you know, there’s a compromise to be found in the middle for everything. Yeah, I think there’s also seasons in lives. Like you guys have, you know, adolescent children, I guess you would call them or whatever. Your season is going to be much different, you know, now than it will be, as I am an empty nester now. So the way we look at things and manage money and how we teach kids and talk to kids.

[00:16:36] Mm hmm.

[00:16:36] I think it’s brilliant. Y’all are talking to kids about money and intentional. I think everything should be intentional about that like you guys are talking about doing. Because now I’ll tell you what’s wonderful is I talk to my. Kids who are grown. They’re 24 and 23. You know, he’s an Army Ranger and she’s a nurse. And I get to talk to them about what they do with their money and things. And they come to me for advice and.

[00:17:01] Did you do that when they were younger? Absolutely. You’ve just developed this relationship.

[00:17:04] Absolutely. And it changes as they grow. You know, I always believed in me and intentional. And, you know, it was raised and they were kids. I was raising adults. So I would talk to them like you guys do. I love the the green money card thing as a wonderful deal and saying you have to save because there’s things you’re going to have to pay that you don’t want to pay. And if you spend it all, then you’re going to be in trouble. And it’s amazing that a lot of adults don’t know that. You know, it’s tremendous. It’s like and I used to be harsher. I’ve gotten older. I’m I think I’m moving into grandpa mode, but I’m like, you know, how stupid is that? You know? And how how can they not know that? But they just really don’t know it. They’ve never been taught or trained or those kinds of things. And, and so I think, yeah, I definitely did it with my kids and said, you know, here’s the deal and you can save your money, you can spend it, give them the option, let them develop the thought process.

[00:18:04] How.

[00:18:04] They manage their money.

[00:18:06] See which direction it leads them like and what the good and the bad of that is.

[00:18:10] Yeah. And let them go through and skinned their knees sometimes.

[00:18:12] Oh absolutely.

[00:18:13] If they want to spend it all.

[00:18:15] Run out of money in that need.

[00:18:16] Yeah. And that ties back into where we are with our organization. Just teaching them these hardships now. You betcha. And they become lifelong skills in the long run, right. I love that we’re teaching them that. Yeah, you can mess up and you can make poor choices. You’ll be okay, but.

[00:18:32] You’ll be okay.

[00:18:33] And it’s better to do that now and understand that process in that journey rather than later in life when it’s a lot harder and there’s more factors, you know?

[00:18:41] Sure. I think it’s wonderful. Yeah. And and when they do, you know, they decide to spend their money, don’t bail them out.

[00:18:47] Right.

[00:18:48] If your other kids are eating and you’re like, Oh, I feel bad because they’re not don’t feel bad, you are teaching them the greatest lesson ever. The feel bad is yours is.

[00:18:57] Your problem, right? Yeah. It’s like your thing.

[00:18:58] It’s your.

[00:18:59] Thing. Yeah.

[00:18:59] Let them sit over there and go.

[00:19:01] You’re not doing them any favors.

[00:19:02] Doing them any favors. You’re making yourself feel better. Let them sit over there and hate that. And the next time I bet you that kid goes, You know what? I’ll save my money because I want ice cream with my brothers and sisters and friends next time. Just the greatest lesson you can teach them that is that we’ll give back to them for the rest of their life.

[00:19:21] It’s like you said, you’re raising adults. Yeah, the kids. Right. You need to guide them. And that’s your job as a parent is make sure they’re ready. And when you were talking about like kids that you’ve seen or just in general, like, how do kids not know this? It’s you want them to feel empowered. Sure. And have the resources that you need. And it’s about, I guess, having control in their life and having a plan. And, you know, yes, things go can go south, but you can talk about that as they grow up and just having real applications like with the way that we use the green light card and just through the experience of building a business and showcasing it at our expos and all of that, it’s all to give them something to because we were talking about, I think about kids and needing be engaging. Just telling them isn’t, you know, we’re just trying to provide.

[00:20:11] Those living experience, feeling living.

[00:20:13] Doing totally the hurt and the the tiredness of being up, making your inventory, you know, up to midnight or whatever, all ready for it, you know, like you learn things and responsibility and then the pride that get afterwards is huge.

[00:20:28] So something that we see with a lot of realtors is that they don’t save for taxes, for example. So when you’re talking about these children as being entrepreneurs and building a business and then you talk about, you know, like your example was, well, now I don’t have any money because so I can’t have ice cream with my siblings. There’s also a business component in there that like, for example, for to make things simple for me with my budgeting, when I make money, I just do everything in percentages. So I move a certain percentage into savings, a certain percentage goes towards taxes, and then I figure out what you know. Then I have a percentage for all my expenses, right? So I think sometimes just breaking it down into like percentage categories.

[00:21:18] Yeah, makes.

[00:21:18] Sense. And that way they make sure they set aside. But that is one thing that we see. It’s a big.

[00:21:23] Problem for.

[00:21:24] Some, especially realtors, right? Because sometimes they don’t think of that as like they’re a real business and then they haven’t saved for their taxes. And then and.

[00:21:32] Then it’s a nightmare.

[00:21:35] For sure.

[00:21:35] A nightmare because, my gosh.

[00:21:37] Uncle Sam does not play when it comes to that.

[00:21:39] Right. So we want to help people before they get there. Yeah, that’s a great.

[00:21:43] Also with the green light card you can not that this is like just a commercial for green light but just. Something that I’ve noticed. You can categorize their savings portion. So we’ve broken theirs down into like just general savings and business savings because they know that Romney can’t be the sole investor in every single thing for their business. Like I’ll do the big stuff. But if there’s something else and you have money in that business savings account, guess where that money is going? You need to buy more supplies. So just like reiterating the breaking it down into different categories that you will have to reinvest in yourself and your business.

[00:22:22] Super smart.

[00:22:23] Yeah.

[00:22:23] Oh, those are huge. And, you know, like Bobbi was saying, I mean, she’s one of the smartest ladies with finances and all that thing ever.

[00:22:31] And and I do love it, actually. I’m a finance major also.

[00:22:36] Yes.

[00:22:36] So she numbers are your jam 100%.

[00:22:39] And she can go down a rabbit hole and get as complicated as you want. But think about what she just said. She just breaks it down. Simple, very, very simple.

[00:22:49] So otherwise I won’t do it.

[00:22:51] Yeah. Yeah, right. And your process, that’s the perfect point. As you’re, you know, know it, get as extensive knowledge as you want on it, but just have a very simple process. X goes to taxes for saving, X goes to reinvestment and X goes to play. Because I think that’s a huge part. We, we work to enjoy our lives, so make sure you’re intentionally doing those things. But I think it can be very simple. I think you want to study it and know it and get smart, but be intentional, make it simple, and if you follow that, it’ll keep you out of trouble for sure.

[00:23:29] So the reason I brought up green light was and the reason this whole topic came to be was because I get that I have one, but it’s in my Facebook feed ads for it. And one came up the other day and there the ad is for kids getting paid, doing chores around the house. That’s how they marketed it. In this particular ad, I went to the comment section and there were people just saying, You shouldn’t. This is like just dog in the whole concept because you shouldn’t pay your kids to do chores around the house. I think, you know, my ever so humble opinion that everybody’s family values around that can be different. And what I commented was, you know, think outside the box on how you can use this tool. It’s a tool to teach your kids. That’s the whole point of it. And if you personally don’t want to pay them, do chores, what else can they do to earn money? Right, because that pride part or delayed gratification, is there some sort of goal you can set because they want a bike, you can have them do certain things, whatever it is, because they’re just just writing it all off and you’re missing the whole point. So we kind of had a talk talk about the other.

[00:24:38] Day, right? I mean, you have to set like so from my kids get paid on their chores, but they also have their businesses where they make money, but it’s set up differently. We’re like certain chores are new, more things, you know, just like in the real world, look at it more like a commission rather than like an allowance or whatever, like that. What work you put into it is the rewards you get out of it versus like the amount of money that you get out.

[00:25:01] Oh my goodness, can I stop you there?

[00:25:04] And that is. Yeah.

[00:25:05] Because we have and, you know, this country is getting to be and it’s not I’m not going down a political rabbit.

[00:25:14] Hole.

[00:25:15] But we.

[00:25:16] Are we.

[00:25:16] Don’t have time for.

[00:25:17] That.

[00:25:18] Right. But but the country is becoming very socialistic and that and I think, oh, it’s such a foolish thing to not teach your kids that some things are more valuable than others. And look at the mess we’re in right now with college loans and all that. Oh, you got to go to college and get an art history degree and have $100,000. If you know business that is a terrible investment. Go to trade school, become a plumber. All of we said earlier, I was a builder, my electrician, my builder, I mean my electrician, my plumber, my HVAC man, my framers are all six figure people.

[00:26:02] That’s a trade.

[00:26:03] Yeah, because it’s trade is valuable now, you know, it’s not to denigrate anybody but jobs that aren’t as important. They are not going to get paid more valuable lesson everybody wants to this thing about participation trophies. No, the quarterback gets paid more. You know why he’s more valuable? He is. Don’t take it as he’s a more valuable person.

[00:26:28] But what he does, what he does, the whole thing, it’s different.

[00:26:32] People get it so messed up and it’s like, who?

[00:26:35] Right. I.

[00:26:36] I think everybody’s got 100% value, you know, as a person and individually.

[00:26:42] But when you put it into a work environment, it changes.

[00:26:46] It does. It changes big time. And that’s. Why Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who is on Thursday night football last night, our billionaires, because they came up with something that was so super important and they get paid. That is a huge lesson to teach. I mean, it’s you know, it’s one of those things to wear. And if it’s your calling, then teach them. Oc Pastors, you know, generally don’t make that much money. It’s your calling, your values different, but you really better know how to manage your money because you’re going to make less.

[00:27:18] Of it, right? Yeah.

[00:27:19] Yeah. You can still find your passion in what moves you.

[00:27:22] But understand.

[00:27:24] You have to understand the value and where your money is going to come from and how that’s going to impact what you’re doing or if that is going to impact what.

[00:27:31] You think it teaches. Get like chores, for example, when they’re younger, I think it teaches them to that. When you are out in the real world doing your job, you’re going to be tasks that you love doing and tasks that you really hate doing or dislike very strongly. But you still have to do them, do it, earn the money, right? So I’m sure cleaning toilets is on the bottom of the list where, you know, maybe wiping the countertops off is not so bad. Right. But I think that that’s important to understand, that that’s part of life and it’s going to be part of your work. I love being a realtor. There are parts of my job I do not like. I love being a brokerage owner. There’s parts of that I do not like to be.

[00:28:17] Could that be partner related?

[00:28:19] There has to be uptown.

[00:28:21] I’m kidding.

[00:28:23] Yeah, of course. Yeah, I will brag on my daughter or my oldest daughter who’s in the room with us. She’s 13. And so her skill set is going to be different than her seven year old sister. So she cooks dinner for the family twice a week. That job gets paid more because that’s a skill set that she has that her sisters don’t have.

[00:28:41] Right?

[00:28:42] Perfect. But does feeding the dogs get that’s a daily menial task, right? That doesn’t get the same. Amount or commission or whatever. So.

[00:28:50] But do you guys talk about all of that? It opened a conversation with her.

[00:28:54] Yes, it has opened up that conversation and just learning because she’s always like, why do I have to do it if she can do it, too? Or, you know, like the same thing. But it’s the concept of, well, that is part of the household. That is something that you can handle, you know, and things of that nature. But. And do you have to keep your room spotless? No, but you have to. You know what? I’m trying to teach you to be an adult at some point. Like there are things there are things that you have to.

[00:29:18] Do.

[00:29:19] Whether you want to or not.

[00:29:21] You may hate me for saying this, but I think there could also be some negotiation skills learned in the chores, even amongst siblings.

[00:29:30] Because, oh.

[00:29:30] Let’s say your one of your chores is cleaning the toilets. Well, you could negotiate with one of your other siblings.

[00:29:38] They do it.

[00:29:39] Anyway to keep a portion of the money for it.

[00:29:41] That inspires absolutely.

[00:29:43] Them to do it.

[00:29:45] I think so far, not as much negotiating as maybe conning their sisters to help or to do more.

[00:29:51] Robberies not allowed. So let’s say negotiate.

[00:29:54] Call it negotiation. Absolutely. Yes. Learning how to do that.

[00:29:58] I think that’s brilliant. You know, and if you find a kid that’s getting paid X and pays them less to have their little siblings do it, I think.

[00:30:06] Right.

[00:30:07] That is next level.

[00:30:08] It’s management, right.

[00:30:10] It’s just some parents that listen to this are going to be like, who is that? Bobby said she had no children.

[00:30:16] Why she. No, I think that’s eye opening.

[00:30:19] It’s management. You’re still teaching them life lesson 100 years and the things are still getting done 100%. So if there’s another way to do it that everybody, quote unquote, wins problem solving, it’s problem solving skills.

[00:30:31] Yeah.

[00:30:32] I’m brilliant.

[00:30:33] I’ve probably just caused a lot of no children.

[00:30:37] I think you opened eyes. I don’t think.

[00:30:39] No, we talked. I mean, the whole thing was thinking outside the box, you know, like it brings that conversation to the forefront. And, you know, you get to have these, you know.

[00:30:48] Different perspectives, like there’s no one way.

[00:30:51] I am so impressed with what you guys do in this whole deal. Oh, I think it’s phenomenal. I think it is definitely a part of our solution to society. You know, I always say millennials get a bad name, probably well deserved in a lot of cases. But I’ll tell you something, they’re just people like everybody else and somehow have locked into a misguided idea, you know? But what you all are talking about is people will just teach their kids these basic things. They will go forward and they will be fine. You know.

[00:31:27] You know, something I think that you guys do is extremely important in the age where most children are behind a screen of some sort, is teaching them people skills and the fact that you provide networking opportunities with their peers. So I was reading on your website about the things you provide.

[00:31:44] Yeah.

[00:31:45] And I think that that is essential because there’s always going to be a certain amount of communication in most jobs with like human interaction. And if the children don’t have a chance to learn how, learn those skills in a business setting like they’re doing this.

[00:32:01] For sure.

[00:32:01] For themselves. Yeah. Like I think that that’s a wonderful opportunity you provide.

[00:32:06] We notice to like at our expose so these kids who may not have a lot of experience talking with adults outside of their family or even their peers in general, just that physical communication, they come out of their comfort zone because adults are taking interest in what they’re doing. And it that you see that sense of pride and confidence grow because they’re engaging like and it gives them that power back like, yeah, this is my business, this is what I do, this is my passion and I want to talk about it. And adults are like, Please tell me all about it. Why did you choose this is it’s a different environment than you would say, like a regular vendor market where it’s just adults that are just there selling. You don’t really do that engagement with. It’s not expected because it’s not expected. But these kids, people want to know like this is in different it’s different and it’s like you’re curious and all of that. And so people are adults are engaging and it gives that the kids this power in that confidence and it it comes back to that communication like our kids have learned how to communicate with adults and it’s that’s huge.

[00:33:11] It is a it is a huge deal. And I’m very nerdy, my degrees in sociology. So I’m a builder with a sociology degree and a minor in history. So one of the most successful there was a study done so for for the most successful people in life, they were kids that would talk to adults. And that is a direct correlation of how they were raised. So, you know, it used to be in the older days, don’t speak until you’re spoken to and all these things. And they and they they showed where kids that were allowed to. Be engaging were ultimately more successful. And because something also like from the biological standpoint, their brains are being wired. Yes, they are. Until they’re 24, their frontal lobe is not developed yet. So when you’re teaching them these things, it is wiring their brain to be successful and to have processes and do things. That’s amazing. And so there’s there’s that component to it, which you don’t even know you’re doing it. But I think the part that pays benefits is you bonding with your kid and other.

[00:34:20] Right.

[00:34:20] When I coached, I love talking to kids and when I would let them be involved in engaging, you know, like, for instance, a kid, I’d say, I want you to go here and hit that hole with the ball and go to the outside. And do you think that will work? Because, first of all, they’re on the ground. You know, it’s like troops, boots on the ground kind of thing. And they’re like, well, I think I should go this way. Does a couple of things probably successful because they know better than me standing over there coaching. But also it gets them to engage with you. So when you’re engaging with money and having it’s wiring their brain to develop processes on how to have relationships with people and listen, it’s such a trifecta of things that are good doing these things, being intentional, right? You know.

[00:35:07] Yeah, one of the before I lose it because I do that like my thoughts here. But when you were talking about engaging with them, it does develop that. But it also. Teaches them that what they have to say is valuable and that their opinion matters. You bet. And then that gets them thinking even more, because if they’re always shut down, then they’re just they might go into themselves and not really think that what they have to say matters so true. So I think that’s.

[00:35:31] If you think about how many things have been invented, like all the technology, all the tools, all the things that we have in this world. I personally think it’s going to take kids because their minds work so much different than adults to come up with the next business ideas. I mean, they’re super smart adults that do that too, but their minds don’t work the same as a child.

[00:35:52] That’s true. That’s so.

[00:35:53] True. Having the generation that grew up only using it is they’re going to find a way to utilize it into something else.

[00:35:59] Which we.

[00:36:00] Didn’t, which.

[00:36:00] We have. No. Yeah.

[00:36:01] So when you were talking about we.

[00:36:03] Are older millennials, so.

[00:36:05] We were born in 83 and.

[00:36:07] Just insulted our hosts.

[00:36:09] Yeah. No, I get it. I think it’s.

[00:36:13] A soft way.

[00:36:15] No, we don’t. It’s funny.

[00:36:16] We are more similar to Gen X than an actual millennial because we’re on the cusp.

[00:36:22] Identifies Gen Xers. Yeah, yeah.

[00:36:24] Because we’re on the cusp.

[00:36:25] We’ve talked about it before. It’s like 82, 83, 84. You know, my brother’s born 86 and we don’t necessarily we’re just, you know, we just think differently. Sure. But I was doing like pagers in high school and Facebook didn’t happen until the end of college. And, you know, so we were we had our childhoods without all that, but we were young enough and willing enough to adapt to what was new.

[00:36:46] For.

[00:36:46] Sure. It’s just weird.

[00:36:48] Yeah. We’re right in the middle of.

[00:36:50] This way, I have to.

[00:36:51] Say. It’s a tool for us older folks, you know, and I’ve embraced it, but I’m 53, so I’ve had to embrace it for business and but also think it’s cool. I’m, you know, embrace it. And I don’t want to be old, you know, too old build or a guy. I try not to be that but you know, I think it it’s it’s tools for us. Right. And even y’all. So that’s how it came along with this new generation, which I dig the portal and the green light card and all that. There’s tools you have to meet them on their level with because they’re, like Bobby said, their brains are wired that way. They know they’re not tools to them. They are just things in life that.

[00:37:30] Right.

[00:37:31] You know.

[00:37:31] Normal day to day thing. Yeah. Everything is through your phone now. It doesn’t matter like that.

[00:37:36] It’s not it’s.

[00:37:37] Not a cool innovation.

[00:37:39] It’s like new.

[00:37:40] Yeah. This is just what life.

[00:37:41] Is, right?

[00:37:42] So, yeah.

[00:37:43] Doing electronic banking and anything like that makes way more sense than pulling out a checkbook ledger. Like, you know, like, there’s no point for sure, unfortunately. But there.

[00:37:53] Isn’t. I agree. Oh, great. Yeah, I think maybe. Maybe I’m just having this slide, having the experience we’ve had up till now and being those elder millennials that we all elders.

[00:38:06] It has put coined a new term.

[00:38:08] We have put maybe that has put us in a great place to do this organization because we have the perspective of both and can value both.

[00:38:18] Our kids are growing up in it.

[00:38:20] Yeah. Yeah. And just, you know.

[00:38:22] You have, you have the wisdom, you know, that’s the cool thing about the next generation and not growing up with it as you have wisdom to know what it was without it as well as what it is.

[00:38:33] Benefits.

[00:38:34] And you know, if you’re grown up with it, you don’t know what the benefits were without it. So how do you sort of marry it and find the sweet spot for sure?

[00:38:41] And I know one of my favorite shows is Shark Tank, and my favorite ones that come on are the ones where kids have invented something or come up with something. And I think that they were able to do that because usually their parent is there and has supported them and has encouraged them to like follow their dreams and go with what they find.

[00:39:03] A new path.

[00:39:03] Yes, follow their passion. And I have a very good friend of mine that’s been a friend for a long time. Well, him and his wife both. And they have three children, one son and two daughters. Well, their son does not play any sports or anything because they’ve allowed him to do what is his natural ability and passion, which is music nice. And they encourage him in every way possible to follow his passion. The girls do other things, but I think it’s wonderful that they let them be who they are and encourage them to go after their goals.

[00:39:37] And you almost have to because it’s just they’re not going to be their authentic self as an adult if it’s your path for them, not their own path for them.

[00:39:45] Such a great philosophy right there, you know, and I don’t know how it was my life. It had to.

[00:39:51] Be my wife.

[00:39:52] Yes, I will go with that.

[00:39:53] Yeah, that’s.

[00:39:54] What I said earlier. Yeah, you all are smarter. But I think letting kids be who they are and whatever their God given talents are, everybody’s different. But I think what you do instead of teach them to make money, do what your passion is. But if you’re a musician, fine, you’re going to need to be really sharp. On your financial.

[00:40:18] Skills or somebody that can do that.

[00:40:20] For you.

[00:40:21] Delegation’s another topic. But. But yeah. Just teach them how to. Hey, chase your dreams. But understand this. There’s not a lot of money in it. You just learn to live on what you make and how to manage it well, but do your passions. And to me, that’s the sweet spot. I mean, my generation and the one before was like, what do you do to make the most money? Yeah, I don’t care if you like it. Or in fact, there’s an old saying. There’s no army saying in an old saying that says you don’t have to like it, you just have to do it. And I think things have changed to where we want our kids to follow their passions. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that. But just understand, I think I think where people get off track is they don’t teach their kid that your passion doesn’t pay much. That’s fine. Just manage it well and just know you’re not going to. And don’t be bitter upset because you don’t make what your brother who’s an engineer or a lawyer or something.

[00:41:16] I think it comes from a place of as a parent of concern, like you want your kids to be happy, but you don’t want them to be unstable, you know? So.

[00:41:25] But it’s it’s hard.

[00:41:26] It’s a hard balance. So, yeah, follow your passion. But you’re not going to have any money. You know?

[00:41:31] You’re gonna live.

[00:41:31] In my basement forever.

[00:41:33] Forever, never leave.

[00:41:34] Like the whole thing. Where if you if you try to monetize your passion and you end up hating it so you could just have a job of some kind where there’s a bartender or something because you make good money doing that and.

[00:41:45] Then you just.

[00:41:46] Catch it. You know what I mean? For sure.

[00:41:47] So but that’s ways to do it. It comes with the life lessons that.

[00:41:50] You.

[00:41:51] Need to instill.

[00:41:52] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, sometimes it’s important to keep your passion. Your passion and not try to.

[00:41:57] It’s a good point. It’s a good point.

[00:41:59] I think, depending on what it is.

[00:42:01] Yeah, for.

[00:42:01] Sure. You know, but there are options that are out there to monetize certain things. Should that make sense, like art, maybe selling it, that kind of thing or influencers?

[00:42:10] Yeah, yeah. I can’t believe I’m going. That’s a job. Like, how do you and they make tons of money from doing this, right?

[00:42:18] Some influencer, it’s kinda like it’s kind of like artist or something.

[00:42:22] It’s right.

[00:42:22] It’s still, it’s something amazing to me.

[00:42:27] But that is, you know, it ties into entrepreneurs and that like there are so many paths that we never had the thought, sure. You know, you could do literally anything with technology now and turn it into a business.

[00:42:41] Because that’s so big for sure. We’re trying to let this help become something that can help it be more structured.

[00:42:47] So we can focus.

[00:42:48] Yeah. So that it can help kids realize that, you know, it’s not one, two and three. You’ve got these other things that you can do here.

[00:42:55] But just think about them, right? And be intentional about.

[00:42:57] What you do. Right. Smart about it, right? Yeah. Because there’s resources, because there’s all these resources and just trying to make it like a package. And, you know, the parents like obviously this is you know, we want to have resources for the parents. That’s where it all starts. And you just need to they may have kids that are entrepreneurial minded and they’re not so sure. You know, they just they’re like, I don’t know what to do with this kid. They have all these great ideas. I want them to follow their path, right?

[00:43:23] So they bring them to you guys. That’s what they.

[00:43:25] Do. Try to start an outlet, give them the tools to have conversations. And this is where you get started. And I think our first place Facebook post today was like 30 ideas for you to start up your a kid business or whatever and they can just talk about it, you know, because somebody is like, I want them to but I don’t know.

[00:43:41] Where to.

[00:43:41] Begin. Do Right. And so we just want to have that.

[00:43:45] And don’t get paralysis by analysis. Just pick.

[00:43:47] Something.

[00:43:48] Try just going to say.

[00:43:49] Great minds think alike.

[00:43:50] I think that kids need to be encouraged to not be afraid to fail. If they haven’t a business idea, it’s okay if it ends up not working out. Absolutely. You want to encourage them to take it as far as they can and see what happens. But I think some of the most successful people in the world share stories about how many times they started over because they had this idea and that didn’t work, or they just had to enhance what they were doing. Like it wasn’t pivoted this way. So now we’ve got to do.

[00:44:19] This and all those critical thinking skills and problem solving that comes from that. But imagine starting that at 12 and not 25 for.

[00:44:26] Sure, but not being afraid to say this didn’t work or I’m just going to have to scrap it and start over if that’s the case. Like I think to let them know that’s okay. That’s not a failure, that’s a growth.

[00:44:39] Nothing to do with your worth as a human. Right. It’s it’s separate from that.

[00:44:43] Oh, that’s so.

[00:44:43] So and so smart.

[00:44:44] Example of that within our organization. So my middle daughter, she essentially started all of this because she is my free thinking.

[00:44:53] Yeah.

[00:44:54] And she wanted to rule the world with cotton candy was her goal. And we did it for a little while and that’s what got her sisters involved and so on and kind of like snowballed into all of this. But cotton candy is harder than it sounds. Stinky it’s a mess. But when you break a couple of toy cotton candy machines and then also a commercial grade cotton candy machine, you kind of have to pivot to something else. So she learned the concept of rebranding and that’s awesome. Why we need to try something different that we’re not going to ruin Mommy’s house. A But also that it is just more feasible and it makes more sense and it’s easier for all of us because we’re all the ones doing this. So now she does gourmet popcorn and that is a much easier avenue for her.

[00:45:48] Easier, but I think it appeals to more people.

[00:45:50] And it is more appealing. Yeah, she’s.

[00:45:52] Made more money.

[00:45:52] Though, so she’s learned a whole lot in that concept of, like, almost failure or you know what? Growth going from one to the other.

[00:46:04] And so. Yeah. Well, smart, right? I mean. Well, how how amazing. Pivoting is a huge deal in business, you know, and teaching kids to do that, that, like you said, if they fail, they fail. Good. Lot of lessons learned. Let them skin their need. That’s a great thing. And they’ll remember it forever. But sometimes you do have to pivot, you know, in business, you know.

[00:46:26] Just think about 2020.

[00:46:27] Yeah, right. Pivoting was.

[00:46:30] Crucial.

[00:46:30] Either you pivot or you’re different.

[00:46:32] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:46:34] Yeah.

[00:46:34] And a lot of the businesses that failed me, you know, that mindset isn’t there, unfortunately.

[00:46:39] Well, most of them, you know, like Facebook, it’s been through lots of iterations from when it was they were at Harvard or wherever they were doing it and just to meet kids. And then it grew and they had to pivot and do this and monetize and blah, blah, blah. I mean, that’s just part of life. Life changes for sure. So be embrace the change, you know, be happy about that, you know, and that’s yeah, that’s the growth. Not a failure for sure.

[00:47:04] Yeah. You’re growing your I mean, like the fact that maybe instead of like if they’re adults and they’re something’s not doing well, it’s like I’m going to pivot to make like you’re testing the product, you always a product or service. That’s how you can always think of it and then you’re just trying to make it better. Yeah, you know, it’s not really failing at all.

[00:47:23] I think that’s an important.

[00:47:24] Lesson.

[00:47:24] For kids to know when they’re becoming entrepreneurs.

[00:47:27] Rethink your your thought process can have different words. Words are powerful and sure.

[00:47:32] And, you know, kids are so great at social media, I think that it’s a good idea to let them watch the social dilemma. It’s like the Netflix documentary about social media and the power of it.

[00:47:45] And have you guys seen that?

[00:47:47] I haven’t. I haven’t keeping.

[00:47:48] In mind how that works for business. Like I had people, friends who told me about it before I watched it and they were like, Oh my God, you have to watch. Like, now I just want to shut down all my social media. But when I watched it as a realtor and business owner, I was like, Oh my gosh. Like, I’ve got to learn how to harness the power.

[00:48:03] Right? The same response. Interesting. Okay. And I think.

[00:48:06] Children who already understand social media so well, if they could see the power and the impact that could have on their business. Yeah, absolutely. They already know how.

[00:48:16] They know how to do it.

[00:48:17] Yeah.

[00:48:18] No, don’t be. It’s like, don’t you know it is. I mean, you can look at it when you’re watching it. It’s sort of scary. Yeah, but it’s like anything, you know, once you sort of when you realize the boogeyman under your bed ain’t really the boogeyman, and then it frees you up from that fear of things. And yeah, I was the same response as Bobby. It’s like, I just need to harness this monster and not let it harness me.

[00:48:43] Yeah, it’s a tool to use.

[00:48:45] Don’t let it take over your life that figure out how you can leverage.

[00:48:49] The control of it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think that’s a lot of the lesson to today is, you know, having control and having a plan and being in charge of your own destiny sort of, you know, I mean, knowledge is power, but I think that we are coming to the end of our time together. But I just wanted to thank you both for being here.

[00:49:11] Thanks for having us. Yeah.

[00:49:12] How can people find you online?

[00:49:14] Well, we have a Facebook page. Imagine that you do viral TGA. That’s how you will find us. Or we have a website viral and we’re located right in downtown Woodstock, right behind Mad Life at 790 Market Street. So stop by the office. We have a bar, have a drink with us. If you don’t drink, we have soda and coffee. Hey.

[00:49:38] Show.

[00:49:39] Oh, this is for the pain.

[00:49:41] The parents are listening.

[00:49:42] Yes, yes, it’s real life.

[00:49:44] Okay. We also want to take a moment to shout out. Thank you so much for your sponsorship of our expose. That is huge. Being a501c3, we rely heavily on the community involvement and getting behind us, so we appreciate that.

[00:50:00] You’re welcome. I think it’s a wonderful thing what you’re doing. Thank you. Having an area where kids can learn more about business and like you said, if they don’t have. Parents that are entrepreneurs having a resource to help them navigate that.

[00:50:12] And also knowing that we solely are not that resource, like having these network connections with community members and business owners to provide those resources is, is mostly our goal, you know, like making a network of that. So there is a go to source, we just want to facilitate it.

[00:50:31] Well, I hope we can be partners with you guys going forward. We would love to continue to contribute in all ways.

[00:50:38] We’re sponsoring the October one.

[00:50:40] To you, so that is. Yes. Thank you very much for that as well. Our next vendor, Kid Biz Expo Market is October 1st and we are in an CRABAPPLE market, so that is 12 650 Crabapple Road in Milton, Georgia. And we will be there Saturday, October 1st from ten to to.

[00:51:00] Come out and see us and take a look firsthand at all these kiddos. We have over about 50 kid vendors that are going to be out there. Awesome. So and, and it’s the same day as Crabapple Fest. So there’s going to be a whole lot going on and it’ll be.

[00:51:13] A time event. Large event.

[00:51:15] Yeah.

[00:51:15] Oh, come on, get some of that popcorn.

[00:51:17] It’s good.

[00:51:18] Oh, it’s good. She makes some interesting flavors.

[00:51:21] Yeah, well, thank you again. We appreciate you being here. And we look forward to maybe getting you guys in a workshop one day. Love to.

[00:51:28] Yeah. Teach some lessons.

[00:51:30] Love to.

[00:51:31] To a roomful of kids. Yeah. All great.

[00:51:33] Well, thank you so much. And if you guys want to follow Kid Biz Expo, you can find us on all of our socials at Kid Biz Expo.

[00:51:40] We’re Kid Biz Expo dot com.

[00:51:42] Thank you. Thank you.

[00:51:43] Thank you.

Tagged With: VIBE Realty

LIVE from HAVEN 2022: Jessica Litman, The Organized Mama and Author of Home Sweet Organized Home: Declutter & Organize Your Busy Family

September 16, 2022 by John Ray

Jessica Litman
North Fulton Studio
LIVE from HAVEN 2022: Jessica Litman, The Organized Mama and Author of Home Sweet Organized Home: Declutter & Organize Your Busy Family
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Jessica Litman

LIVE from HAVEN 2022: Jessica Litman, The Organized Mama and Author of Home Sweet Organized Home: Declutter & Organize Your Busy Family (Organization Conversation, Episode 39)

Jessica Litman, The Organized Mama and Author of Home Sweet Organized Home: Declutter & Organize Your Busy Family, joined hosts Richard Grove and Stephanie from Uncommon Outpost LIVE at HAVEN 2022. She shared how she moved from teaching to blogging about home organization. She discussed her new book, Home Sweet Organized Home: Declutter & Organize Your Busy Family, talked about the services she offers, gave organizing tips, and much more. 

This show was originally broadcast live from the 2022 HAVEN Conference held at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia.

Organization Conversation is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

The Organized Mama

The Organized Mama’s mission is to help individuals and families declutter and stay organized with realistic and practical tips everyone in the family can follow!

Because Jessica knows that maintaining order and living as clutter-free as we can, can be a sanity-saver when things get chaotic. She found solace in organizing from a young age because she experienced a lot of loss at a young age.

So, how do those two things go together? When things get out of control, Jessica knows she can create order for herself and give herself something to hold onto – Create a system when things seem systemless.⁠

Jessica knows that when there are piles of clutter, your anxiety levels can go sky-high.

Jessica has had the experience when the world feels completely chaotic because her home isn’t organized.⁠

She knows that when you spend countless hours creating order in your home, only to have that order destroyed in .05 seconds, can be super discouraging.

So that is why Jessica is here to help. Get organized. And create lasting order in your home. With practical tips to maintain order and create a home that is welcoming, inviting, and cozy!

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | TikTok

Home Sweet Organized Home: Declutter & Organize Your Busy Family

Do you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious about the clutter in your home?Jessica Litman

Have you spent countless hours organizing your home only to find it all destroyed in a matter of seconds? Does it seem like you will never get organized enough? Keeping order in your home can feel like a daunting and never-ending task, especially when you have little ones, but with Home Sweet Organized Home, you will be able to declutter your home easily and maintain lasting order in your sacred space.

Jessica Litman, the mama, organizing expert, and creator behind The Organized Mama will help you optimize and maintain order in your home, so you can find more calm in your everyday life. Her practical organizing and decorating advice will make it simpler for you to keep your space exactly how you like it. Each chapter offers a step-by-step guide to organize a single room in your home—from your bedroom closet to your junk drawer to your kids’ rooms and toys—you will learn how to keep it all tidy. Have a stress-free and clutter-free home.

Jessica Litman, The Organized Mama and Author of Home Sweet Organized Home: Declutter & Organize Your Busy Family

Jessica Litman
Jessica Litman, The Organized Mama and author of Home Sweet Organized Home: Declutter & Organize Your Busy Family

Jessica Litman is the mama behind The Organized Mama. She has two kiddos who are also known as The Organized Kids, and a wonderful husband who cooks…because she doesn’t like to!

She started The Organized Mama 9 years ago as a way to teach practical organizing tutorials, decorating tips, and DIY projects that everyone can do.

LinkedIn

 

About Organization Conversation

Organization Conversation is hosted by Richard Grove and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

About Richard Grove

Richard Grove, Host, Organization Conversation

Richard Grove‘s background is in engineering but what he enjoys most is brand building through relationships and creative marketing. Richard began his career with the Department of Defense as an engineer on the C-5 Galaxy Engineering Team based out of Warner Robins. While Richard found this experience both rewarding and fulfilling, he always knew deep down that he wanted to return to the small family business that originally triggered his interest in engineering.

Richard came to work for the family business, Dekalb Tool & Die, in 2008 as a Mechanical Engineer. At the time Wall Control was little more than a small ‘side hustle’ for Dekalb Tool & Die to try to produce some incremental income. There were no “Wall Control” employees, just a small warehouse with a single tool and die maker that would double as an “order fulfillment associate” on the occasion that the original WallControl.com website, which Richard’s grandmother built, pulled in an order.

In 2008, it became apparent that for the family business to survive they were going to have to produce their own branded product at scale to ensure jobs remained in-house and for the business to continue to move forward. Richard then turned his attention from tool and die to Wall Control to attempt this necessary pivot and his story with Wall Control began. Since that time, Richard has led Wall Control to significant growth while navigating two recessions.

Outside of Richard’s work at Wall Control he enjoys helping other business owners, operators, and entrepreneurs along their own paths to success by offering personal business coaching and advising through his website ConsultantSmallBusiness.com. Richard has developed an expansive and unique skillset growing and scaling Wall Control through a multitude of challenges to the successful brand and company it is today. Richard is happy to share his knowledge and experience with others who are looking to do the same within their own businesses.

Connect with Richard:

Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Richard’s Website

About Wall Control

The Wall Control story began in 1968 in a small tool & die shop just outside Atlanta, Georgia. The first of three generations began their work in building a family-based US manufacturer with little more than hard work and the American Dream.

Over the past 50+ years, this family business has continued to grow and expand from what was once a small tool & die shop into an award-winning US manufacturer of products ranging from automobile components to satellite panels and now, the best wall-mounted tool storage system available today, Wall Control.

The Wall Control brand launched in 2003 and is a family-owned and operated business that not only produces a high-quality American Made product but sees the entire design, production, and distribution process happen under their own roof in Tucker, Georgia. Under that same roof, three generations of American Manufacturing are still hard at work creating the best tool storage products available today.

Connect with Wall Control:

Company website | Facebook | Instagram

Tagged With: home organization, Home Sweet Organized Home, Jessica Litman, Organization Conversation, Richard Grove, The Organized Mama, The Organized Mamas, Wall Control

North Gwinnett Kiwanis Club Annual Golf Classic benefitting Home of Hope Children’s Shelter

September 14, 2022 by Garrett Ervin

The North Gwinnett Kiwanis Club hosted it’s Annual Golf Classic at Chateau Elan Golf Club in Braselton, GA on September 13, 2022. For the third year in a row, all proceeds benefitted the Home of Hope at Gwinnett Children’s Shelter. The presenting sponsor was Homestar Keith Howell Team. Business RadioX was on site broadcasting live remotes throughout the afternoon, courtesy of Keller Williams/Legendary Home Sales.

Joan Williams/President, North Gwinnett Kiwanis Club

https://businessradiox.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/1JoanWilliams.mp3

 

Tyler Weantt/Golf Tournament Director, North Gwinnett Kiwanis Club

 

https://businessradiox.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2TylerWeant.mp3

 

Maureen Kornowa/Executive Director, Home of Hope at Gwinnett Children’s Shelter

https://businessradiox.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/3MaureenKornowa.mp3

 

Keith Howell/Branch Manager, Homestar (Presenting Sponsor)

https://businessradiox.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/4KeithHowell.mp3

 

Doug Meyer/Chairman of the Board, Home of Hope at Gwinnett Children’s Shelter

https://businessradiox.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/5DougMeyer.mp3

 

Final Wrap with Joan Williams, Tyler Weant and Maureen Kornowa

https://businessradiox.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/6FinalWrap.mp3

 

About North Gwinnett Kiwanis Club

“Serving the local community by empowering and uplifting children.” At North Gwinnett Kiwanis, you have an opportunity to give back your time and talents to serve your community. Through various fundraising projects, they work together to provide scholarships to local high schools as well as donations to numerous children’s charities. A little secret, it’s also a lot of fun! Join them at the Buford Community Center at noon on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month.

About Home of Hope at Gwinnett Children’s Shelter

The Home of Hope at Gwinnett Children’s Shelter is a nonprofit, 501C3 Corporation and a residential care facility which provides services for homeless children up to 17 years of age along with their young mothers. They also provide care and services for homeless girls aging out of the foster care system at 18 years of age. They provide customized “Life Plans” that are designed around the physical, emotional, and educational needs of the kids, while helping mom create a plan of action to get back on her feet. The goal is not simply to be a place of refuge, but act as the “NEXT STEP” towards independence. They take their guests from homeless, to hopeful, to a home of their own.

Tagged With: doug meyer, gwinnett children's shelter, home of hope, home of hope children's shelter, joan williams, keith howell, maureen kornowa, north gwinnett kiwanis club, tyler weant

Mike Van Pelt with True Man Life Coaching

September 14, 2022 by angishields

CherokeeBusinessRadio091322pic2
Cherokee Business Radio
Mike Van Pelt with True Man Life Coaching
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Sponsored by Business RadioX ® Main Street Warriors

Cherokee-BRX-True-Man-Life-Coaching

True-Man-Life-Coaching-logo

Mike-Van-Pelt-True-Man-Life-CoachingMike Van Pelt is a Men’s Life Coach and known as the “Comeback Coach”. He, is also the creator and host of the True Man Podcast. His experience and passion for coaching, guiding, and mentoring men has come from his involvement in leading Christian men’s groups along with his own journey to “take back” his life and achieve success.

In addition, he brings over two decades of deep organizational expertise and thought leadership in account management, consulting, and leadership development. His purpose is to help serve men that have misinterpreted or been misguided in the direction of their lives.

He believes men want success and satisfaction in every area of their lives, and they are looking for a roadmap of discovery back to their true hearts and minds. His goal is to be an instrument of guidance and healing and to lift the heavy heart loads that many men carry.

In addition to being a coach, he is happily married to my wife Jill and best friend of 26 years and has two talented teenagers. When he’s not coaching, he’s probably enjoying time at one of the many family activities or getting a quick round of golf in with friends.

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: [00:00:24] 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 the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors. For more information, go check them out at Main Street Warriors dot org. And also for those of you who have been following the Main Street Warriors and our activities, make sure you check out the high velocity awards. This is where we make available grant scholarships and cash. Yes, cash money to solopreneur, non-profits, minority and veteran owned businesses. And of course, my personal favorite youth entrepreneur. So go check it out at high velocity awards dot com. All right. You guys are in for such a real treat this morning. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with True Man Life Coaching. Mr. Mike Van Pelt. Good morning, sir.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:01:23] Good morning,Stone. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

Stone Payton: [00:01:27] Oh, man, I’m looking forward to it. We were connected by a mutual friend, Brian Pruitt, who I just think the world of. He’s got a golf tournament coming up in a couple of days. I’m not going to be able to make it. We’re headed down to Savannah. We’re going to be doing an on site broadcast for the what is this, the Georgia Economic Developers Association. But yeah, Brian and that crowd, they will be in our in our thoughts and prayers and what a what a marvelous community we have here in Cherokee County. And and Brian is a perfect example of that, isn’t he?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:02:02] Well, you know, Brian and I talked yesterday, and it was really funny because we’ve we’ve reconnected a little bit here. We hadn’t talked in quite a while and we reconnected. And the funny part about it is you find out how small your community is because he’s he’ll be like, I’m working with this person and I’m like, Oh, you’ve got to connect me with them because they do such and such. And so and you know, that’s that’s the beauty of doing business, is finding these strategic partnerships and these relationships where you can all mutually benefit and and create these win win type type things. And I love that. A man.

Stone Payton: [00:02:38] All right. Let’s talk about true man life coaching, mission purpose. What are you really out there trying to do for folks?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:02:44] Well, you know, the simplest way for for me to tell you what I do is I like to tell people I impact the lives of men for good. Now, that’s a pretty broad statement, right?

Stone Payton: [00:02:57] That’s a big one, man. That’s a tall order.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:03:00] That’s a pretty big statement. But essentially, you know, what I do in my coaching practice is is just work with them a variety of different ways, but primarily one on one where they need it just kind of clear the cobwebs and give them peace and clarity around their life or their business or whatever’s going on. You know, when I got into coaching a number of years ago, I did it from a business perspective. But what I found was that there are all kinds of systems out there. And, you know, I encourage people to go get systems that make their business better. But if the real system, the real meat on that bone is what’s going on, on your inside. And so if you’re not right in your head, your heart, your mind, your soul, it doesn’t matter what kind of business system you have. And so that’s was kind of my breakthrough. And I said, you know what? I just want to work with people. I want to work with people and help make them better. And I didn’t see a lot of men out there or a lot of people in general just saying, hey, I’m going to plant a flag for men and walk alongside them. And I decided that’s what I’m going to do. So here I.

Stone Payton: [00:04:11] Am. So how did you get started? What compelled you to move into coaching? I’m operating under the impression that you had some other type of career going into. Yeah, what’s the back story?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:04:23] Well, so, I mean, really had a sales career going and but I wasn’t being fed. I just wasn’t being fed and I didn’t really know what that meant. And I was in the insurance and financial services world, and I went to one of their leadership development programs, and it was a six month program and I’d never done anything like that. And I got done with it and I was like, Wow, what am I going to do with this? This was amazing. And I didn’t really want it to end, so I didn’t let it end. And the whole idea of it was that you would take what you’d learn and bring it back to your organization. But I took what I learned and used it for me and I realized, hey, you know, I’m telling my kids how important it is to get a great education, but I didn’t complete my college degree. I want to do that. And so I went back, completed my business degree, and at the time I was doing and I became a stay at home dad. During that time because my kids were really young and I was doing a ton of volunteer work within my church and in the community. And I thought, you know, I really think my life’s leading me to to be in the nonprofit world. What do nonprofit directors have at the top of the food chain that I don’t have? Oh, they have a master’s degree. So. So, yeah, I’m a glutton for.

Stone Payton: [00:05:46] Oh, no, no. Now you’re getting addicted. Yeah.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:05:48] So I did go back. I got my master’s degree in public administration and you know that that’s really how I started down the trail. But what really happened after that was once I got my master’s degree, I was out looking for work and struggling like people did not know what to do with Mike Van Pelt. Here’s a guy that was a stay at home dad. He got this education. You know, he’s doing all this volunteer work. They just didn’t know what to do with me. And it really led me down a road of I internalize the nose and I took it in and it became kind of a deep wound for me. And that’s when I decided I’m going to go down this road of entrepreneurial is I don’t need these people. And that’s when I kind of started the business consulting and I met a guy by the name of Paul Bailey, and I always mentioned him because he’s been a part of of everything that I’ve done since. And so I met him at a business networking event. And this is why business networking events, I think, are so important, because you never know who you’re going to meet for sure. But I met Paul and we had this great conversation at lunch about giving and taking and how we saw more takers in the room than givers. And we thought, doggone it, we can do this better. And so we decided we were going to start our our own group.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:07:09] But that group, I think, before it ever got off the ground, turned into, you know, what we really need? We need a men’s small group. And that’s when things really began to shift for me because I got involved in men’s small group. We connected with guys that were doing retreats. I got involved in a retreat and it was really at that retreat where I had an opportunity to get out there with 300 guys and walk around the woods and get in touch with my faith, where on a Saturday morning they played a song by Josh Groban and I recommend listening to the song. I’d never heard it called You Are Loved. Now people would say, Well, that’s not a Christian song. Listen to the words, because the perspective in that situation was Listen to the song as if God is singing it to you. And when I did that, I almost hit the ground because I had no idea that God wanted such an intimate and loving relationship with me. And that was my take away from that weekend. That was in March of 2019. And it was at that point I said, You know what? I’m going to go fight for the hearts of men. And I don’t want guys walking around empty. Like, I was like the tank was on E! And if you’re listening to this and you’re on empty, you know what I’m talking about? It’s undeniable.

Stone Payton: [00:08:31] So let’s talk about the work a little bit. Someone maybe through the benefit of hearing this conversation or for some of the other work that you do. I know you have your own show and I want to hear more about that in a little bit. But however they get there, they sort of identify, yeah, I’m kind of running on empty and they reach out to you, talk about the work a little bit. Is it is it individual one on one? Is it group? Is it retreats? Is it a little bit all of this?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:08:57] Well, it’s turning into a little bit of of all of it. That’s kind of the entrepreneurial journey that we go on. Right, right, right. You like, okay, I’m going to plant a flag and this is what I’m going to do. And then, you know, some people, I guess, are fortunate. They know exactly what that means right away. But it wasn’t me. Yeah, but but that hasn’t been me either. And so really what happened was, you know, I’m working with a gentleman who has some fantastic coaching programs and so he had a system and I love systems because I also like shiny objects. And when I find a shiny object, it typically takes me off the system. So right. So I’m sure a lot of business people can relate to that. And so I found a system that worked for me for one on one coaching. And so that that was priority number one was to find that. And so what I do is really primarily work with guys one on one. So when somebody says, you know, yeah, I want somebody to kind of clear out the cobwebs for me and I want to figure out what the, you know, my next thing in life is, whether it’s in business or personal life. And so typically we’ll start with an assessment. We have a proprietary assessment that we do, and we go through that. We have an initial to our call. And then based on the program, they may choose and I usually do a six month or 12 month. You know, we jump in the coaching process excuse me, one on one. Now where this is all heading, I believe it’s been my experience that men love the one on one because they, they like having another dude to talk to.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:10:36] They don’t always have that where they can have a safe space, where they can really strategize about their life. And but they also like the feel of community. And so where all this is really heading is that I’m in the process of building some small group stuff. So we’re going to do I’m working with an organization called the Christian Businessmen’s Connection here in the Atlanta area. John Posey is the executive director. We’re going to build out some Christian small groups through that. I’m going to build out some small group situations through myself as well. And I think where all this is headed is we’ll do some coaching combined with some mastermind groups where we take people through a 12 month program. And then on top of that, right, because you’ve got to bite, you’ve got to just jump on that elephant and go for a ride. You know, I’m working with an organization right now where we can build retreats and we’ll do some small ones where we maybe do some ten or 12 person guys. But this this organization that I’m working with that really set up to facilitate larger retreats and I’ve done enough of these now where I see tremendous value and just shutting it down for a weekend and getting out with a group of guys and, and, and having God’s voice show up in your life. It’s incredible experience. So there’s I just gave you a lot and I didn’t even give you everything.

Stone Payton: [00:12:05] Well, I really I really applaud. And I’m inspired that you’re going to do some of this group work in this retreat work? Yeah. My frame of reference for that kind of thing, it’s related. It’s not exact. I come from the training and consulting world. Yeah. And I would facilitate classes, but the most powerful classes that we had were ones that we ran as more of a peer to peer experience. Yeah. So I would essentially teach facilitation skills and then would have these folks in our case it was often sales teams. Yeah. And have them actually facilitate different modules or segments of the training to each other.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:12:45] Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:12:46] So much more powerful than the than the whatever. There’s some big college word for one guy talking to a bunch of people, but when you do the peer to peer thing. Yeah. Oh it’s just, it’s exponential isn’t it.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:12:57] Yeah. You know I look at it this way, I’m just kind of the conductor of the orchestra, right? Yeah. You know, and I. I certainly don’t know it all and never will. That’s okay. I don’t need to be the smartest guy in the room. I just need to bring, you know, the guys together so that we can facilitate them getting in a room and figuring out how to improve their lives. I encourage, strongly encourage, find men finding small groups. Now, you know, networking is. Sure. But that doesn’t facilitate the intimate conversations that sometimes need to be had in a safe place. And so I am a huge believer that you’ve got to have a wingman. And if you can have multiple wingman, that’s really good. That’s good. That’ll keep you out of trouble. Learn from these guys that have been down the road that you want to go down.

Stone Payton: [00:13:53] So I’m sure there are some idiosyncrasies in every individual relationship, every individual coaching process. And I suspect that there are some patterns that you see and you’re like, Yep, here comes that one again. Yep, I’ve dealt with this before. Not that you necessarily articulate that, but are there a handful of kind of common patterns that that you see that it would make sense to share?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:14:18] Yeah. You know, one of the things I’m finding myself talking about more and more is this idea around identity. Now, because here’s the thing. If I meet you. We’re at a networking event. There’s a couple questions that are going to be asked right off the bat. One, what’s your name? So people identify you from your name. That’s a given. No worries there, I guess, unless you don’t like your name. But but the second question people are going to ask is, what do you do? And that becomes an identifying point. So and people will unconsciously put you in categories. He’s an attorney. This guy collects junk. This guy is a dentist. This guy sells insurance and they start categorizing you and see. What happened to me was at one point, I, you know, when I was a stay at home dad, I got a lot of attaboys. Wow. I really wish I could stay at home. In my mind. In my mind I was like, Yeah, it’s great, but. I was raised to be the breadwinner. I was raised to be the man. I need to be out supporting my family. And so I would go to all of these things that I needed to do. And what I identified with was what I wanted to be versus where I was. And that meant sometimes I wasn’t present with my family. I was there, but I wasn’t right. I was thinking about all the things I wanted to do.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:15:51] And that’s dangerous because the most important thing that we have in front of us other than our faith is our family, and they need to be taken care of. And if you’re struggling with your identity, maybe you don’t like the career you’re in or or or where you’re at in life. You know, you need to take action on that because if you don’t, you’re not going to show up present for the people that you really need to be showing up for. And so that’s that’s what happened to me. And I see that happen to a lot of guys. We get wrapped up in our careers and our, you know, and these negative identities that we get attached to. And at the end of the day, and I know this is a business radio thing, but my faith is how I identify and he will drive everything else. And that’s exactly what’s happening in my business. As soon as I let. Go. That hard grip that I had on the steering wheel, you know, and you know, I get better at this all the time and gave it over to him. What I’m seeing is my business flourish and I’m less worried about what’s going to happen on a day to day basis as a result. And, you know, regardless of what business you’re in, I you know, I think it’s applicable.

Stone Payton: [00:17:17] So does the question, the topic of masculinity, what that really means, how am I supposed to live into that? Should I not worry about that? Does that come up with individuals and groups as well?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:17:30] Well, you know, that is such an interesting topic in this day and age, because I think that, you know, I don’t like. That Hollywood or the news media drive things the way they drive them. But they have portrayed negativity in a very negative way. And so, you know, it’s easy to go on television and talk about, you know, Matt Lauer or, you know, some somebody doing something negative and portray that as while the entire male race is bad. No, no. That’s a small segment of the population. But, you know, masculinity is really you know, I always say, you know, right now we need to have this. You got to put God first. You’ve got to you’ve got to put family second. And and I love putting country third. And then like everything else is like way down the line, but it’s about caring, loving, being purposeful and everything that you do. That’s masculinity. That’s masculinity. Not, you know, beating up your wife or abusing her. I mean, you know, or or the Hollywood movie portrayal of of men beating on their chest and firing weapons, I mean. Granted, that’s kind of fun, but but that’s not what masculinity really is.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:19:03] And so, you know, one of the things that I think is important and it’s why, you know, I talk about retreats and I want to do these getaways, is it’s important to see men, see other men that are vulnerable and that are having intimate conversations around how to be a better man. You know, generationally speaking, I’m 52. I don’t mind sharing. You know, I grew up in a time where if we fell down on the baseball diamond, you know, it was like just, you know, get up, you know, don’t say ouch. Yeah. You know, and and that turns out to be not a very masculine way to handle it. And I’m not blaming my father or I’m not blaming his father. That’s not what this is about. You know, I think that we know more about psychology. I think we know more about what we need from a human perspective. And, you know, masculinity is about being in touch with your heart. That’s a big piece of this because, guys, we do too many things with our head and not our heart. So that’s to me, I could probably go on all day about that, but.

Stone Payton: [00:20:07] Well, you could with me because I because I know I am just I am very enamored with the whole conversation. I’ve got a thousand questions and we’re not going to get to them all this morning, but we’re going to get to some of them. So you mentioned several aspects of life, I guess is like spiritual and family and business. I’d love to get your perspective on on this whole topic of balance. Oh, wow. And I’ve even talked to some folks that that don’t like the word balance and they try to plug something else in there. But I’d love to get your take on.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:20:44] You know, it’s interesting because I love to plug in words and then go out to the thesaurus and then look it up and see. And what I’ve learned over time is that that can be dangerous, because you really can’t sugarcoat certain words that people know a lot about. And so this term balance comes up quite a bit, and usually it’s related to, well, how do I get balance in my business? And personal life is a lot of times where that that I hear that the most. I’ve heard that from my wife over the years in her corporate job. You know, I think balance and finding it is different for everybody. You know, for example, I used to separate my business and my personal life. And now because there’s so much faith work and it’s so much it’s so personal, I don’t separate the two. They’re just kind of all lumped together. And for me, I love that. That gives me great joy and and energy. But for others, I mean, they need to separate them. They need to need to leave their work, you know, at work. And they need to come home and be present with their family.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:21:53] And I think it’s different for every person. But, you know, balance is really tough because we live in a world where I mean, I remember when I first started in business, right? My business phone was on my business desk. Now my business phone is my mobile phone. And that means for some reason, we’ve all taken on this mantra of that means you’re at work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And if you don’t respond to my text message immediately, there’s got to be something wrong. And so, you know, it’s important to figure out for yourself, what does all that mean? And if you’re a business leader, I think it’s important for you to spell it out for your team. What does this mean? Where do we draw the lines? Because otherwise people are just going to keep charging ahead because they operate under this assumption that while everybody at my work has my mobile phone number. And so I you know, that means I’m accountable and I need to keep answering stuff. Is that what it means? Have you had that.

Stone Payton: [00:23:02] Discussion with your employees?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:23:03] I mean, do they know where the line is drawn? You know, maybe they need to know because some of them may think they’re on the clock 24 hours a day and that may not be the case. And you know, this is another area that I commonly get into. We need to know how to pause. Just like I just did, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Emphasis on the pause. We need to know how to pause because pausing and taking a break from things helps build margin in your life, helps build up that battery. And so the fact of the matter is, is that we’re not build built to be the hard chargers in with all this technology around us that we’re not built for that most of us don’t know really know how to handle it. We just don’t want to admit to it. Like I’m admitting right now, I don’t know how to handle it. It’s just too much. And so we’ve got to figure out how to take pauses. And so and to me, figuring out what that pause is for you is will help you figure out that balance in your life.

Stone Payton: [00:24:12] So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for for a guy like you? Like, how do you get the new clients?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:24:23] You know, I will. I’ll be honest and tell you, it’s been one of the biggest challenges that I have had to undertake because I’m a men’s life coach. And so that means I’m not accepting women or I’m not working with couples per say. I’m really searching for men and men, interestingly enough. Right. We don’t show up anywhere until we’re completely broken, which is crazy. Don’t do that. You know what I love to be in the position of is is, you know, if you think about Olympic athletes, they’ll spend their entire lives just trying to shave a half a second off or get a half a foot in front of somebody else, constantly working. And and so I want to take and they’re already great at what they do, right? I want to take great people. And I want them to get clear about how they can get better. And to me, that’s really what coaching is. I understand helping people when they’re broken. I get that and that’s how a lot of people come to me. But but it’s really about taking people to the next level. The other thing that I’ve done right is we created the True Man podcast, and so the True Man podcast was an opportunity for people to hear about men’s topics, how to be better dad, how to be a better husband, you know, just how to generally be a better man. And so we take all those topics and I bring guests on and we talk about, you know, in a lot of cases, their story.

Stone Payton: [00:26:05] Oh, that’s great. So it’s not just the Mike Van Pelt Hour. It’s you’re bringing in other folks, getting their perspective.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:26:10] I’m doing some solo shows because I think it’s important to highlight what I do from a coaching standpoint. However, I think what men really want to hear and what they really need is a story from another man. And I have women on the podcast all the time because women have stories too, you know, to have these people come on and tell their story. So, for example, this Monday, well, I, I recently released a podcast and I interviewed, amazingly enough, the best man at my wedding. I was married 26 years ago to my lovely wife, Jill. And shortly after we got married, of course, you know, the Internet was starting to become a thing back then. And my buddy got involved in Internet gambling. He did, you know, of course, back then we didn’t talk about those things. Right. So he becomes an addict. And so on the podcast, I was recently back home in Iowa. That’s where I grew up and we were talking. He said, I love what you’re doing with the podcast. I’d love to come on and tell my story. And I was like, Wow, you can just know once you tell that story, it’s out there, number one. Number two, yeah. I’m proud of you that you’ve gotten to a point where you’ve healed enough that you can come on and tell that story because you can impact the lives of a lot of people by doing that. And so we did an interview and he told his story about how he got into gambling and and where he’s at today. And it’s truly a comeback story. You know, he got himself into trouble. And, you know, he he’s he’s made a great comeback. And so those stories are out there all over the landscape.

Stone Payton: [00:27:55] I’ll bet.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:27:56] And I can’t I can’t bring those guys on fast enough to tell their story, because that’s how we motivate other men to take action. Right. You know, and to me, that’s what it’s all about. And that’s why we started the podcast, so that people could hear those stories and I could bring experts on and provide that value for for men. So that’s one of the big things that I do. And it does it inadvertently creates that know like trust factor from a business perspective that we’re all searching for, that somebody can come on, they can they can hear me, they can hear my guests and they can make a decision. Hey, he sounds like a pretty decent dude. You know, I’ve got some things I’d like to talk with him through, and so that that’s what it’s all about. And of course, I’ve had to get to do all the social media and fun stuff that comes with. Right, right, right. But, you know, other than that, you know, I’m doing a lot of networking. I’m getting involved in a lot of men’s organizations. I mentioned the Christian Business Connection, Pbmc, great Christian business men’s organizations, and there are others out there that I’m searching for. And, you know, I’m always available to come in, in business and work with businesses. And I’m not going to work with you on your your, you know, your business planning or anything like that. I could, but that’s not what I’m there for. You know, I just want everybody to be the best possible person they can be, because that’s how we lead. Well.

Stone Payton: [00:29:23] I’m glad I asked. And one of the things. No, it’s very helpful context. One of the things that I’m picking up from what you described is, yes, that’s probably a great way to go to market, create some awareness, have people reach out to you. But also your existing clients are probably getting ongoing value from the fact that you’re doing that show, right? Yeah.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:29:48] Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, I’ve talked about it. It has been a thrill of my life to do it. I think what we as 71 podcast in and then you know, we’ve got the YouTube channel going and everything and I’m doing exploring other opportunities. I’m on a couple of other different shows now. It’s funny how this thing just morphs, but, you know, we’ve talked about everything, you know, from marriage. One of the topics I hate to talk about it and you know, I bring it up now because it is other than gambling, the number one problem men have comes in the area of pornography. And I hate to talk about I hate to talk about it, but every time I do it. My numbers spike on the podcast. And so that tells me everything that I need to know, even though I already know the statistics are there. And, you know, so it’s things like that that, you know, most is is it comfortable for me to talk about? Heck, no, it’s not comfortable for me to talk about, but I talk about all kinds of things that I never thought I would talk about sitting in front of a microphone like this. But that’s how we add value to other men. And I think that’s what they’re looking for, is those authentic and those real conversations that help them get to the next level.

Stone Payton: [00:31:12] Yeah. All right. Let’s leave our listeners with a with a handful of Pro Tips. Number one, pro tip gang is if you are finding any value in this conversation at all, and I’m sure you are, reach out to Mike and have a conversation with him. But short of that or preceding that, I don’t know. It’s something we should be reading, something we should be doing, questions we should be asking ourselves just a couple of maybe just actionable steps that those of us who are trying to be self aware and trying to to to live into our purpose and be better people. Just a couple of pro tips maybe come to.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:31:51] Well, listen, I’m going to give you a book and it is a book that is helped transform my life. It’s a book that has transformed the lives of a lot of men. And that is a book called Wild at Heart by John Eldridge. And John Eldridge has a ton of books. His wife Stacy has written a number of books, but I strongly recommend that book. If you’re searching for more in your life, whatever that looks like, if you’re wondering how you can be free in your life and begin to take your heart back and not have all that baggage that we sometimes drag along as men. I recommend reading the book Wild at Heart by John Eldridge. That is a that is short of reading the Bible, I think a book that will give you some of the most in-depth knowledge of of your masculine life that you’ll ever read. So and there, there are a number of books after that, but I like that as a starting point.

Stone Payton: [00:33:00] All right. I got to ask, is there a book in you do you have some designs on on writing a book yourself currently?

Mike Van Pelt: [00:33:07] Yeah. Currently working on a book, as a matter of fact. Yeah. Currently working on a book. And you know, in that book we’ll tell the the true man story. You know, how Paul Bailey and I started a small men’s group? What is the true man? You know, why do you want to become a true man? And so and I’m kind of excited about it because I just had an epiphany here a couple of weeks ago and I’m like, Yeah, we need to this needs to be a roadmap book, you know? And that just comes from Paul and I had taken road trips prior primarily up to ironically enough, I was thinking about this. I’m like, Man, it’s funny how all this stuff comes together. Ironically enough, we used to travel from South Carolina up to North Carolina. Yes, there were coffee shops around the corner, but that’s not why you take a road trip. You take a road trip to get in the car and have these intimate conversations with somebody. But our road trips always evolved around going to this place in Columbus, North Carolina, called, of all things, Open Road Coffee.

Stone Payton: [00:34:10] I love it. Well, when you launched that book, I hope you’ll come back and visit with us and get us caught up on your work and maybe share some insights from the from the book. All right. Let’s make sure that our listeners can connect with you. If they’d like to have a conversation with you or someone on your team, maybe find out about some of these retreats or take advantage of your expertise and counsel and an individual coaching relationship, whatever you think is appropriate. Website, email, phone. Just I just want to make sure that they can connect with you, man.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:34:39] Well, you can always go out to my website, which is probably about to go under under another revamp, but all the information is out there at Truman Life Coaching Dotcom and you can reach out to me at Mike at Truman Life Coaching and give me a call 8642662058. And I love talking and strategizing with guys and we can set up an initial hour and have a strategy call and see what’s going on in your life. And if you need more coaching or if you need me to plug into a group. Let’s do it. Or if you want a book recommendation. I got plenty of those, too.

Stone Payton: [00:35:24] Oh, what a pleasure. Mike Van Pelt, thank you so much for coming in and sharing your story and your perspective. This has been an informing and inspiring conversation I have. What a terrific way to invest a Tuesday morning, man. Thank you. Absolutely. No, you’re doing important work, man. And we sincerely appreciate you.

Mike Van Pelt: [00:35:46] Well, you know, and I I’ve I’ve done a lot of research around what this means, so I don’t take this lightly when I say it. But I’m doing the work that God has called me to do, and I’m enjoying almost every minute of it. And if you’re a business person, you know what I mean by almost.

Stone Payton: [00:36:06] All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, the comeback coach with true man life coaching, Mr. Mike Van Pelt and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you next time on Cherokee Business Radio.

 

Tagged With: True Man Life Coaching, True Man Podcast

Marcie Smith with The Children’s Haven

September 12, 2022 by angishields

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Cherokee Business Radio
Marcie Smith with The Children's Haven
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Marcie-Smith-The-Childrens-HavenMarcie Smith joined The Children’s Haven in 2018 with over ten years of experience with nonprofit organizations focused on education, fundraising, homelessness prevention, child abuse prevention, and childhood cancer research.

Marcie holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Birmingham-Southern College and a Master’s degree in conflict resolution from Norwich University. She is a 2022 graduate of Leadership Cherokee and was named a 2022 “Top Ten in Ten Young Professional to Watch in Cherokee County” by the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce.

She is a 2016 graduate of LEAD Atlanta. She has previously served with the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Millennial Advisory Committee. She currently serves on the state Board of Directors for Prevent Child Abuse Georgia.

Marcie serves on the Bascomb Elementary Student Advisory Council and is a Volunteer Coordinator for a Soldier Family Readiness Group with the Georgia National Guard. Marcie is passionate about social innovation, family services, community collaboration and efforts to work together to protect children and their childhoods.

She lives in Towne Lake with her husband, Nate, and children, Elijah and Hadley.

Connect with Marcie and follow The Children’s Haven on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:10] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:26] And welcome to Fearless Formula on Cherokee RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline. And our guest in the studio today is the executive director of the Children’s Haven, whose mission is to promote the health and happiness of children impacted by abuse through programs that help increase their safety and improve their educational, social and emotional functioning. I would really love to welcome to the show Marcie Smith. Hello.

Marcie Smith: [00:01:00] Hello. Thank you so much for having me.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:02] Of course. Thank you for coming. I’m excited to talk to you today because I think what you do is so important and it’s not something that I think about all the time in the back of my head as I go about my day. So I’m interested to find out what drew you to being so helpful and impactful to children who suffer abuse.

Marcie Smith: [00:01:23] Well, you know, I think that really stems from how I was raised. My my mother was always very adamant that volunteerism was just woven into our life. And she worked for defects for a while as I was growing up. So I got to learn about families who were engaged in the system and families who were in foster care and really opened my eyes at a very young age. And I went to school to study international relations. And I think I always knew I’d be in nonprofit management and.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:52] Always were drawn to it.

Marcie Smith: [00:01:54] I was, yeah, I knew that. That’s where I would end up. My master’s degree is in conflict resolution, and that’s something that I use on a daily basis. But being engaged with nonprofits and volunteerism is something that has just naturally been a part of my life. And so being able to serve our kids who need services the most and then engage with volunteers who want to give of them themselves and their time and their resources and their hearts, I think I love getting to see both ends of that work.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:23] It’s so interesting that it was something that you felt very sort of was a natural fit for you because of the way you were raised. You know, I did a little bit of that with my own kids, but it wasn’t something that I thought about a lot when I was growing up. It just it’s kind of cool that your mom sort of made that a very important part of your life. A very natural part of your life.

Marcie Smith: [00:02:42] Yes, definitely. It just wasn’t a question. So when I ended up in the role where I am, it just felt.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:47] Right. Oh, that’s awesome. So tell me a little bit about where you were before you started working with Children’s Haven.

Marcie Smith: [00:02:56] So my career has always been a nonprofit. I started right out of school actually volunteering with a nonprofit in American Samoa, and that I served as a volunteer teacher in that capacity, but really got to know the the ins and outs of a nonprofit working internationally. And then I spent some time as a director of a transitional housing program for homeless women and children. I also worked for a national nonprofit that raises funds for childhood cancer research. So got to learn a lot about fundraising and a lot about working on a bigger scale of nonprofits. But I really, really missed the community piece of it.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:35] That what drew you to Cherokee?

Marcie Smith: [00:03:36] That’s what drew me to Cherokee County. My husband and I knew that we wanted to raise our family here for a while, and so the timing was really just perfect where we made the move. And there was a position that brought together all of the pieces that I felt really passionate about, which was serving our families and serving families in a way to build strong communities. And the Children’s Haven was so community oriented with such an incredible base of supporters who really advocated for our work. So it made it really easy for me to come in as director because there were so many people who really cared about what we were doing already.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:11] So I think about it from my perspective, I have such a tender heart regarding children that I wonder what it’s like to be exposed to so many aspects of parenting and society that are kind of the darker side. What is that like for you?

Marcie Smith: [00:04:27] There’s a lot of heartbreak. We have 388 kids in Cherokee County who are in foster care today, and that number has grown over the years. Most of them are coming into care because of substance abuse, that their parents are experiencing a lot of neglect because of that substance abuse. And we are seeing physical and sexual abuse as well. And it’s very, very intense situations and a lot of brokenness and a lot of crises that we’re exposed to. So there is heartbreak there, but I think I find the balance in seeing the generosity from the community and people who really care and believe that they can make a difference. We have a lot of volunteers who support our kids and to see them give of themselves so freely, knowing that one person can really make a difference. They can help change a child’s story, they can impact them. And together we can do a lot of preventative things to to keep families strong before they reach crisis. And so I really. Well, even the work we’re doing and I think, you know, kind of over the years finding a way to strike that balance where there’s some peace there.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:31] It’s interesting that you note just one person can make such an impact, because in my mind, it feels overwhelming. But can you explain to me how you could see one person sort of helping? Because I think if you think about it, where I have the power, just me to impact someone’s life in such a positive way, it makes me feel like, well, then of course I want to do that. But outside of it, it feels overwhelming. Sure.

Marcie Smith: [00:05:53] So our foundation program is called CASA. It’s court appointed special advocates. It’s a national program. We’re affiliated with National CASA and then Georgia CASA at the state level. And these volunteers go through a pretty rigorous training to learn how to advocate on behalf of kids in foster care. And our promise to them is that we ask them to take one case at a time that gives them the opportunity to fully invest in this one child or this one sibling group, which doesn’t sound too overwhelming. They’re really thinking about serving one family to make a difference in their lives and the way that they make that difference. There are a lot of small, small ways that add up, but they have a huge impact. The kid knows that there’s one person in their life who’s going to be consistent during a very scary time that they’re in foster care, they’re away from their home and their biological family, sometimes their schools and their neighborhood friends, people that have been in their lives forever. Everything has changed. And to have one adult who says, I’m going to be with you this entire time and I’m in your corner and I only care about you. And I’m here to advocate for your best interests and the things that you care about. I think just having that connection with an adult who cares about them can really change a child’s life and they hold on to that forever.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:09] It’s it’s so impressive to think that there’s one person out there that could have that much power to impact the whole trajectory of where someone’s going in their life. I mean, it’s almost humbling.

Marcie Smith: [00:07:20] Yes. And Marcos says they come from all walks of life. We have some young parents who have toddlers at home. We have retired teachers. We have people who work 40 hours a week. It’s really neat to see that they have found time in their lives to add this volunteerism because they feel so strongly about it and they see the results from it, they see the successes, and they see those little glimpses of hope that let them know that their work matters and it matters to this child.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:48] What do you think some of the biggest misconceptions are about what you do?

Marcie Smith: [00:07:54] You know, I would say really, I think that we’re trying hard to to share the story and advocate for our parents, too. And I think that a lot of times people might jump to the conclusion that the parents have made terrible mistakes. And we’re searching for adoptive homes for these children. But truly, our goal is always going to be reunification first, if it makes sense for the family and if the parents need some time to get back on their feet, they need to go through some substance abuse treatment to gain that sobriety. Maybe they need help with counseling and resources for stable employment and stable housing. And we try to look at how can we support the parents, too? And if we if if reunification is a possibility and that’s a safe home that the child can go back to, then we really want to try to encourage that. We want to build strong families and not look at ripping families apart. And so I think that that’s a part of our story that we’re trying to do a better job of telling that we want to support our families when that is an option.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:53] So it’s not just let me let us take these kids away from you and let me find someone to be a surrogate parent for these children. It’s really the goal is to keep families together.

Marcie Smith: [00:09:01] Absolutely. We also started a new program this year to help with some prevention efforts. We felt like there could be some times where foster care could be unnecessary and we could prevent it if the families had resources in their homes. And these families would be families who are at risk of foster care involvement, but they truly just need resources. The kids are in a loving and safe place, but the parents need help. They might need parent education, they might need some coaching to get them into stable employment. And so seeing that program really take off, we’ve supported 30 families in the first year of operation. Wow. We have a staff member going into their homes every single week. And it’s really incredible because these families really just needed help to get through a crisis, to get through a rough time, and they may not have a network of support to help lift them up. And so we’re trying to build that network of support to keep kids with their families when that is a possibility.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:55] I was reading a statistic about it’s from the American Journal of Emergency Medicine that domestic violence cases increased by almost, what, 30 some odd percent during the pandemic. What was that like for you? Did you see that same statistic?

Marcie Smith: [00:10:10] We did? We we did in Cherokee. I mean, very terrifying. You know, part part of that was also looking at the timing of the pandemic. And all of a sudden, all of our children were at home. And the majority of reports of abuse and neglect come from our mandated reporters who are our teachers in schools. So all of a sudden, I didn’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:31] Think about that.

Marcie Smith: [00:10:32] Yeah. And all of a sudden, all the kids were at home and nobody was seeing them. There were no eyes on kids. And it got very quiet for a while and we knew it didn’t mean that abuse and neglect weren’t happening. It just meant that our people who are always reporting it, weren’t getting to see it.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:48] That’s so fascinating. Who would have really you wouldn’t have been able to point that out how important that that notion was without having this separation between teachers and children? And who would have thought that that is like their number one advocate right there?

Marcie Smith: [00:11:03] Absolutely. And I think that the the numbers of domestic violence cases that rose and we had higher numbers of babies who were being born addicted to substances and babies who were being seen at the hospital because of broken bones. It really reflected a lot of the stress and trauma that families have been under and a new layer of financial stress and trauma and then a new layer of mental health trauma resulting from the pandemic. And really, you know, I think our service providers have bonded together to serve families the best we can, but definitely very challenging times.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:39] Would you say that’s the most what is the most challenging part of of what you do? I mean, I would imagine there are different aspects of it because that all is so emotional. I’m just picturing myself. I always think the world is a reflection of me, right? So even though I know it’s not true, but I imagine what it would be like to see you’ve got an emotional side to yourself. You’ve got like a physical side to yourself because there’s a stress in your body that you absorb. And so I’m wondering, what are the what is the most challenging part? Is it trying to have the correct kind of volunteer or consistency? I don’t know. I’m just trying to imagine my life there.

Marcie Smith: [00:12:16] You know, I think it’s it’s it’s really challenging to have patients, patients with a broken system, as we often refer to it, patients with our volunteers who are very passionate. And we want to see, you know, we can see this child needs this and this and this. And knowing that the obstacles to overcome, like treating their mental health needs and going through therapy and a family who’s trying to overcome substance abuse by going to treatment, those things all really take time. And so our our goal for CASA in particular is that a child doesn’t stay in foster care any longer than necessary. They’re we’re always advocating for permanency, whether that is a permanent placement of reunification back with our biological family, a guardianship or an adoption. Our volunteers are going to keep trying to move things along, knowing that it takes a long time. But if they can stick with it and keep moving things along so that we don’t feel like any child is forgotten or that they fall through the cracks of the system, I think having that patience can be really challenging, but it’s so important because we do get to see those happy endings and we get to see those stories and look back at how far somebody has come when we saw so much brokenness and so much trauma. But really seeing that we can celebrate a high school graduation and we can celebrate different, different milestones and somebody’s life is really special.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:33] Do you think people don’t really consider just how important your program is? I’m thinking about how I go about my daily life, and I just assume everyone’s life is like mine. And I know it’s not true, but unless you’re really exposed to it, you don’t really kind of understand all of the dynamics. And so I think what would I want to say to someone who really doesn’t have like their finger on the pulse of of what your daily life is like?

Marcie Smith: [00:14:00] Yeah, you know, I think we don’t know what we don’t know. And what I’ve seen in my role has been so inspiring because we have such a caring and giving community. And when people find out about the work that we do, they’re drawn to at least one part of our mission. And that might be that they’re bringing in clothing items for our clothing closet. It might be that they are signing up to volunteer as a mentor or a volunteer. It could just mean that they’re coming for a work day and they’re going to pull weeds in our playground. But to me, it’s really cool to see how people when you when you know, when you understand and when you hear about these things, I feel a lot of times people will say, well, if not me, then who? And they get pulled in and they find little ways that they can help make a difference. And our community has just been outstanding at that.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:47] What is your biggest need right now? Do you have a biggest need or is it everything? Yeah, of course.

Marcie Smith: [00:14:55] So, yeah, I mean, and we always need people. We always need volunteers to fit in different ways. And that looks different for every person. But we have volunteer opportunities for kids. We have families who will come and help sort donations in our clothing closet. We have people who are committed to mentoring, and our mentoring program is just once a month and we’re serving middle school kids and it’s really been a lot of fun. We have people who are ready in their lives to take on the role of a CASA volunteer. Being a nonprofit, we are supported by donations from this community, so that’s incredibly important to our board of directors that we’re really transparent on how we’re spending those funds. And we’ve been very adamant about obtaining the highest level of transparency, and we’ve gotten the highest ratings from charity watchdog organizations. So as an organization, that’s incredibly important to us. When we’re asking people to support us financially, we want to show them that, yes, $0.90 of every dollar you give to the Children’s Haven is going directly to our programs, and we have very little administrative costs because the work is so important and there’s so much of it to do.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:57] Wow. So if you’re just joining us, I’m spending time with Marci Smith. She’s the executive director of Children’s Haven. I love the notion that you feel like when you’re giving, you’re giving and you know, you have peace. And knowing that this isn’t just, you know, $0.10 out of every dollar is going toward it. And the rest of it is what about. I’m just I’m just saying it’s like there have been obviously lots of controversies, but I appreciate that you’ve been so transparent with your program, and that’s very important. I think you’ve won some awards recently as well.

Marcie Smith: [00:16:26] We have our very proud of our team. We were the 2020 nonprofit of the year for Cherokee County from the Chamber of Commerce, and our supervised visitation program actually won the 2020 provider of the year. And that is a national recognition out of 850 different supervised visitation providers.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:43] Congratulations.

Marcie Smith: [00:16:44] Thank you. Super proud of them. Our CASA program was recognized as innovative program of the year from the Georgia CASA team. We have an incredible staff, but it operating at the highest efficiency is our goal. We want to be very professional in how we work. We work with a lot of volunteers, but our team of staff members are exceptionally professional and our board is very committed to telling our story and making sure that we are transparent and that people really trust in our mission and trust in how we operate. That’s, I think, a big part of our success.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:15] Is it a challenge to balance your life? Because I would imagine myself being so emotionally invested, it would be really hard for me to not be thinking about it at like 11:00 at night or two in the morning. It is, but.

Marcie Smith: [00:17:28] It definitely is. We I’m a big advocate for self care with our team. Our staff members are all mamas and so we are all mamas. First, we that’s the most important thing that we take care of our families first because we can’t take care of other families well if we don’t take care of ourselves in our own families first. So I try to preach that to my team, and that means that I have to also model that. And so sometimes I have to work harder to hold myself accountable. But other times I know that my work and my family life will overlap, like having my kindergartner join me for meetings.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:00] So yeah, we have a little extra member here, like hanging out and drawings and pictures. It’s really cute.

Marcie Smith: [00:18:07] His first radio station.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:09] Oh, well, that’s awesome. You’ve been very good. So how do you. So your your boundaries kind of around the ways that you can kind of, I guess sort of feed your own soul during this. What are some of your what are some of the things that you do that helped? So the show is called Fearless Formula. And so I’m always thinking of things that people are tend to be afraid of or are hesitant to do because they’re not sure how it’s going to come out. So what do you do that kind of keeps yourself in balance?

Marcie Smith: [00:18:38] Try to practice gratefulness a lot and recognizing maybe we tried something and it didn’t work, but trying to look at the positives that did come from it, even if it’s just a learning experience, I think that helps to encourage myself too. And we, you know, one thing that we did this year was we started the mentoring program. It was brand new. It was scary. We didn’t have a lot of resources or capacity to start a new program, but the need was there. And our motto through this program, development, was progress, not perfection. And if we can do a little bitty things and celebrate those little things, we finally got to the place and where we’re standing back and looking at what look what we just built. And we jumped right in and we weren’t afraid. And we used each other’s resources to really build it together as a team. And it was really cool to step back and and look at what came from that.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:30] What are some of the changes that have happened since you’ve joined? I know it used to be called Cas.

Marcie Smith: [00:19:36] Yup, just Cas.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:36] Yeah, but but they changed it to Children’s Haven not too long ago I.

Marcie Smith: [00:19:39] Want to say. Yeah. 2015. Ah, our board really looked at our cost of program has been around 30 years as of next year and had really built a strong foundation in the community. We have great retention with our volunteers. We were serving children well and really looking at the other needs and knowing that there was a way for us to grow and develop to meet some of these other needs. So in 2015 we changed the name from CASA to the Children’s Haven, and then CASA became a program under the Children’s Haven. At that time we also purchased a new building right across from Cherokee High School and opened the well star family visitation center. So those two programs I came into, they were running well and doing great and had really built a solid foundation for the organization. And I really wanted to look at with our board and our Strategic Planning Committee, the two programs that were running so well were addressing abuse and neglect after they had already happened. And how can we really bring our mission full circle and do some preventative efforts? So I’ve been there for four years, just super proud of the way the organization has grown. We have a fantastic team and we have two programs now that are addressing things on the preventative side and really we’re seeing successes from that, which is telling us that that was a space we really needed to be in.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:56] How do you prevent? Because it’s like almost predicting, right? So do you look at factors that.

Marcie Smith: [00:21:00] Yes, so yes. And we really rely on our partners too. I think having strong community partnerships is the way that we can be successful in our mission. It is so necessary. So working with the school system and with defacto our division of family and children’s services to take referrals on families who come on their radar, we don’t get to see those families in in our position, but we have people in our community who are making those calls or having concerns and even sometimes self referrals of families who just will voice, I need help, I really need help. And so having strong working relationships where we can get some solid referrals, that’s saying that these kids are safe in the home, but they need something to change and. Working through that system has really helped us, I think, to be most impactful with our in-home parenting program, where they’re getting really intensive parenting once a week. And then with our mentoring program, the children who are currently in our mentoring program are involved with juvenile court because they have missed an absurd amount of school and they’re in middle school. And there are a lot of reasons that they don’t want to go to school. And what we have seen through our mentoring program is that they’re really just craving a connection with an adult who cares about them, who is not their parents, who’s not a family member and not somebody in the school building. It’s a different adult who asked them about their day. Ask them about challenges. They also are all ears and want to know what’s their favorite pizza and what music do they like right now? And so just being able to talk to somebody who’s there just for them, I think has been encouraging. And they know that there’s somebody else who’s encouraging them to go to school and do their best.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:40] I like the fact that you encourage people to ask for help because I think a lot of people consider that a weakness. You know, that there’s something wrong with them if they can’t handle it.

Marcie Smith: [00:22:49] Well, you know, we’re seeing a lot of the families that have been in our parenting program love their kids so much. But they either didn’t have the greatest role models of parents when they were growing up. And so they really are kind of lacking some parent education that they just weren’t exposed to. But they know that they want to be better and that they need help. And I think that we’ve come a long way in mental health where people are feeling more comfortable talking about their needs. And that’s the story we want to tell to we want to say advocate for yourself, ask for help when you need it. And then knowing that if someone is asking for help, it’s our responsibility as a community to make sure we’re directing them to resources so that they can really be connected with an organization or an individual who can help to meet that need. And I think that’s how we build strong families and that’s how we keep families together.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:38] What do you think? And this is a big question. What do you think is the most rewarding for you?

Marcie Smith: [00:23:46] You know, I I think in my position, we have staff members who do direct services and they work directly with our families. And I love getting to see their faces light up when they tell the story of a child who took their first steps in our visitation room, or the child who has a 4.0. And and I love to get to see that joy that it brings them through the direct services because they also see the heartbreak. And so we all celebrate that as a team. But in my role is executive director, I also get to see I like to call it radical generosity and just.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:17] Oh, I love that term.

Marcie Smith: [00:24:18] People and businesses in our community who just approach us without us soliciting, but they just come to us and they say, we want to help. How can we help? What can we give? Here’s funding to help with this program or here’s a truckload of 1300 diapers. I mean, to me, it’s just I feel very blessed and fortunate that I get to see those sides of people. When you think the world is a doom and gloom place, to know that there are so many good people in this world and especially in our community, we we are so rich with generosity in this community and people who truly care about their neighbors.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:54] I know it’s so easy for me to see. The dark side is I always go to the dark side first. But it is so heartwarming and encouraging to know that there are people that are willing to go outside of their own circle and and look beyond their own immediate family to want to help, just as from the pureness of their heart.

Marcie Smith: [00:25:12] Yes. And there’s nothing in it for them. And so I just feel so lucky that I get to see that all the time.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:17] If there’s someone that’s listening that doesn’t has not ever considered really volunteering that way, what could you tell them?

Marcie Smith: [00:25:24] Really, there are a lot of different ways to volunteer. I think that that some people jump in and they may not know how to give of themselves or what they’re comfortable with. But I think that if you really think about how you want to spend your time and how much of your time you want to spend, and you can voice that to any organization. I feel confident that people can get plugged in and it might be that it’s one time of year that that you do something. But volunteering with a nonprofit to help vacuum and wash their windows and pull weeds helps them so much. And that kind of service just on a one off can really be truly impactful.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:00] I think people and just in small amounts that I’ve ever volunteered, it’s it’s touched me in such a way that I feel like I can’t explain it unless someone else has done it too. And then you can talk about it. But it’s hard to describe the feeling. It’s like a.

Marcie Smith: [00:26:13] Joy, you know, like, say, fills your cup.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:16] Oh yeah. It feels like, oh, that’s a great one. Great way to say it. If you could make the perfect scenario as far as funds or volunteers or, you know, like where you would like to be and even five years, what would you love to see happen if you could had all the power in the world?

Marcie Smith: [00:26:31] Yeah, I think, you know, we recognize that our team is really special and as a director and with our board of directors, we want to take care of them. So knowing that they are professionals and they are exceptionally talented and well educated. I always want to have enough funds to take care of them and know that they’re not volunteering. They are they are giving of their careers. This is what they’ve decided to do. And looking at how we grow to provide additional services and take care of our people, I think there’s a big need for additional therapeutic services and our community. And so that’s something that we would love to be able to support more families with.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:09] I mean, like emotional.

Marcie Smith: [00:27:11] Those where we have a supervised visitation program, but there’s always a need to have therapeutic supervised visitation and add another layer of care for families when they they truly need a little bit more. We also are very fortunate that we have two staff members who are bilingual, and that’s a growing need, too. So as I look at at who we’re serving and our community, I really want to be mindful that we want to increase our services for our bilingual families who need support. And so that’s something we have to look at as as we grow in the future.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:43] Are there any needs that are sort of specific to Cherokee County or are they like if you were to compare a different county here in Georgia, how how do how does Cherokee County compare?

Marcie Smith: [00:27:54] You know, we’re the seventh largest county in Georgia and we’re the second fastest growing.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:59] So I knew that I didn’t know that statistic.

Marcie Smith: [00:28:03] You know, I think a lot of people are shocked to find out that a few months ago when we were looking at how many kids are in foster care, Cherokee have the same number of kids in foster care as Fulton County did. And you think about how big Fulton is. Yes. So those are the changes in our population are going to affect our families. And I think as we also look at at housing and employment and some things like that, we try to project and be prepared for the future. And knowing that our work could change, we might need to be working harder as a nonprofit. We always say we’d love it if we went out of business because we fulfilled our mission and nobody needed us. That would be a dream world. The dream that would be a dream world. But that’s not the case. And us growing and expanding means that more people need our services. But we’re honored to be able to do that and we’re only able to do it because of our community. And we have to be very realistic about projecting and knowing what that looks like in the future.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:59] So if people wanted to contact you in any way for any reason, how could they do that? What’s the best place?

Marcie Smith: [00:29:04] Yeah, so our website is Cherokee Children’s Haven dot org. We’re also very active on social media, the Children’s Haven on Facebook and Instagram. My email is Marci with an eye at Cherokee Children’s Haven dot org and our office. Our visitation program runs seven days a week, but we have standard office hours and I think that we’re fairly reachable.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:26] You’re findable.

Marcie Smith: [00:29:27] We’re findable.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:28] Yes. Even on the social media.

Marcie Smith: [00:29:29] So, yeah, absolutely.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:30] Get away from it. Well, Marci Smith, I’m so grateful that you took some time today to come in and kind of highlight the wonderful work that you’re doing, the meaningful work that you’re doing. And I applaud your energy and effort, and I’m so excited to see where we’re all going to go as as you create such a huge positive impact on society.

Marcie Smith: [00:29:49] Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity to share more of our story. I really appreciated your great questions.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:55] Oh, thanks, girl. It’s been my pleasure. And thank you all out there for listening to Fearless Formula. I’m Business RadioX. And this again is Sharon Klein reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all create our own fearless formula. Have a great day.

 

Tagged With: The Children's Haven

Glyn Hughes With TIACA

September 8, 2022 by Jacob Lapera

South Florida Business Radio
South Florida Business Radio
Glyn Hughes With TIACA
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DTLLogo-Blue-Bannerv2Glyn HughesGlyn Hughes has been involved in Air Cargo for over 37 years having started his career with British Caledonian in the UK. He joined IATA in 1991 and become IATA’s Global Head of Cargo in June 2014, where he had overall responsibility to deliver the agenda agreed by the Cargo Committee to support the Air Cargo industry.

In February 2021, Glyn joined TIACA as its first Director General where he will work with the Board to deliver the organization’s vision for a safe, profitable, and united air cargo industry that embraces modern technologies and practices to sustainably and fairly serve trade and social development worldwide. Priority areas include safety, security, digitalization, and innovation.

He is dedicated to developing collaborative relationships and is a firm believer in supporting the next generation of industry leaders and innovators. Glyn spends a large amount of time on outreach programs with training and other educational establishments.

Connect with Glyn on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • The role air cargo logistics plays in the global economy
  • The role Miami airport plays in US logistics
  • About TIACA
  • The TIACA Air Cargo Forum
  • Supporting sustainable developments

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:01] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in South Florida. It’s time for South Florida Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:14] Lee Kantor here another episode of South Florida Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Diaz Trade Law, your customs expert today on South Florida Business Radio, we have Glen Hughes with TIACA. Welcome.

Glyn Hughes: [00:00:32] Thank you, Lee. It’s a pleasure to be speaking with you today.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:34] Well, I am so excited to learn about your organization. Tell us a little bit about TIACA. How are you serving folks?

Glyn Hughes: [00:00:40] Well, what we’re doing in TIACA, let me just explain what the acronym stands for. It’s The International Air Cargo Association, and we are a global association based in South Florida, in fact, based at Miami International Airport. And we represent the entire logistics supply chain that deals with air cargo. Most people, when they see an airplane fly, they think of the people sitting on that plane flying to their holidays to see family. But what they don’t possibly realize is that what’s also flying on that plane could be millions of dollars worth of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, cell phones, computers. Almost anything that we use in our daily lives is going to be flying on an airplane at some point.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:20] So when a regular person is flying, you know, to a city for vacation in the cargo hold, there might be commercial products also on board as well.

Glyn Hughes: [00:01:30] Absolutely. Yeah. And in fact, from a from a global value perspective, global trade is roughly about $18 trillion, about a third of that, in fact, slightly more than a third, about over six and one half, nearly $7 trillion worth flies on airplanes. Some of that flies on dedicated cargo airplanes that you see the likes of FedEx and UPS operating, but also the American Airlines, Delta, United, they’ve all got very large cargo divisions which are carrying billions of dollars worth of cargo in their what we call them, their bellies. So it’s literally underneath the passenger seat, an incredibly valuable part of the global economy, the US economy and also the Floridian economy.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:12] This to me is another example of how logistics and supply chain are like invisible to kind of regular people and they’re so vital to the communities they serve. Can you talk about kind of how this association came about? Like what was the was this has this been around since the beginning of air travel and air, the use of airplanes?

Glyn Hughes: [00:02:34] Well, I’ve been around in aviation for quite a long time. People often say, did I know the Wright brothers when they were in Kitty Hawk? I haven’t been around that long. But it’s it’s it’s nearly 40 years that I’ve been involved in in aviation, and T.A. has been around even longer than that. It it really sprung up because very much associated what you said a moment ago, really, about the fact that everyday folks aren’t always aware of of what logistics does because it operates behind the scenes. People see it when the guy knocks on the door and gives them their parcel that they’ve ordered on Amazon, but they don’t necessarily associate everything that happened prior to that parcel coming to their door. And so when it comes to lobbying governments, working with airports, working with regulators, working with manufacturers about the need for industry efficiency, for solutions and standards that can actually work to pick up a piece of cargo. The other side of the world and basically fly it in the safe, same condition of which it originally entered the supply chain requires a global voice. And this is really what TR does, is it brings together members. Our members are airports, airlines, ground handlers, trucking companies, all sorts of people associated with logistics. And then we can represent them collectively and try and ensure that the industry is is safe, effective and efficient.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:57] Can you talk a little bit about because this to me is fascinating in terms of there are so many moving parts literally and there are so many different ways to move, you know, cargo from one place to place. So, you know, you have ships, you have trains, you have, you know, trucks, and now you have air. How do you all play together? How does how do you kind of keep track of a of a box from point A to the endpoint of the consumer? Like, it seems so complex. There are so many, you know, variables that you have to deal with.

Glyn Hughes: [00:04:32] Exactly. A great question because, of course, again, we associate ourselves as passengers. If we want to move to go on vacation, we effectively get ourselves from our house to the airport, whether or not we use public transport, taxi, our own vehicle or whatever. We then walk through the airport, we walk onto the plane, we get off the plane, we then somehow get ourselves to the destination hotel or people were visiting. But if you’re a piece of cargo that can’t walk or talk, you’re going to need to rely on something to make sure that those boxes, crates, cartons, whatever, get to where they need to go. So we have to use advanced technology. Sometimes some of the cargo, which is extremely precious, if you think, for example, COVID vaccine, COVID vaccine has basically been flying on airplanes for about 190 countries. Much of that vaccine has to be maintained in precise temperature conditions, flying sometimes to very hot environments, some environments which don’t necessarily have a strong infrastructure. So we can use data sensors that travel with the cargo, that can transmit information, that can record the temperature that the cargo was moving in. For secure goods, if you’re moving gold bars, diamonds, other things of value, you want to make sure that there’s no tampering. So we use a lot of digital connectivity to exchange information so that people on the supply chain knows what’s coming. We can then communicate with customs and other regulators to ensure that the cargo is cleared and is approved to go into a particular country or acceptable to export. And then, of course, as I say, we monitor the condition throughout throughout the journey. So it’s a combination of using high tech and great procedures and a lot of very dedicated men and women who work pretty, pretty solidly during some very tough conditions to make sure the precious cargo moves when it needs to be moved to where it needs to be moved to.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:27] Now with the kind of the acceleration of technology and things like blockchain and how does that play into all of this? Because in some ways, some industries are slow to move and lean into technologies and others are faster. Where do you see kind of logistics and supply chain when it comes to leaning on newer technologies to solve some of these complex problems?

Glyn Hughes: [00:06:54] Yeah, I would actually say that that historically we were probably a little bit slower than what one would have considered the norm or the accepted standard. But it has to be said that during COVID, when most of the world was kind of shuttering in place at home, etc., the logistics industry was working 24 seven, moving PPE around, and then moving vaccine and moving other medical things around. And then digitalized solutions really accelerated in terms of adoption because the information, even simple things in the early days of COVID, people didn’t want to hand over pieces of paper because they weren’t sure where was that piece of paper safe. So transferring digital information was a way of cutting down on that human to human interaction. Then it was a way of accelerating information flow. So the airports were aware of what was coming towards them so they could prepare in advance rather than wait to see and then react. So it was a way of making the system more efficient. Customs and other regulatory agencies say, Well, you know what, we would like to get information electronically so we can make sure it’s safe to fly. So there’s a lot of countries now in the US was one of the first in this area where you submit electronic information before the shipments are moved so that the regulators can actually assess and say, yep, I’m happy for that to enter my country. So I would say that, you know, the latest adoption of technology has really accelerated in the last couple of years throughout the logistics and air cargo space, and we expect that to continue.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:25] Now, how do you feel that South Florida is doing when it comes to its role in the United States logistics? Is it something that the airport is is kind of rocking and rolling or is it something that, hey, you know what, in a perfect world, you wish there was more of this or that?

Glyn Hughes: [00:08:46] Well, and I first of all, have to say, despite my accent, I actually grew up in south Florida. So I’m a kindred spirit.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:53] It sounded like a Kendall accent.

Glyn Hughes: [00:08:57] Well, I grew up in West Palm and then in the latter years lived just north of Fort Lauderdale. Now I’m based in Europe, but our association is based in Miami. And I say this with with no doubt whatsoever that anybody is going to contradict me, that Miami International Airport is without doubt one of the world’s leading airports when it comes to air cargo. In fact, it’s the second. In fact, I think it’s the largest airport in the US for international cargo movements. If you look at domestic, you’ve obviously got FedEx and UPS at Louisville and Memphis who move more domestic cargo. But MIA is the largest international cargo airport in the US. It is the gateway to Latin America. You couldn’t you just couldn’t imagine how many flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables actually come through the airport. The conditions at which they store them and move them is exceptional. And just from a number perspective, and this one is actually I look this up earlier and it’s quite staggering when you think of the size of Miami Airport versus the rest of the state. 40% of Florida’s trade with the world goes through MIA International Airport by value. So if you think Miami Port, you’ve got a wonderful port there. You’ve got wonderful ports in Jacksonville, you’ve got wonderful other airports Orlando, West Palm, Fort Lauderdale, etc.. But the importance of MIA internationally for air cargo is tremendous. And as I say, 40% by dollar value in terms of Florida’s trade with the rest of the world is pretty, pretty exceptional.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:30] Well, let’s talk a little bit about. Like a day in the life of your association. How do its members kind of participate? Who is the ideal member? And, you know, what is some of the benefits of being part of the organization?

Glyn Hughes: [00:10:46] And a great question. First of all, who is a member? Anybody that is associated with logistics. So, you know, it can be somebody that just owns one van and they they do a delivery round. Or it could be an airline that has 400 aircraft. It could be airports. It could be, as I say, trucking companies, grain handlers, technology providers. Anybody that’s involved in this great industry is welcome to join the family. What we then do and and our role has to be pretty fluid. During COVID, for example, when people were trying to move things around the world, we were instrumental in making sure that closed airspace in certain countries were open so that the cargo coming in could land safely and help to distribute and save lives of the citizens of those countries. And also bringing in, as I say, important things like food when it comes to humanitarian situations. We work very closely with a lot of agencies like UNICEF and others to make sure that we can help where there are disaster recovery situations and that the access they need to capacity, we can we can match with people who own that capacity. And those are kind of urgent type of reactions.

Glyn Hughes: [00:11:54] But then on a more day to day basis, we work with the entire industry looking ahead, how we can tackle, excuse me, some collective challenges like right now. The sustainability question is one that’s huge. And for us, sustainability is not really just the environment. It’s about looking after the planet, looking after the people, and helping global prosperity. And when it comes to things like recruitment, you know, this industry is is is a growing industry and it needs to attract and retain and develop a lot of young talent, as well as return to workers. And we need to make sure that the workforce out there is is aware that this great industry is there and the benefits that it can bring to global society and to local society. So we have a lot of roles or a lot of activities about industry promotion, working with universities. We’re putting on a big trade show later on this year actually in Miami. So we do a lot of outreach and do a lot of white papers and whatever we can do to help the industry grow because this industry is supporting effectively the global community.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:01] Yeah, I think when you especially when you talk about next generation workforce, it’s it’s just not on the radar of young people. I think, you know, when when kids are playing, they’re not like, I’m going to be the supply chain person, you know, like I’m going to be in logistics. You know, that’s not a role or a career that it’s top of mind. And I think it’s so crucial. I think there has to be a lot of coordination between public and private and and especially the universities to develop curriculum that is going to help solve that workforce challenge that, you know, as more and more things and people move logistics plays a bigger and bigger role.

Glyn Hughes: [00:13:41] Absolutely. I mean, that is incredibly well said, Lee. And if you don’t mind, I’m probably going to quote you going forward, because that was really eloquently put. I mean, a lot of people just think when they say logistics, they think are delivery driver. Well, that’s that’s one part that’s an important part. But this industry also has huge investments about autonomous vehicles. If people like playing with drones in their private life, come and work in this industry and develop drones that can fly in the Canadian frozen outback or into the Brazilian Amazon rainforest or throughout Florida, doing drop offs, doing humanitarian drops in in Africa, we’ve got advanced robotics. There’s people designing the next generation of technology, even things like social media and modern communication platforms, solution designing. I mean, this industry is so diverse, fleet planning, equipment purchasing. I mean, these modern aircraft are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. So people are actually applying incredibly, I would say, well considered strategic plans for how to make the aviation economics work. And just the idea of moving something. Let’s take wildlife, for example, conservation programs. If people really want to focus on how they can support cons of conservation, not conversation, but conservation programs for wildlife. Air cargo is at the forefront of this. It helps in breeding programs, but to move delicate wildlife again from one side of the planet to the other requires incredible precision planning and animal welfare. So these are all really intensely important and valuable roles that this industry can offer people.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:22] Yeah, I think that there just has to be a more awareness for young people to see kind of that side of it. Because it is. Leveraging bleeding edge technology to really make a huge impact in whatever area that they’d like to make that impact in. Like you mentioned, wildlife conservation, you know, play with drones and robots. I mean, it’s not your grandfather’s supply chain or logistics where there’s, you know, people in warehouses lifting boxes and stuff, like more and more of that is becoming automated and robots are doing that kind of work. And you need this brainpower to really kind of take this another step forward.

Glyn Hughes: [00:16:02] Absolutely. And again, you know, you hit the nail on the head when you said it’s not about just the boxes, it’s not about moving one box from A to B. This industry is actually focusing on the value that’s inside that box. And if you gain if you want to picture people giving over engagement rings, wedding rings, flowers on on Mother’s Day, flowers on Valentine’s Day, all these are activities which we take for granted. But if it wasn’t for our cargo, they wouldn’t be possible. And these are the powerful images that we need to instill in that next generation, because they can truly make an impact on their local community, as I say, and the global community. And in fact, we’re going to be holding this event in Miami in November. And we’ve dedicated the third day of our event to what we call Careers Day. And we hope that any university or high school or even just individuals that are vaguely interested in this area to kind of come along to the Miami Beach Convention Center. It’s a free event. We’re going to have about 5000 people attending with 200 different exhibitors and conference program and world class speakers. And it’s it’s free for people to come along and introduce themselves and just kind of hopefully go away with an aircraft model or two and and hopefully a vision and a dream of how they can impact this industry in a positive way.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:20] Well, it’s been a pleasure chatting with you. If somebody wants to learn more about that air cargo forum that’s coming up in November or any of the other events that you have going on throughout the year or become a member, what is the website? What is the best way to get a hold of you or somebody on your team?

Glyn Hughes: [00:17:38] Right. That’s a great question. The best way is to go on to our website. It’s T aka dot org. So t a c a dot org. The event, as I say, in Miami Beach Convention Center is November 8 to 10, the 10th. It’s the Thursday is the day we’re opening up for Careers Day. And we’re also going to have some giveaways for students and and raffle off some iPads and other equipment, etc., as is we. We know how to hopefully keep their attention going. Anything related to technology, they’re the front of all of that. So we hope we can help them as well with some latest tech.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:10] And that’s IAC a dot org. Glenn, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Glyn Hughes: [00:18:19] Thank you very much, Lee. I really appreciate giving us the opportunity to speak to your great audience.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:23] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We will sail next time on South Florida Business Radio.

 

Tagged With: Glyn Hughes, TIACA

Matt Mallory with The Mallory Agency

September 2, 2022 by angishields

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High Velocity Radio
Matt Mallory with The Mallory Agency
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Matt-Mallory-The-Mallory-AgencyMatt Mallory is the CEO of The Mallory Agency, a leading property and casualty insurance broker serving clients in the United States and beyond. Matt primarily partners with larger companies and organizations on their insurance needs.

He has been published in Insurance Journal, Forbes, and Restaurant and Retail Business Magazine. He has spoken to organizations such as the Claims and Litigation Management Society and is a faculty speaker for the Institute of WorkComp Professionals.

Matt holds a BFA in Communications from Valdosta State University and completed Harvard Business School’s Risk Management for Corporate Leaders program.

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Business leadership
  • Liability insurance and the importance of educating the hospitality industry about their coverage options
  • Trade name restoration

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: [00:00:15] Welcome to High Velocity Radio, 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 the Mallory Agency, the man himself, the CEO, Mr. Matt Mallory. How are you doing, man?

Matt Mallory: [00:00:35] Hey, Stone, great to be here. Thanks so much for the opportunity.

Stone Payton: [00:00:39] Oh, it’s my pleasure, man. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation. Got a ton of questions. Probably not going to get to them all, but maybe a good place to start is just a little bit of an overview mission purpose. What are you and your team out there trying to do for folks?

Matt Mallory: [00:00:54] Man Of course. Great question. Yeah. Mallory Agency, we are in our fourth generation. I get to be the fourth generation of CEOs have come through this lineage. We are a 115 year old property and casualty privately held insurance broker serving clients coast to coast and overseas. And and so we’re really changing the nature of the client broker relationship. And the reason that we are different is because we make a difference and we really treat clients their entire insurance program as a living, breathing entity, which has been missing for a long time in our industry.

Stone Payton: [00:01:32] Do you guys focus on a handful of specific industries or types of companies more than others?

Matt Mallory: [00:01:40] Certainly do. I think years ago my dad, if he was still with us, he would be 69 next week. And as a boomer, you know, he was brought up in the generation of just anything and everything, right? Be a generalist, never say no to new business. And our mentality and our path is changed a little bit and I think quite for the better to being more specialist, expert and niche driven. So we have deep expertise within industries such as restaurants, real estate, construction, technology. And then if you really unpack property and casualty and coverage wise, we have been wildly successful in advising really great clients under coverages such as worker’s compensation and high value property. And and with that success, we want to repeat it right and repeat it in a grand way.

Stone Payton: [00:02:35] So let’s roll the clock back a little bit. When you decided to go into the the family business, was it a tough decision or was this something you knew really early on that that’s that was going to be your path?

Matt Mallory: [00:02:49] Well, spoiler alert. I never wanted to be here. I, I certainly did not grow up when I was a ten year old boy. And all the kids are talking about being, you know, a professional athlete. I never said, well, I can’t wait to be an insurance producer or insurance CEO. No, sir, that was not me. I came into this business kind of kicking and screaming and bull canter. I came into the business unemployed. So I realized I had a pretty good childhood growing up, and I came in not having a clue what insurance was or even could spell it. And my heart really wasn’t in it. And I had to understand and learn really quick to be humble and learn and listen and pay your dues and earn your stripes. And now, 15 years later, I cannot imagine doing anything else.

Stone Payton: [00:03:35] Well, you’re clearly enjoying it. I mean, I can hear it in your voice. What? What do you enjoy the most, man? What’s the most rewarding about the work?

Matt Mallory: [00:03:45] I love so much connecting with great business leaders, great executives that are just smart, well connected, good leaders, great financial minds. And being the guy that can be there, shoulder to shoulder with them and help their company be more profitable, protect their company. A lot of these companies that we are so fortunate to get to partner with are really on the way up. They’re growing and we call it the hockey stick phase, right? They are growing maybe sometimes at rapid pace. And to be on that ride with them and to make sure they are protected and that we are we are helping their economics and helping them move the needle in a positive way. It’s so fulfilling to be able to do that and to be a part of that. That’s just a that’s a feather in the cap. That’s a win for us.

Stone Payton: [00:04:35] So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a company like yours? Like, how do you get an opportunity to to have a substantive conversation and get a shot at writing and writing the business with folks?

Matt Mallory: [00:04:52] Yeah, another great question. Thanks. We we are intentional on who we want to connect with. So I tell our team quite often the best clients you want to partner with and really be an advisor and a trusted partner. That’s what that’s the language. That’s the buzzword of our industry. Right? Everybody wants to be a trusted partner or an advisor. Hmm. Well, to do that, you’ve got to be in the client’s circle. You have to be in his or her fraternity or trusted network. So we have to find out how to get in there. We have to find out who those people that he or she, the client, trust and leans on. And once we get an opportunity to be in those circles, we want to make sure that we that we perform, that our output as a deliverable to the client is nothing short of excellence and we can get to that level really. Stone is less about selling insurance and it’s more making sure that we can advise accurately and very with great relevance what the client needs from protecting themselves on the risk. If we’re doing that, we’re doing our job successfully and it’s a great day.

Stone Payton: [00:06:01] Well, I have been on the line with you for like 6 minutes now, and I have no doubt there is absolutely zero doubt in my mind that you can do all of what you just described in spades. But to pull it off, you’ve got to have a solid team. Would love to get your perspective on on recruiting, selecting, developing the team. That’s going to also live into all of those things you were just talking about.

Matt Mallory: [00:06:26] And how hard it is to find the great people. I think the challenge right now that everybody is experiencing, of course, is talent for our industry. What is so arguably unique is there’s nothing tangible. So we have to find people that are very good at communicating and articulating the value of something intangible. We can teach insurance and risk to just about anybody, but that’s not who we’re looking for. We’re looking for just like on the client side. We want people. We want clients and partners with great financial minds, good business leaders, deep business and financial acumen. We want that with our team, people that understand how our clients operate. We want our team to have great business acumen, financial literacy, self driven, very ambitious. They want to become better people personally and professionally. When we can find those, those individuals, we really want to be intentional on bringing them on our team and showing them the value of who we are and how we’re making a difference. Because it’s just so easy to hire just anyone in everybody but anybody. And everybody is not a great fit for who we want our client to be associated with.

Stone Payton: [00:07:39] And it strikes me that your your work involves a lot of education. I mean, you need and want to work with a well informed client. So you must you must invest a great deal of energy in in helping these people understand what they need to know to to get the right kinds of coverage and things that they probably are not even on their radar. Yeah.

Matt Mallory: [00:08:06] Yeah. Well said. I’ll hire you tomorrow. Great way to say it. We. We are very focused on being prepared for the unknown. Being proactive, removing any kind of barriers that a client may feel, even if it’s not actually there. We have to remember on our side, on the broker side, is if we think something is important, relevant of great value. But the client doesn’t either. We haven’t communicated that value clearly or the value is, quite frankly, doesn’t exist. So we have to understand what’s important to the client. It’s a bit of a crystal ball and a prophetic mission of wanting to get the telescope out and look down the line and think what’s coming next, what even could be. And we presume a little bit about what the client is looking for in meeting. Try and advise that if we can do that effectively and bring in value. Then again, like we discussed earlier that the insurance is kind of a secondary topic. The first topic is let’s prepare your business for greatness.

Stone Payton: [00:09:14] All right. So let’s paint the picture a little bit. As I understand it, one of the areas that you do have quite a track record in, in a great deal of specialized knowledge and expertise and is serving the the hospitality industry. And I don’t know the first thing about it, except I love to stay at nice hotels and nice restaurants. But for the case of this conversation, let’s say that my business partner and I, rather than than run a network, we’re going to we’re going to open a restaurant or a couple of restaurants. And so we we come to you. What does that process look like? Can you kind of walk us through the the early stages of that relationship? And the in my language, I come from the training consulting world. I would call it an engagement. Right. But can you kind of paint the picture for us? What happens next?

Matt Mallory: [00:10:07] What a fantastic word to use. I love it. I think I’m going to borrow that stone. I love the term engagement. We don’t use that term enough. Absolutely. We meet with someone. It really is a exploratory discussion of just wanting to learn more about them. It’s not about us yet. It’s just about them because we have to learn if we’re even a fit. And we’re very quick to tell the client if we’re not one because we don’t want to. We if we advise and we show value, the value has to be mutually seen. If we can’t show value, then we need to move on and in a cordial way, part ways. So we want to find out if we’re fit. We asking a lot of questions about the business from what exactly the profile of said restaurant is. And you’re right, we have great expertise in depth in restaurants currently with our restaurant practice, which I lead is a national practice. We’ve got clients in almost every state within the continental U.S. and we’re very proud of that. Most of those restaurants are on the non franchise side right now, but we’re very, very proud of what we’ve been able to achieve within our practice group and we ask a lot of great questions to these business leaders.

Matt Mallory: [00:11:13] Tell us about your restaurant. How does it look right now? What’s the profile? Where do you want it to go? Where do you expect it to go? Tell us about your team, how your team operates, how it functions. So we try and keep a peer to peer a little bit more of a of an intellectual and business acumen discussion with them. And then we can unpack a little bit more and go deeper on the risk side. But a lot of the questions that we ask, the answers that we receive from the clients, give us insight. As we move along this path, we tend to use the term assessment. We want to assess what’s going on with the client to really determine if we’re going to be a great fit and if we can if we can offer value to them and if we can, then it usually ends up being a great partnership.

Stone Payton: [00:11:55] So do restaurant owners typically come in and feel at least like they know what types of coverages they need and want? And if so, do you sometimes have to tell them? Well, yeah, maybe, but maybe not so much over here. And there’s this whole other thing that you really ought to think about, like. Well, I mean, I don’t even know. I guess if somebody slips and falls, that makes sense to me. But there’s probably a lot more than that that you should be covered for if you’re if you’re running a restaurant. Right.

Matt Mallory: [00:12:29] Yeah, absolutely. You know, just like every industry, unfortunately, within the property and casualty insurance industry, you’ve got some bad actors and we’ve also have some some individuals that kind of have forgotten the term professional and they’re just it’s a bit more amateur play on how they advise. So you have those moments where you see the client’s insurance program that has just not really been advised correctly and accurately and hasn’t really been proactive or operating efficiently. But to give some of my peers the credit, that credit is due, some of these programs are put together quite well. That could be put together a little bit better. But you always have the discussion with them of. This is how the industry looks. And we look at the industry from a two perspective. We look at the industry of being a restaurant industry from these are the current ebbs and flows of what we look at in restaurants, how restaurants are performing on a more global scale, global stage, and also kind of macro wise in your own market. Because remember, some of these discussions we have are maybe geographically based on coastal property versus inland. Maybe it is restaurants that are in a very high or rather very dense urban downtown city kind of area where there could be some crime issues. Maybe there is a maybe it’s the type of food they’re serving. And there could be a potential for a foodborne outbreak type scenario depending on what’s going on with a type of food from supply chain. There are so many different little avenues of what about this? And all we do is engage with the client, ask them what they’re doing about it right now to build it, advise them better later. So a lot of those different conversations that we bring in some insurance questions that may be a little bit cross-eyed feeling, but we have to make sure the client knows because of worst case. The worst thing possible is for us to know something and fail to advise or ask the client about it.

Stone Payton: [00:14:35] Okay. So let’s zoom out a little bit and talk about just this whole idea of leading a business in general. We touched on, you know, this whole idea of getting good people and identifying those folks. Let’s talk a little bit more about development and culture. What kinds of things have you learned to do? And I don’t know, maybe you’ve even made a mistake or two along the way you might be willing to share, but to to to create a culture that allows you and yours to to serve in this way and do it consistently. Have you learned a few things that, you know, if you were going to write a book, it would be, you know, here’s some dos, here’s some don’ts and just leading a business.

Matt Mallory: [00:15:19] Boy, have I ever. Four years ago, I took over the position of CEO. Quick historical context. My dad named Rick Mallory was third generation. He died unexpectedly in 2018. Our perpetuation plan was for, excuse me, five years when he turned 70 and I turned 40 and I’ll be 40 next year, he was going to hand over the role of CEO to me. So I started leading and took over a company I had no way to prepare for. Arrogantly, I thought that I was ready back then, and realistically and actually looking back, I was I had no idea. And full candor. In 2018, I could not even read my own pal. And I had to have basically a crash course in financial literacy, really with my CFO of how to do that. We changed language in the office from in our company, from the Met runs or owns or anything like that. I get the opportunity to lead people. If you’re going to leave people, you have to be a leader and you have to understand what that means and humble yourself and know what it means to be a leader, which means being able to lean into wise counsel. Most every one of my leadership team has been doing this longer than me, which is a fantastic place to be. I get to lean on great people, great financial literacy, great business acumen, and they have full knowledge and full welcoming for me to call me out when I am not being the leader that I’m expected to be. As far as how we empower people. Our culture is very, very centric on we invest in you team member. We don’t call anyone an employee. We don’t call anyone on staff.

Matt Mallory: [00:16:59] We want to find great team members. I tell everybody in their onboarding, we are intentional on how we are going to invest in you through compensation, through empowerment, through trust. We expect that that investment to be reciprocated. We invest in you. We expect you to invest back in us. What does that mean? That means you come in every day and give us your best. You want to become better in every category of the word, but we’re going to empower you to give you that opportunity through advancement and title, pay, responsibility, trust, etc. We expect you to want to become better and we expect you to call each other out on your team and empower your team and have that trust with your team and that encouragement of We’re going to become better because I’ve given everybody the path of where this company is going to go and I have full intention and whatever it is, in five or ten years when we achieve some of the results I expect us to achieve when we achieve that, not. Matt Mallory This is not this is not the Matt Mallory show. When we achieve that, I’m then turn around to our team and I’m going to say, Wow, look what we did together. That is our mission. It’s not on a wall, it’s not formally written down. But that is our path is that we’re going to find great people, empower them, invest in them. We ask they invest back into us so that when we achieve exceptional goals that maybe some people didn’t think we were even capable of, we’re going to look at each other and say, look what we did together.

Stone Payton: [00:18:32] Well, I got to say, man, your passion shines through. I can see how it would impact everyone around you. And in the same breath. This is not my first rodeo. You’re human. Sometimes you just. You got to recharge, man. Where do you go? And I don’t necessarily mean a physical place, but where do you go for for inspiration and to recharge the the batteries, whether it’s reading or a place or an activity? Where do you go?

Matt Mallory: [00:19:05] Yeah, I mind, body, spirit. Right. Got to stay healthy. You got to stay centered. I’m a big believer that readers are leaders. I try and consume positive, enriching content, and that can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. For me, I’m a man of faith. I’m a Christian. I start my morning in prayer and try and get inspiration and encouragement and and guidance and direction from from the Scripture. That’s how I started in my days. I’m a morning person. I enjoy getting up and having that time just to be centered and get prepared. Whether I think it’s going to be a great day or there’s going to be some challenging conversations I have to have, I need guidance with that, and I need to come and start my day with a very humbled heart and spirit and and figure out how to do that and be effective. My team expects that from me and I need to show them what that looks like. Outside of that, I’m a big believer. Break a sweat once a day. I love to play tennis with my kids. I love to be on a road bike. I’ve got a rower at home I bought from Hydro. What a fun thing to have. I’m a big believer, even if it’s 5 minutes. Break a sweat, get your heart pumping. And that’s a great way to be good to yourself and a little bit of self-care. So those are just a few things I believe in. I wish I was more consistent, I should be. But I think that as long as you’re focused on it and you’re attempting, that’s a good day.

Stone Payton: [00:20:31] All right, man. Before we wrap, let’s make sure that we that we leave our listeners with a few actionable items. I’ll call them pro tips. Right. The things that they ought to be thinking about, things they questions, maybe they should be asking things they ought to be looking for when engaging someone to help them with getting the right kind of of coverage. Number one pro tip is reach out and talk to Matt or somebody on his team. But but but maybe, you know, someone’s listening to this and and there’s some things that maybe they ought to jot down or go read a little bit about. Let’s leave him with a few people. I’m going to call them pro steps.

Matt Mallory: [00:21:12] I would start by looking at how proactive a firm is, how diligent they are in the industry. And I don’t mean insurance. I mean the clients industry. What’s the track record? What’s the proven, demonstrated client deliverable track record? How much experience have you had and what kind of results have you had? What’s the expertise? What kind of team do I have that will be proactive and partnering and serving with me? Client Those are some things I start with. In fact, every client we engage with, I can come with them at full conviction and confidence of. This is the kind of team we have that serves peers just like yours all over. These are the kind of results. This is the client deliverable and output that we are very, very proud of because we have worked very hard to make sure that we can be at this level. Those are some of the questions I would tell anyone that wants to engage, whether it’s my firm, especially even thinking about looking at a new broker of record, of what kind of what’s the transition and what is the expectation I should have from you? And then we just we roll it out to them.

Stone Payton: [00:22:28] Fantastic. All right. Where can our listeners connect with you? The best way for them to reach out and have a conversation with you or someone on your team, whatever you feel like is appropriate, whether it’s website, email, LinkedIn, I just want to make sure that they have an easy path to to connect.

Matt Mallory: [00:22:46] Of course, love connecting with new people. Linkedin, of course, is a great way. Also, you can email me. I’m fine with people emailing me and I can give that out publicly right now. Matt M Matt team at Mallory, Agent SI.com. Like everybody else, my phone is on me from dawn to dusk as well as looking at emails. So happy to connect with people and and maybe offer any kind of guidance, whether it’s on insurance and advising on insurance or some of my aches and pains and a few successes I’ve had from leading a company full of great people.

Stone Payton: [00:23:23] What a pleasure. Matt, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. It’s it’s marvelous to have a conversation with someone who is so dedicated to serving their market and is clearly committed to developing their people and giving them at least a path to purpose and fulfillment. This is what a marvelous way to invest a Thursday afternoon. Thank you for for hanging out with us, man.

Matt Mallory: [00:23:52] It’s been so much fun. Thank you for the invitation.

Stone Payton: [00:23:55] My pleasure. All right. Until next time, this is Stone Payton for our guest today, CEO of the Mallory Agency, Matt Mallory, and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Tagged With: The Mallory Agency

Eric Myers With Junk Junk Baby

September 1, 2022 by Jacob Lapera

EricMyers
Franchise Marketing Radio
Eric Myers With Junk Junk Baby
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EricMyersEric Myers, CEO at Junk Junk Baby.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, Eric started his career at telecom sales in Boston, MA. “Best business learning experience of my life. Pure boiler room culture. 150 cold calls a day. Crush quota or be crushed”. For the next fifteen years, he meandered in and out of tech sales at various companies.

In search of trying to find purpose, Eric went to law school, where he met his future wife. “We didn’t need two unemployed lawyers in the house,” so Eric took a job selling insurance. It wasn’t a job. It was a sentence…but, I gutted it out as long as I could.” Knowing there’s no perfect time to take a chance, one week after the birth of their first child, Eric quit. “I told my wife, we have three months of living expenses. I bought an old truck. I’m going to make something happen, and I’m gonna hustle.”

Over time freebies and favors turned into paying jobs, moves, and hauls. Eric expressed to all his clients, “For the first time in my life, I love what I do. I actually make a positive impact on people’s lives.” Inspired by his growing family, he named the company Junk Junk Baby! Since then, he has been building the business and brand. A decade strong, Eric is ready to help others realize their dreams through the Junk Junk Baby family.

Connect with Eric on LinkedIn and follow Junk Junk Baby on Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • The difference from other junk removal companies
  • Target markets and overall franchise development strategy

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio brought to you by IDs, an award winning digital marketing agency that delivers integrated marketing solutions for franchisors, franchisees and franchise development teams. Learn why over 75 brands depend on ID’s team of dedicated marketers and client service professionals to deliver a strong ROI on their marketing investment. Go to Ides franchise marketing for a complimentary digital audit and consultation Lee Kantor.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio and this is going to be a fun one. Today on the show, we have Eric Myers with Junk Junk Baby. Welcome, Eric.

Eric Myers: [00:00:53] Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:55] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about junk. Junk, baby. How are you serving, folks?

Eric Myers: [00:01:00] Yeah, junk. Junk Baby was established about 12 years ago. We’re a full service residential and commercial hauling company. We’ve been doing it for quite a while and we like to think we got it down pat. We decided, why not franchise?

Lee Kantor: [00:01:13] So what was that thought process like? Like, was it run initially as just a, you know, kind of your own thing and you were doing it locally. And then at some point you’re like, hey, there’s an opportunity here to kind of replicate this in other markets.

Eric Myers: [00:01:27] Yes, it started very organically. It was part time to start. It was just a pickup truck in myself. And over time, it just gained momentum. And I said, you know what? I love this. I really love what I’m doing right now. So I hired somebody, got a bigger truck, and then things start to get get rolling.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:47] And then when did you realize, like, you had enough of an operation that can be replicated? Did you. Were you kind of documenting things all along or was this something you’re like, once you decided to franchise, you’re like, Hey, I better start building out all those manuals and getting all this kind of written down so I can share this with others.

Eric Myers: [00:02:06] Yeah, for the first handful of years was kind of controlled chaos, you know, trying to learn our way in and out of how to run the business. But to your point, as we got more into it, we knew we had to systematize. So we started documenting our processes and systematizing the business so that it could be put down on paper. We call it the book and it can be replicated with other people.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:30] So were you did you hire an outside firm or did you just handle that internally?

Eric Myers: [00:02:35] Well, we started to handle it internally, and then we did hire an outside firm.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:41] When what was that moment where you’re like, this is too much of a pain. I’ve got to get somebody else to do this.

Eric Myers: [00:02:46] Yeah, well, that’s a great question. And I’m I’m not that guy, right? The type of guy that do that systems and processes beyond what we were doing in our own backyard. But as we realized, if we were going to grow within the company and to replicate what we’re doing to hand it off to other people, we figured we better do it the right way.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:09] And that’s an important lesson for other emerging franchises, right? Like you got to know what your lane is and lean into that rather than try to, you know, be that ops guy. If there’s somebody better that can do it faster and with a lot less headache.

Eric Myers: [00:03:22] Absolutely. I mean, I consider myself if I were to pick a fictitious business for myself, it’d be more like a mayor. You know, I like to get out there, hang with the people. I’m not that cross the T’s, dot the I’s type guy when it comes to making a system. But, you know, once you see it on paper, it’s just reading it and running with it.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:42] And then so once you started doing that and you had a documented, what was it like kind of going out to the market and saying, hey, this is available? Were you getting kind of organic interest at the beginning where that was kind of an easy transition? Or was it like starting from scratch and going out and let me find that first guy?

Eric Myers: [00:04:00] Yeah, there’s a little bit of growing pains with everything. When you make a transition, when you try and grow, you try and do something different. You’re going to learn and there’ll be a couple mistakes along the way. And we learned from those. But it helps. It helps when you have an offering like this to be able to say, hey, listen, this is what we’ve been doing. This is what works. A lot of it is just we call it common sense training in the office or CST, rather. It’s just common sense stuff, you know. I mean, you’re dealing with people, it’s a people oriented business. And at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to, just working with people and making the making the right decisions.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:35] Now, do you have a feel for that ideal franchisee yet, or are you still learning around that?

Eric Myers: [00:04:41] Anybody that’s driven, anybody that thrives on variety, people that have a passion for caring for people, that’s where we’re looking for that’s what we’re looking for in terms of a candidate. If you’re driven, if you have a positive attitude, if you know you like different. Things day in and day out. I mean, in our industry, no jobs the same. Even if you have the same repeat client, the job’s going to be different. They’ll be different challenges, you know, whether it’s staircases or you might have to have tight fits in certain areas. But as a whole, if you’re driven, you care for people and you’re excited about what the next day will bring, that that’s the ideal candidate for us.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:26] Now, as you’re kind of growing now, is there a certain areas you’re focusing in on or are you starting around where you started and then kind of expand out from there? What is kind of the strategy when it comes to growth?

Eric Myers: [00:05:40] Yeah, we believe in responsible growth. We think starting in our backyard of New England and the Northeast is the best play. That said, we’re talking to candidates all across the country, but our focus at the moment is New England in the northeast.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:55] And then are you looking for kind of that individual person at this stage just to get more out there? Or are you going for that person who has a portfolio of services? And this would be complimentary in their portfolio?

Eric Myers: [00:06:10] Very flexible. Very flexible in that regard. We’re really looking for the right people. We want the right people and the right seats if they’re passionate, if they meet a lot of our avatar, which is rebel and caregiver, we’re not we’re not the same as everybody else in the industry. We’d love to talk to them.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:26] Can you talk about some of what makes you different? What is the kind of your point of differentiation?

Eric Myers: [00:06:32] One of the largest ones is we drive box trucks as opposed to dump trucks. It’s a commitment to us taking care of the items so we can get it back out there into circulation. We believe in giving back to the community. We have relationships with the local housing authorities in the area and a lot of people go into the housing authorities with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and it means a lot to us. It’s a it’s a great privilege to be able to take the items we get from jobs and to be able to make where they’re going into somewhat of a home, that the industry itself is booming. It’s only getting larger. We have new territories available where other territories from some of the major players might be sold out. At the moment we have all territories available. Low staffing. Low staffing is a big thing in our industry. You can run a business with one true leader and 1 to 2 laborers. We offer an absentee option for franchisee ownership. We offer flexible opportunities. We’re more of a lifestyle business. We don’t work seven days a week. We work Monday through Friday, typically 730 to 230. No nights, no weekends. We could step in and work weekends sometimes, but we believe in family. Family coming first. And I’m flexible because I have little kids. And if other candidates have family and kids, I mean, this is a great place for them.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:56] Now, is it something that they kind of need a space or is it not space kind of required or how.

Eric Myers: [00:08:05] Much do they need? It’s optional. You can work out of the home. The brick and mortar is not required as you grow within the business. It would be helpful to have some yard space, but we’re ready. If somebody has a two car garage, we can convert that to what we call the Alamo. They can have that as a fallback position and they can park their cars out in the driveway. But it’s very flexible.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:29] So it can flex to whatever the person and they can kind of grow into it. Right. Like they don’t have to kind of bite off too much right at the start.

Eric Myers: [00:08:37] Yes. Very organic, very organic approach.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:40] And then when it comes to kind of your franchisees acquiring clients, how do you help them in that regard?

Eric Myers: [00:08:49] Well, the first thing we recommend is if you have a local network, if you are on LinkedIn, they have a strong LinkedIn in your community. If you’re good on social, that’ll get you busy just to start getting the word out there. We have an excellent relationship with the real estate brokers. They’re tied to the junk removal industry because people need to sell their homes and they need to get rid of the junk in order to a show it be solid. So there are some organic measures to use when first coming on board. There’s all kinds of opportunity out there. The old saying is everyone has junk and of course, we’re going to recommend that you use and pay when it comes to SEO with PPC and Google ads in the basics there.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:41] And there’s no kind of getting around immersing yourself in the community. So if you’re like you, that people person that likes people, that wants to shake some hands and kiss some babies, that’s a good quality, right? You want somebody that is out there kind of evangelizing.

Eric Myers: [00:09:58] Shaking hands and kissing babies. Exactly. I mean, I was in sales for about 12 years before I started this, and it was most of it was cold call boiler room culture. This is a very soft, very, very referable, highly referable, business and business model. I can’t tell you how many times I went to a barbecue or a party and I meet somebody I didn’t know. And of course, hey, what do you do and what do you do? And nine times out of ten, I wish I had known that two weeks ago, you know, but it’s people have junk and people are in a lot of hot, I want to say hot water, but they’re in in a tough spot. And we come in and we take care of the people and we take care of the job and we take a lot of burden off our clients and they’re very appreciative of that now.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:49] So the person in the local market, they’re going to become buddies with all the real estate people, all the real estate firms, right? That’s part of it. Is there a commercial angle as well, or is it primarily like kind of people in residential environments? Or is there a play to go after business businesses?

Eric Myers: [00:11:05] Yes, there’s a few approaches. One of the probably the biggest ones, the assisted living facilities. We have multiple, multiple agreements with and contracts with senior living facilities. That’d be the big one to start with. Real estate owned banks is another one. The as I mentioned, the housing authorities as well. There’s plenty of just businesses in general law offices, I mean, lost law offices, turnover. There’s plenty of ways to market this organically, whether it’s just by mail or dropping off a card or joining a local networking group. There’s plenty of opportunity out there.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:48] And that’s part of the playbook that when a franchisee kind of becomes part of the family, that’s what they get. Is that kind of playbook on how to attack the market and how to kind of wring out the most value?

Eric Myers: [00:11:58] Correct.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:00] So if somebody wants to learn more, what’s the website? What’s the coordinates?

Eric Myers: [00:12:05] Yeah. Thank you. Junk. Junk, baby dot com. You can go on our franchising part of the website. Always available for a call. Love to talk to people. Love to talk to candidates and love to introduce this great opportunity. I mean, it’s almost like if I can do it, you can do it type thing. I love what I do. I’m passionate about what I do for the first time in my career. I’d love to share that with others.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:30] Good stuff. Well, Eric, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Eric Myers: [00:12:36] Greatly appreciate you, Lou. Thank you very much.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:38] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

 

Tagged With: Eric Myers, Junk Junk Baby

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