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Steve Reising on Business Contracts, Litigation, and M&A

March 10, 2026 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

Steve Reising on Business Contracts, Litigation, and M&A

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Steve Reising, Briskin, Cross & Sanford, on Business Contracts, Litigation, and Selling Your Business (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 943)

On this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray welcomes Steve Reising, Senior Attorney at Briskin, Cross & Sanford, LLC in Alpharetta. Steve focuses his practice on corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, franchise law, and business litigation, serving small- and mid-sized business owners throughout the North Fulton area.

The conversation covers how business owners typically land in litigation, from contract breaches and payment disputes to personal injury claims involving company vehicles. Steve explains why a poorly written contract is often at the root of the problem and offers a pointed warning about business owners who have turned to AI tools to generate their contracts. He has spotted several such contracts in his practice and says they tend to look polished but fall apart under scrutiny.

Steve also walks through what the current mergers and acquisitions market looks like, including the role private equity is playing and the phenomenon he calls “the silver tsunami,” as baby boomer business owners approach retirement and look to exit. He outlines what buyers want to see, why business owners often get caught unprepared when interest comes in, and how to start building a business that can stand on its own without the owner at the center of it.

John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is produced by John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, and is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Steve has reviewed contracts his clients admitted were generated by AI tools and says they tend to contain boilerplate that looks credible but lacks the specific provisions needed to actually protect a business, which can lead to significant legal vulnerabilities and financial risks for the business owners relying on them.
When a business owner is being pursued by buyers, having two to five years of runway to prepare is ideal, but that window often surprises owners who weren’t expecting interest so soon.
A concentrated customer base, where a single client drives the majority of revenue, raises concerns for buyers and can significantly lower a business’s sale price.
Reising settled a $5 million state enforcement claim on behalf of a client for $8,000 and caught a single missing word in a $40 million real estate contract that would have triggered tens of millions in additional liability.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:20 John Ray introduces the show and guest Steve Reising
01:53 Steve Reising describes his practice areas at Briskin, Cross & Sanford
02:22 Why Steve chose business law and litigation
03:04 His background in insurance defense and thousands of litigated cases
04:23 Common reasons business owners end up in litigation
05:14 Personal injury exposure for businesses with vehicles on the road
06:13 How poorly written contracts contribute to litigation
07:04 Why AI-generated contracts are dangerous for business owners
10:58 Debt collection and payment disputes in the current economy
13:40 The M&A market and current activity levels
14:11 The “silver tsunami” and baby boomer business exits
15:20 How private equity is operating in the market today
16:27 PE firms rolling up franchise businesses
18:09 Why business owners get caught unprepared when a buyer approaches
19:21 What buyers look for: customer concentration, contracts, and key person dependency
21:43 When to call an attorney and what triggers should prompt action
23:36 Success stories: the $5 million state claim and the $40 million contract
27:07 Beyond Computer Solutions sponsor segment and cybersecurity discussion

Steve Reising, Senior Attorney

Steve Reising is a Senior Attorney at Briskin, Cross & Sanford, LLC in Alpharetta, bringing more than 16 years of diverse legal experience to the firm. He is licensed in both Georgia and Illinois and is admitted to practice before the Court of Appeals of Georgia and multiple U.S. District Courts. His practice focuses on corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, franchise law, and business litigation.

Before joining Briskin, Cross & Sanford, Reising spent nearly five years at a boutique Chicago firm handling insurance defense litigation and subrogation claims and, earlier in his career, he represented individual plaintiffs in personal injury matters at a well-regarded Chicago firm. He earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law and holds degrees in political science and business administration from Illinois State University.

Briskin, Cross & Sanford, LLC

Briskin, Cross & Sanford, LLC, delivers full-service legal counsel to entrepreneurs and businesses throughout Alpharetta and the North Atlanta area. For more than 30 years, the firm’s attorneys have advised technology firms and businesses along the Georgia 400 corridor and were founding members of the 400 Technology Connection steering committee, which evolved into a partnership with the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).

The firm serves companies of all sizes, from startups to established enterprises, across a broad range of practice areas including business organization, business litigation, mergers and acquisitions, franchise law, employment law, technology and internet law, intellectual property, commercial real estate, and nonprofit law.

Website

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

Renasant Bank has humble roots, having started in 1904 as a $100,000 bank located in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown into one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, boasting over $26 billion in assets and more than 280 offices offering banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services throughout the region. All of Renasant’s success stems from the commitment of each banker to invest in the communities they serve, which in turn helps them better understand the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, their banking professionals understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

Whether you’re a law firm, medical practice, or manufacturer, there’s one headline you don’t want to make: “Local Business Pays Thousands in Ransom After Cyberattack.” That’s where Beyond Computer Solutions comes in. They help organizations like yours stay out of the news and in business with managed IT and cybersecurity services designed for industries where compliance and reputation matter most.

Whether they serve as your complete IT department or simply support your internal team, they are well-versed in HIPAA, secure document access, written security policies, and other essential aspects that ensure your safety and well-being. Best of all, it starts with a complimentary security assessment.

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

With over 900 episodes and having featured over 1,400 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!

The show invites a diverse range of business, non-profit, and community leaders to share their significant contributions to their respective markets, communities, and professions. There is no discrimination based on company size, and there is never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates businesses by sharing positive stories that traditional media ignore. Some media lean left. Some media lean right. We lean business.

John Ray, host of North Fulton Business Radio, and Owner, Ray Business Advisors — **John Ray, host of *North Fulton Business Radio* and Owner, Ray Business Advisors**

John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. John and the team at North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, produce the show, which is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

The studio is located at 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.

You can find the entire archive of shows by following this link. The show is accessible on all major podcast apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.

John Ray also operates his own business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

John is the author of the five-star-rated book The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices, praised by readers for its practical insights on raising confidence, value, and prices.

Why Attainable Housing Feels Impossible in North Fulton

March 5, 2026 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

Why Attainable Housing Feels Impossible in North Fulton

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Why Attainable Housing Feels Impossible in North Fulton, and What Can Actually Change, with Mark Murphy, City of Mountain Park and the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta (North Fulton Voices, Episode 17)

Housing affordability is no longer a “someday” problem in Metro Atlanta. It is here, and it is changing who can live near where they work in North Fulton. In this episode of North Fulton Voices, Jack Murphy and Nancy Diamond from the North Fulton Improvement Network (NFIN) discuss with Mark Murphy the reasons behind the seeming impossibility of affordable housing and the practical solutions that can significantly improve the situation.

Mark serves on the Mountain Park City Council and leads the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta. He makes the issue concrete: the local rules and approvals that quietly decide what gets built, why zoning matters more than most people want to admit, and why small, sensible moves like ADUs (accessory dwelling units) and cottage homes are part of the answer.

If you are concerned about enabling teachers, first responders, and working families to remain in the communities they serve, this episode will provide you with the essential language and perspective to actively participate in the next zoning discussion in your city.

North Fulton Voices is presented by the North Fulton Improvement Network. The show series is proudly sponsored by John Ray Co. and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Housing affordability is now the region’s top concern, ahead of traffic, and it is hitting hardest for those building families and careers.
The affordability gap is structural, not a matter of personal effort. The numbers have shifted under everyone.
Zoning and local approvals are not background noise. They often decide what gets built and what never gets a chance.
“Gentle density” is a practical path, including ADUs and cottage homes that add options without flipping neighborhood character.
When attainable housing disappears, the people who keep a community running get pushed out: teachers, school staff, caregivers, and first responders.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Show Intro and Hosts
00:40 Meet Mark Murphy
01:08 Data Gems on Affordability
02:15 Workforce Housing Reality Check
03:37 Mark’s Path to Service
05:08 Run the River and Homestretch
05:51 Finding NFIN Through Cycling
08:57 Fuller Center Housing Mission
11:16 Land Zoning and Build Costs
13:05 Mountain Park Comp Plan and ADUs
16:20 ARC Support and Regional Survey
17:59 Housing Pain Points
18:24 Cherokee vs North Fulton
19:53 Why Cherokee Moves Faster
21:50 NIMBY Myths and Fear
24:02 Who Attainable Housing Serves
25:23 Hidden Heroes Focus
26:32 Eligibility and AMI Basics
28:14 ADUs Cottages and Momentum
29:25 Land Banks and Trusts
30:40 Collaboration and Hope
33:53 Call to Action and Wrap

Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy is President of the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta and a city council member in the City of Mountain Park.

Mark holds a finance degree and spent more than 30 years as an executive in consulting and IT outsourcing, including senior roles with HP Enterprise Services, Capgemini, CIBER, and CSC Consulting. Since his retirement in 2016, Mark has concentrated on raising funds and providing support for causes that are dear to him, such as Homestretch, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the housing initiatives of the Fuller Center.

Markis is also the founder and director of the St. Paddy O’Pedal Ride to Conquer Childhood Cancer, which benefits Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Mark and his puppy Mosby have lived in the City of Mountain Park for eight years.

North Fulton Improvement Network

The North Fulton Improvement Network (NFIN) is a think tank made up of community leaders from a variety of sectors, focused on missing middle housing and the livability challenges confronting North Fulton. We come from the six cities making up the northern half of Fulton County, Georgia—Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Roswell, and Sandy Springs—and are working to address the widespread yet little-known financial vulnerability across the region. With stakeholders from sectors including business, nonprofit, faith, government, and citizens, we center our work on five areas of impact, seek to educate the public about these issues, build a network of individuals and organizations with innovative private and public solutions, and connect resources to those in need.

The leadership team of NFIN is Jack Murphy, Nancy Diamond, and Kathy Swahn.

Jack Murphy

Jack Murphy is a volunteer with The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and is Chair of the North Fulton Improvement Network. He is also in his 21st year of working for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to the Chamber, Jack worked for and with Fortune 500 companies in operations, human resources, training, and quality areas. Jack was a senior adjunct professor for Quality & Operations Management at Keller Graduate School for 14 years.

He has served on both the National and Georgia Boards of The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, responsible for Diversity, Advocacy, & Systemic Change. Jack is currently the national SVDP chair of Systemic Change and Advocacy.

Jack received a BA in psychology from Belmont Abbey College and an M.Ed. from UNC-Greensboro. Jack and his wife, Nancy, a retired elementary school principal, have two grown daughters and two grandchildren. They live in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Nancy Diamond

Nancy Diamond is a Project Manager with Schmit & Associates, a real estate development firm, creating town center revitalization in communities all around the metro area.

Nancy served 8 years as a Roswell City Council Member, including a term as Mayor Pro Tem, with liaison positions with Community Development, Transportation, Recreation & Parks, and Public Safety.

In addition to her work with the North Fulton Improvement Network, Nancy has been active in area non-profit organizations, including board leadership positions in the STAR House Foundation, WellStar North Fulton Hospital, and the Roswell Rotary Club.

A native of Atlanta and a 42-year North Fulton resident, Nancy worked at Turner Broadcasting in the early years of CNN, then became a freelancer in sports television graphics. While raising her two daughters, she worked from home, first developing a corporate gift service and later as a mortgage loan originator.

Nancy and her husband, Glenn, now relish the role of grandparents to Owen.

Sponsor for North Fulton Voices: John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC

The North Fulton Voices show series is proudly sponsored by John Ray Co. and the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX®.

John Ray is a podcast show host and producer and owns North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, the North Fulton (Georgia) affiliate of Business RadioX®.

John also operates his own business advisory practice, Ray Business Advisors. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

John is the author of the #1 nationally best-selling book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.

John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio and The Price and Value Journey. North Fulton Business Radio, the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton region of Georgia, features a wide range of business and community leaders. The Price and Value Journey focuses on professional services providers in solo and small-firm settings, addressing topics like pricing, value, and business development.

Local Stories, Global Screens: Using Video to Scale the Business RadioX® Network

March 4, 2026 by angishields

Scaling in Public

Local Stories, Global Screens: Using Video to Scale the Business RadioX® Network

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This episode of Scaling in Public dives into how video can help Business RadioX® reach its goal of 100 markets while still honoring its core of intimate, relationship-driven, local storytelling. Lee and Stone, along with Adam Walker and Sanjay Parekh, explore how to thoughtfully add video to the Business RadioX® model without losing the “magic” of in‑studio intimacy. They unpack the tension between in‑person audio, virtual video, and hybrid options, discuss video’s power for relationship-building and virality, and sketch out tiered offerings and on-ramps for future studio partners.

Adam Walker is a husband, father of five, and wearer of fedoras. He is a marketing strategist, nonprofit leader, and entrepreneur passionate about using technology and storytelling to create meaningful impact.

He serves as the leader of 48in48, helping nonprofits by building 48 free nonprofit websites in 48 hours and is the co-founder of TogetherLetters, a platform designed to keep people connected without social media.

Adam also co-founded Edgewise Media, where he helps organizations turn ideas into powerful podcasts and short-form content. He’s committed to lifelong learning, daily reading, and helping organizations do good work, better.

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn.

Sanjay Parekh is a serial technology entrepreneur. Currently he is the founder of Mirage Data, a startup focused on protecting data while maintaining usability. He is also the co-host of Tech Talk Y’all, a podcast covering technology with a southern flair, and also co-founded Edgewise Media.

Sanjay previously co-founded Prototype Prime, a hardware and software startup incubator based in the northern Atlanta metro. Previously Sanjay launched Startup Riot, a conference for startups which pioneered the three minute, four slide presentation format. He also ran Founder Fables, an off-the-record conference for founders.

Prior to founding Startup Riot and Founder Fables, Sanjay was the founding CEO of Digital Envoy and the inventor of the company’s patented NetAcuity IP intelligence technology. At Digital Envoy, Sanjay led the company to raise $12 million in angel and venture funding. Digital Envoy was acquired by Landmark Communications in June 2007.

Sanjay holds an electrical engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

Connect with Sanjay on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

Why Lee built Business RadioX® as an introvert’s alternative to traditional networking—and why video is now on the table to help reach 100 markets.
The debate: does in‑person audio create deeper relationships than Zoom-style video, and how can intentional pre‑calls and “off‑record” chit chat make virtual interviews feel just as intimate?
Adam and Sanjay outline simple, repeatable video setups (multi‑camera, lights, lav mics) and a single post‑production workflow that yields both audio and video assets.
A tiered path for studio partners: starting with virtual-only video, graduating to in‑studio audio, and then layering on pro video as they grow.
How short‑form clips and YouTube segments can 10x exposure for local businesses, turning one conversation into discoverable assets on TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and search.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from our flagship studio in Atlanta, Georgia. This is scaling in public. The next 100 Business RadioX markets, featuring founders Lee Kantor and Stone Payton, along with some of America’s top coaches, helping them grow the network with real strategy, real lessons, and real accountability all shared in public. To learn more about the proven system that turns podcast interviews into a perpetual prospecting pipeline through generosity, not gimmicks, go to brxhq.com And download the free Business RadioX playbook. Now here’s your host.

Adam Walker: That was a great intro, I love that. All right, so, uh, I think maybe we should start by talking about why why we’re talking about video. And so I know why Sanjay and I are very pro videos, so. So Lee and Stone, like, I’m wondering, like, if you could explore, like, why why are we even having this conversation? Is it because you think there might that might be an avenue to growth or what are your thoughts on that?

Stone Payton: So I absolutely think it might be an avenue for growth. One of the challenges, and I don’t think we’ve just created this as a perceived challenge for ourselves. I think it’s genuine. It’s one thing to be in a local market where you have people come into your studio and you get to meet them face to face. You see the body language, you create that relationship and that model is very well baked. It works. It always works. It never doesn’t work. If you run a local studio, you’re going to help people and make money. Now Lee and I have taken on the, the, the challenge of trying to get other people to do what we’re doing here in metro Atlanta and a few other communities across the country. You know, to get someone in a market where we’re not like a Memphis or Pittsburgh or San Diego, and I feel like. And I think Lee’s beginning to feel the same way. It’s almost we can use all of our tools and strategy to get to meet those people, begin to build a relationship. We can invite them on a show, but we’ve been audio only for so many years, and it’s it’s not the same experience. So as they begin their experience with Business RadioX, it’s not really the thing that I want them to do, right? It’s a zoom audio recording, and I’ve used this analogy before, but I’ll share it here again. I almost feel sometimes that I’m jumping in a rowboat, rolling out to the middle of the bay, and then trying to sell somebody an outboard motor. And so you know what I mean. So yeah, I do think there is very likely a place for video, maybe even at the local community studio level, but certainly in this scaling effort. Lee. Mm.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. That’s I mean that’s been our experience. We’ve had we’ve been doing audio. We’ve been doing in-studio work for so long. Um, and that’s worked for us since the pandemic and we transitioned to more video. Um, we just haven’t leaned into the video aspect of, of doing what we’re doing. And obviously you can execute this through technology in a variety of ways. Um, but in our work in a studio, having headphones in a place where we’re all there, intimately connected, it creates this bubble of intimacy. That is, we just haven’t been able to replicate using video.

Adam Walker: Mm.

Sanjay Parekh: You know, one of the things that kind of strikes me, um, in terms of the business that you’re in is I think you’ve said it a couple of times now is building relationships, right? It’s all about building relationships. And to me, and I think to Adam as well, uh, one of the things that video does is allow you to build those relationships, because one of the challenges when you’re listening to somebody’s audio only. And I have this challenge all the time. You know, you’re listening to, you know, NPR or whatever it is, and then you actually see the person and you’re like, the picture of the person doesn’t match up with what the image is in your head. And because of that, if you’re seeing them outside in the real world, you wouldn’t think that this person is the person that you’ve been listening to. But when you’re being able to see video of them all the time, like this happens to me, I think, Adam, it’s happened to you as well. People will come up to us because they know us from the things that we’ve done. They’ve seen us. Um, and then they compare the things that we’ve said and then what we look like, and then know when we’re out in public and be able to talk to us.

Sanjay Parekh: And really that helps build those relationships. And so the thing that you said there, Lee, about, you know, these, these communities and, and building those relationships, I think video is actually one of the, the strongest tools that you have in terms of helping that happen. And so I think one of the things that both of you have said before, uh, to us is that there’s like this hesitancy, uh, in terms of doing video like what’s like the core of that. Why the hesitancy? Well, it’s a bias. And it goes to what you said, the you’re focused on how the audience sees you and strangers come up to you because they’ve seen your video and they think they know you or whatever. In our world, the guest is the most important person. So the person that I’m interacting with in person, I am seeing face to face across the table as opposed to like we’re doing now, uh, across a video screen. So that relationship, I believe, um, becomes deeper, faster in person than it does, uh, via Zoom or Riverside or whatever platform you’re using.

Adam Walker: Yeah, I think that’s a good argument, but this kind of like it’s kind of the similar argument of like, we can only have good company culture if we’re all in the same building in an open workspace. And so I think, I think it’s a similar kind of argument. And so I think my response to that would just be that I think you can still build high quality relationships via video, and I think you can do it via video like interview like this. But it has to be there has to be like a lot of intentionality baked into it, because otherwise you miss out on the chit chat or you miss out on the follow up, or you miss out on the, you know, whatever. Um, so yeah, I think I think you can create a formula that would make that work. It just takes a lot of intentionality.

Lee Kantor: But I think I think you’re exactly right, Adam. I think that that’s a perfect analogy is that a lot of businesses want to go back to office because they want to create that serendipity and all those kind of watercooler moments that are difficult to replicate, you know, virtually. So what would be your recommendation if we were to go into video on how to create kind of those deeper relationships without it seeming like every other podcast video, podcast interview where the person jumps into a waiting room in one of these platforms and then, you know, you go five, four, three, two, one, and now you’re off, and then it ends and you go, thank you. Bye. So how would you recommend building that intentionality in those meaningful moments using video?

Adam Walker: Well, I mean, what I’ve done before and some of you may have a different opinion on this from from some of your experience in hosting. Um, so what I’ve done before is I’ve done like a pre-interview call, like just a, just to get to know you call and use that as an opportunity to better understand their story, better understand sort of what they’re about, and then create and craft questions around that for the interview.

Lee Kantor: When you say call are you saying call like a video call or.

Adam Walker: Yeah, like a zoom call. Yeah. Just yeah. Just to get to know you like, oh, tell me your story. Let’s talk about that sort of zoom call and then that can sort of pre inform the actual interview itself. But then suddenly, I mean, I know you do a lot of like pre chit chat on one of our podcasts. Like maybe you could talk about that too, because I think that that’s a slightly different approach but has the same effect. Yeah, I so.

Sanjay Parekh: I tend to do it uh during the, the recording. So before we actually hit record, um, I’ll start talking to them, you know, just to understand a little bit about their story, but really, uh, it’s kind of a multiple purpose one, uh, for some of the folks that don’t come on these shows often, it’s to get them comfortable, uh, and kind of loose and just, you know, chit chat and laugh about stuff or whatever. I just recently had somebody on, uh, who was originally from New Hampshire and I mentioned, you know, like, I remember the New Hampshire quarter, uh, and the old man in the, in the, uh, the Stone or something. I don’t know exactly what it was, but basically the New Hampshire quarter had that. So I started asking him questions about that. Um, and so he went into this long kind of conversation about this, and it kind of loosened him up. Um, but it also gave us this kind of common connection, um, that, hey, you know, like we’re friendly or whatever before we leaped into it. One of the things I did want to kind of mention and kind of talk about and dig into, is that the way we’re kind of framing this is that it’s an either or right, in-person or online video, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be right.

Sanjay Parekh: The in-person can still have video. You can still develop that that that content, that relationship and everything else in person. And then kind of the second order of this, I think the place that this adds a lot of value, not just for y’all, but also for the other people that are running Business RadioX, um, affiliates, is that the guests that are coming on will find value in this, because they’ll have the opportunity to kind of share this video and kind of spread it around. Like there’s there’s added value for them as well. And so I think for some of your folks that are affiliates to be able to, to attract these guests that they want on the show, um, this becomes another kind of quiver, uh, in the, uh, what is that thing called? Arrow in the quiver? Arrow in the quiver? The thing is the quiver. The arrows inside. Arrow in the quiver. Yeah. Thoughts on that?

Lee Kantor: Well, I, I agree that it’s an and not an Or, and we just have to figure out the best way to kind of leverage, um, video to achieve our objectives.

Adam Walker: Yeah. So what. So so so the objective is 100 Business RadioX by the end of the year. Right. So I wonder if you can take just a moment and explain, like why Business RadioX like why like like why would someone start a Business RadioX in their location?

Lee Kantor: Um, Stone you want to take that?

Stone Payton: I do, but I wonder if it wouldn’t even be more powerful for why you started the first one. And then I’m happy to share why I think someone in San Diego ought to get one tomorrow.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. So the reason Business Radio X exists is because I didn’t like doing networking. That was really at the heart of it. Um, Business RadioX exists because I did not want to go to another networking meeting and stand up and tell them why they should hire me to be a copywriter at the time. And so, um, I’m like, there has to be a better way to do this. I’m an introvert. I don’t like to go. I’m uncomfortable in that situation to begin with. And now I have to go every week, and I have to stand up there and say the same thing to the same folks. So what I did was I, um, I had been doing podcasting, um, for a show called Doctor Fitness and the fat Guy and, uh, I’m like, I wonder if I can use the same platform as a way to meet the people I want to meet. So instead of having a show called Doctor Fitness and the Fat Guy, I had a show called Atlanta Business Radio, and on that show I was interviewing business people, and it worked the same way as Doctor Fitness worked, because I could invite people and they would say yes, and they would come on the show and they’d come in the studio. And at the time we were this was at the beginning of podcasting. So there wasn’t. You had explained that you didn’t need an iPod to do, you know, to come on the show. And, you know, we’re having kind of different types of explanations that you’re having now, but they would come on the show and we’d have several guests at a time, and there was just this energy in the room that became a mini networking meeting.

Lee Kantor: Everybody got to learn about each other, and we did it in a manner that was very conversational and it was very intimate. And everybody had headphones were in a room all together. They couldn’t multitask, they couldn’t go on their phone, they had to listen. So everybody was forced to kind of learn about each other. And in that environment, a lot of people were like, oh, I didn’t know you did that, or I didn’t know this or that. And they were able to interact. And then a lot of folks kind of said, hey, I want to know more. And they’d go off and learn more about each other, or I would get clients like, how do how do I get a show so I can do the same thing for my, you know, my business? And it became evident, it was obvious because they saw it happen. It was visceral. Um, and that was something that, um, you know, led to one client to another and another. And, you know, all of a sudden I had a studio full of clients, of which Stone became one of them. And then it became, okay, can we take this same thing and move it to other places and do the same activity and help other people do what I’m doing, just in a different markets?

Adam Walker: I love that. All right. So Stone, why would somebody, you know, put one in, I don’t know, Miami or something like that. Give us more on that.

Stone Payton: Sure. Happy to. And I think I’ll start with why I did it. And I was invited as a guest. I was very impressed with the whole experience was very different than the traditional. You know, I’m a smart CPA. Saturday afternoon FM show that I was doing. I self-published a book back then and I had my, you know, I had all my little notes. I had that one joke that always landed. It was all but it was a much more superficial exchange. Those kinds of interviews on cable access and those FM afternoon shows. Man, I walked into this studio and, you know, the the clouds parted, the angels saying that the doves flew. It was it was just a very different experience. We had real, authentic conversation about me and the work and the why behind the work and where I was taking it and what I had learned from it. And I built genuine relationships in the space of, you know, 45 minutes, you know, an hour with I think it was like three other small business people and Lee and Amy, the two people that were hosting the show. So, I mean, I, I just had a marvelous experience and I couldn’t figure out how Lee was making money because he didn’t charge me to be on the show. He didn’t run any commercials? I stayed after he explained that to me. I probably not that day, but within a couple of days I wrote a check and and he helped me build my own show. And then, you know, it wasn’t 90 days before I wrote a bigger check and bought myself a different career and, uh, and became partners with Lee. But the the real motivation behind it all, if you look under the hood a little bit, is I’m anything but an introvert.

Stone Payton: If you’re not picking up on on that already. Uh, but I also, I like very much being the guy who knows the guy, and I absolutely detest and will never be that person that says, please, baby, please. You know, can we please have a cup of coffee? And I explain what I do and, you know, will you please take my call? I always wanted to be positioned, and I was fortunate in an earlier career, uh, that that we already were wasn’t because of what I was doing. Always positioned that people saw us and me out. And so and so here in Woodstock. I run one of the studios here in Woodstock as well. I mean, I’m the social mayor. Everybody knows me. I’m the cool guy in town. You know, I help support and celebrate everybody from the fire chief and and the police chief to the local business leaders and, you know, Stones, the cool guy in town that everybody that everybody likes. And as a business, I can help other people who want to build real relationships real fast with this platform and our methodology. I can help them do do that. I can help them do it, you know, with a great deal less energy and a lot more fun. And so if you’re in the professional services arena, you’re a coach or a consultant, you’re a fractional exec. It’s just a heck of a lot easier and a lot more fun to use this platform as a way to build real relationships than any other strategy or tactic that I’m aware of.

Adam Walker: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. So so then it strikes me that there’s there’s kind of two, two components to this conversation for you. All right. One is can video build the type of relationships that you’re looking to build? So can you bring in the guests? Can you build that rapport? Can you create those networks. Can you do that through video? And then the second is can video help you in terms of Business RadioX expand your reach to get in front of more audiences in order to hit your goal to get 100 locations by the end of 2026. I mean, is that is that a reasonable way to sort of frame up the conversation?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think so. I think what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to get to 100 by any means necessary. And this is a tactic to do that. I mean, yeah, this is one of several tactics that we’re willing to explore. And we there’s a saying, Jimmy Johnson says that you are what your record says you are. So we we we don’t have ten yet. So we’ve been doing this for 20 years and we don’t have ten, so whatever we’re doing is not working. So everything is on the table to, um, to get to 100. So this is definitely one of the things on the table.

Sanjay Parekh: So there’s an interesting kind of point here. And I think in some of this. So we keep talking about locations, right? Locations. It’s a place where people come uh, this you know, going virtual like this opens up the opportunity where it’s not really a location anymore. Right? It’s a person interviewing, um, and they’re developing relationships. Now that I’m, like, thinking about what you’re talking about. I think this does open up a whole new avenue for y’all. Because right now, you’ve been focused on people that want to develop relationships that are local to them. Right? Because that person’s going to come into the studio and all that. Doing something like this, where everything is virtual, potentially now opens up the opportunities for people that want to develop relationships that are not necessarily local, right? They want to develop relationships across an industry, across a vertical, whatever it is. Uh, and I think then this actually breaks you out of this, uh, kind of constraint where you’re probably thinking, we haven’t talked about this yet. You’re probably thinking that these 100 are inside of the US, whereas if it’s all virtual, then it doesn’t necessarily need to be. And the buy in cost I think is a lot less. Right. Any kind of thoughts on that and feedback on that?

Stone Payton: Well, for me personally.

Lee Kantor: Go ahead, Stone.

Stone Payton: For me personally, I haven’t gone as far down that into the continuum as you’re describing, like having this entire virtual model. But I have, through our other coaching sessions, has lent itself to this big begun to broaden my definition of what a studio partner is. And maybe we ought to call them something else to to the extent that I’m even recommending do what I did. When I came to Cherokee, we moved from East Cobb. I went ahead and did a dozen interviews virtually. So by the time I got to to Woodstock and before I became social mayor, I had I had a, you know, I had some traction. And there are some distinct benefits that I’ve experienced in having those local people there and getting those local clients and all that. But I am definitely opening my mind to a broader definition of what a studio partner is, and that there’s very likely a place there for virtual programing. And for all I know, it ought to be the lead place, I don’t know. So yes, I’m leaning in that direction some. Sanjay.

Lee Kantor: I’m not leaning in that direction as far as Stone is or as you described. I think that what makes us unique and different is that there is a local element to this. And, um, and I’m not constrained by the United States as the only place these things can happen. I I think they can happen anywhere in the world, but I think the value of having a third place where people go physically and meet in person, face to face, I think there’s a place for that and those stories to be told in that manner locally that would benefit entrepreneurs that kind of lean into our methodology and our mission of being the place where these stories are told for the business community to support and celebrate local business. I think that that there is a business model that can support that and that we can help them achieve that. Um, you know, if if the target becomes anybody that has access to Riverside or, or any type of internet technology and they want to just build their, um, community, wherever that is, they can do that within that. Like that doesn’t discourage them from doing that. It’s an and not an or in our model, obviously the technology lets you interview anybody anywhere. So they can do that and still serve, you know, Memphis.

Adam Walker: Yeah. I mean I think there can be a local component and a non-local. I think to me, what it opens up is that if your model right now is all studio based, you’re limited to have people purchase locations that are only wanting to network locally. And I think there’s a pretty large number of professionals that want to network locally and beyond that. And so that would be.

Lee Kantor: The the target would be I would want the ideal the avatar for the ideal client would be somebody who wants to make an impact locally if they don’t want to make an impact locally, and they just, you know, the world is their oyster, that probably is not the right fit for our ideal prospect. Got it. Uh, even though obviously there’s more of those people on the planet, I think the person we’re looking for is the person that wants to say, you know what? I live here in town. I want to be the place where these stories are told. I think it’s important for these stories to be told, and I want to be the one who tells those stories.

Adam Walker: Got it.

Sanjay Parekh: Okay, so the I think there’s an interesting path here in terms of, um, business progression, right? So I think that’s an important thing that you highlighted there that it’s about the local. So it’s a good distinction to have to know that, okay, we’re about helping build up local businesses. Yes. There’s a maybe a remote option because hey every now and again we want to build bring in an expert that’s not local and this is how we do it. But Stone, you actually made the comment earlier that before you moved over, uh, you used these virtual opportunities to start building up the case for this. So is this maybe the right way for you to develop these affiliates to say, like, look, your first six months are are virtual so that you don’t have to go all in and buy, you know, all of this equipment and and spend all this with, with the hope and a dream that it’s all going to work out and that there’s a less expensive option. And in those six months, you figure out where that physical location is going to be based on what you see happen in those six months, and then you transition to a in-person and virtual opportunity. Is that something that makes sense in terms of the business?

Stone Payton: I think that’s an idea that has a lot of merit, and I could see doing that. And even the half step being you’re a pop up studio in the middle, you know, now with all these co-working spaces and all that, get the Business RadioX remote kit. That’s your second level of certification. You know, all that stuff. And then you show up, you know, every Friday at the local co-working thing and do your pop up. Uh, not that we’re doing that, but, I mean, it makes sense to me.

Adam Walker: That’s what we used to do with TikTok, y’all. We had a little pop up studio we’d arrange every every Friday. So.

Stone Payton: But I don’t want to While I want to be completely open minded to all of this, I want to make sure I underscore and I don’t want to dismiss the the sheer magic that happened. I’m at the house right now, but a mile down the road, I’m in a coworking space with a ten by 13 studio. That is a magical place, and you can make a very comfortable living a couple afternoons a week, running down there and giving people a chance to share their story and promote their work. So I don’t want to dismiss that at all. But yeah.

Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, but it’s more about the on ramp, right? Like how do you make it easy to people getting to that point? Because maybe they’re not convinced, but this might be an easier way. Lee did you have thoughts as well?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Well I don’t want to dismiss like the person, the aspiring person that wants to be an authority in their community and they want to be kind of known as I know everybody or I’m this connector and I’m this really important cog in the ecosystem by partnering with us. This is almost a cheat code because like my studio in Atlanta is in the Chamber of Commerce for the Greater Perimeter chamber. So like they invited me to put a studio in their office, literally in their office. So when they have a mixer, I can broadcast from there mixer because I’m down the hall, you know, where I’m in the same room as them. So some of our partners have offices inside of businesses, like one person has an office in a bank, one of them has an office in a coworking space. Um, like multiple people have them in coworking spaces. But chambers of commerce are very interested in having the ability to have storytellers in their building. That’s a that’s a win win. So it’s not like, oh, it’s hard to get space or I’m going to have to pay a fortune for space. A lot of our people don’t pay anything for rent, and a lot of them get super discounted deals because they have partnerships with the businesses that they’re located in.

Sanjay Parekh: So that’s an interesting kind of concept that you’ve hit upon there. I don’t remember if it’s been discussed in previous episodes, but is that actually maybe your sales channel of talking to Chambers of Commerce and convincing them that they need a Business RadioX not hosted by them, but empower them to go out and find the person that would run it there and have them be basically your sales agent. You know, this is not going kind of far afield of what we were starting to talk about, which is doing video. But let’s talk about the business, because video is really just a matter of empowering the business, right? Spreading the word, um, giving a reason for people to come onto the show. But I think you just hit upon something super interesting that maybe should be the kind of point of this whole effort, right? The reason why you’ve only got in ten is maybe you’re not talking to the chambers of commerce, which is who you need to talk to.

Lee Kantor: The Chambers of Commerce historically have been willing partners. They haven’t been willing check writers, um, they’re not. Um, so far, we haven’t been able to convince any to my knowledge of saying, okay, here’s X number of dollars you can be here, but they are willing to, um, kind of co-brand shows they’re willing to distribute content. They’re willing to, um, have us appear, um, and to offer us, uh, like in my chamber that I’m in, in the Greater Perimeter Chamber of Commerce, that is a chamber that focuses on the top end of the perimeter from 75 to 85, along 285 in Atlanta. So they had multiple offices that they were leasing, and they wanted us to be in, in there. Uh, that was they saw that as a value to their members, to themselves, and they wanted access to our platform. So we were able to work something out there. And they’re a big fan of ours. They they like the fact that we’re there. It’s definitely an asset. And, um, those types of opportunities are available. Um, chamber leaders are open to having conversations with people who have a platform that can help tell their member stories. Let’s put it that way.

Adam Walker: Yeah, yeah.

Lee Kantor: That’s not a big ask. That’s not a big lift from a chamber standpoint to to say, oh, I can invite my members onto your show like that. Yeah, that’s no brainer. That’s an easy yes.

Stone Payton: But but, Lee, and what if we asked them to lift a little more and we framed it up? If what we brought to them was more than what you described? And we do have several examples of that, and we really did in our mind, uh, frame it up as sales agents. I like that terminology. I would love to have the president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce actively be looking for someone to be our studio partner and be willing to collaborate with them. They would get all those benefits that our chambers have been getting, but they’d also get us our person, or at least help them.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I mean, we haven’t been able to pull that off, but I mean, the chamber knows a lot of people and a lot of people want more, um, visibility within their membership. And our platform allows that.

Adam Walker: So. So I wonder if I can pivot there back to video for a second and kind of frame it up this way. So we talked about sort of in-person versus virtual. And it was kind of implied that in-person is not video and virtual is video, but that’s not necessarily the case. Right. You can do in-person and video as well. So I don’t want I don’t want to miss that. And I guess I guess what I’d love to pivot to is what video brings to the table in terms of opportunity. And I think, I think I would frame it up in a couple of ways, right? In terms of opportunity to build relationships, because I think video can do that both in-person and virtual. I think it also can help from a networking perspective in terms of if you create video assets that the person you’re interviewing then shares on their networks, you’re now expanding into their network in a meaningful way. And then I think the third thing is it also can create video assets that you can then share and expose yourself on these other networks, like TikTok shorts or reels, where it doesn’t really matter how many followers you have, it matters how good your video is, and you can have ten followers and have a video that hits a million views and that gets a lot of exposure to your brand in general. So. So I wonder if we can sort of, sort of pivot in that direction. Does that sound okay like a good topic?

Stone Payton: It does to me because I have some specific questions about doing video in a studio that may be more.

Adam Walker: Start there. What are your what are your questions about.

Stone Payton: If that’s not too, too tactical? So you guys clearly know what you’re doing with video even even virtually. But I suspect in a in a real environment if we.

Adam Walker: Were we’ve done real setups as well. Yeah.

Stone Payton: So we were if we were at your place or in my studio, I’m sure it would come out looking great. I’m also reasonably sure that if I tried to go to the studio this afternoon and video, uh, you know, the session, it’s not going to look too great. And so how how big and hairy is that to get it where, where it looks good. So that’s one tactical question. And then the other one is Lee and I both have been hesitant, probably for psychological reasons too, but but our, our, uh, our overt reason that we have articulated over the years is it’s so magical in there. I can’t emphasize that enough. The last thing I want to do is add any friction to that, that that set of intimate moments. So I don’t want the lady worried about her makeup or the guy worried about the mustard on his shirt, or the guy making sure he’s sitting up straight. Whereas in the way, I would do an interview this afternoon? Yeah, they’re a little nervous at first, but pretty soon, man, the microphone melts away, and and they can refer to their notes. And, um, so I’m, I would I would love to get to the place where I felt like, yeah, we can do video. Um, we can capture it properly, we can produce it properly, and it’s going to look good when we get done. And it’s not going to add too much friction to the, the, the dynamic that we’ve had so much fun and success with today.

Adam Walker: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so, uh, were you going to start Sanjay or.

Sanjay Parekh: You know, you go ahead.

Adam Walker: Well, so I would answer in reverse order, right. I think I think the video camera melts away the same way that the microphone melts away. It may take a minute longer. Uh, but it’s been our experience that once you’re going, people get into it and there’s no problem there. Um, the other thing is just, I mean, it’s just gear. I mean, it’s just gear and proper setup. So there’s various levels of gear as, as, you know, there’s expensive and, you know, in cheap, um, we do a three camera setup when we, you know, go out and about. We do a three camera set up in two simple lights kind of coming down.

Sanjay Parekh: Well, that’s for when we have two people, right? Oh, yeah.

Adam Walker: Yeah. If we have two people.

Sanjay Parekh: Okay. Y’all have more usually. So yeah, it might be a little bit more than that.

Adam Walker: Yeah. Um, but I mean, but still, you can do it. You could probably still capture everybody pretty well with the three camera setup. So I mean, it’s just a question of, of a basic setup, kind of, you know, semi-circle cameras facing forward, lights coming in from the top. Everybody’s miked up. Um, we typically use lav mics for that just because it’s easier and cleaner. Um, but there’s a lot of options for that as well. So it’s not a bad.

Lee Kantor: Post-production that that’s like in for us. We record, send the audio off, it gets turned around pretty quickly and it’s pretty, um, economical. What is like a three camera setup, um, require from a post-production standpoint?

Adam Walker: I mean, same, uh, you know, we’ve got an editor that knows what’s coming and we’ve, you know, we’ve arranged a pretty decent rate with him, and, um, and he pulls it all in and, you know, takes a couple days to edit it and it comes back and it’s fantastic. So, I mean.

Lee Kantor: It’s it requires a human to edit it.

Adam Walker: We. Yeah, we I mean, when we do, I mean, for our podcast and for, uh, for, I mean, for in-person or virtual, we have a human. Yeah. An editor.

Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. We we don’t do the AI thing. Um, so, yeah, I mean, there’s AI augmentation and some of it we can use, uh, if we want to. But one of the things I was going to mention there, so the video and the audio editing is done all at the same time. Right. So all of that is pulled in. So it’s not like it’s a somebody doing audio and somebody else is doing video. Everything’s done all at the same time. They’ve got editors that allow you to see all of it. Uh, and so you’re, you’re piecing it all together all at the same time. Uh, so it’s not like you’re doing two different streams of, of production at that point.

Adam Walker: Yeah. Yeah. It’s not too bad I didn’t.

Stone Payton: One other question. We don’t have to address it right now. But what occurs to me is, um, you know, you were describing some of the barriers or perceived barriers for let’s take that person in San Diego like, oh, I got to go get the space. So I’m then I’m thinking, okay, now not only do you got to learn our methodology and our hosting mechanics and all that and our fairly simple method of getting, you know, getting the material to us to produce. But now you got to you got to learn the video thing, you know, is that is that or do we price everything appropriately so that they really don’t have to do much? And then we just take on the video production in-house?

Adam Walker: Probably the second one is what I would do. I mean, so so if it were me, I would create some kind of of simplified video kit for, for whatever price point you think your, your, your typical, uh, client. I’m a franchisee. I don’t know how.

Stone Payton: Studio partner is.

Adam Walker: Studio partner.

Stone Payton: That’s what we’re calling them today. When this publishes, I don’t know, we’ll probably come up with a cooler name. Yeah.

Adam Walker: I mean, so whatever’s tolerable for them and create a kit and send it out and have a have a video showing them how to set it up and, and then, you know, I mean, it’s it’s all, it’s all just following basic instructions and then file delivery. So I mean most most every professional should be able to handle that pretty well if it’s clear.

Sanjay Parekh: I mean I think you’re almost in a situation here where you’ve got three essential tiers that you could do with somebody that’s a studio partner, right? A basic where it’s video only over the internet. Right. That’s they’re getting started the, the regular, which is what you’re doing now where they actually have a space. Um, and maybe you build it so that, hey, the, the basic one where you’re only doing online, you’re only allowed to do that for a certain number of months. That’s, you know, getting your feet wet, figuring out where your space is going to be, whatever. Then that middle section is look audio only in a studio. And then the pro version is, hey, you get video, you do the all this stuff and you kind of pile that on, and that’s for the people that, look, we really want to do something serious. We really want to help out people. We want to give them video assets so that it’s not just people that are listening to the podcast, it’s people that are, uh, you know, just flicking through Instagram or whatever and stumble upon, hey, this really cool business that happens to be in town, right? So I think you might be in a situation where you could set up these multiple tiers and have people graduate from just getting their feet wet to be all in.

Lee Kantor: And then it’s the from a video production standpoint, is it possible that the video element is kind of doesn’t require much of them once it’s set up? Or is it something that, okay, there’s I you know, I have three people, so I gotta move cameras like is it can it all be done in kind of a, a simplified manner or is it something that okay, now I gotta get into the video production business. So I got to learn how to light people. I gotta learn how to capture audio. Like. Like how much of do do I as a, you know. Because remember, this person is an accountant. Yeah. And now yeah this person. So it’s not like they’re a videographers. They’re just they have a day job that they’re using this to help their day job.

Adam Walker: So yeah. Yeah.

Sanjay Parekh: Well I think the great benefit you’ve got here with, uh, the studio partners is that they do have a space, right? That’s their space. That’s this studio all the time. They’re not setting up equipment and tearing it down every single time. So because of that, um, I think you could probably set this up. You know, you’d probably do cameras that are a little bit wider, not fully cropped in with the person. Uh, and then you could set them up that way. So that way if the guest is, you know, shifted a little bit left or right, it’s okay because the video editor can then crop in, uh, and be the right way. So that way, all of that stuff really all then is, is, hey, you gotta turn on all the cameras, uh, and, uh, have them all.

Lee Kantor: There is a way to make it a simplified as possible.

Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they’re all sitting basically in the same spot. Come, come onto your show before and it’s the setup. You’re not doing.

Lee Kantor: Cartwheels down the right hall. Right. So it’s a different type of content capture. So yeah that is a dream that could come true. We could make a kind of a set where it’s like everybody, this is where you sit. This is how it works. If you want to do video.

Adam Walker: Yeah, I think so. Yeah I think everybody’s studio.

Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Everybody’s studio might be a little bit different because the orientation might be a little bit different. But once they set it up I think they should be good. Yeah. Right.

Stone Payton: I like the tiered idea to back to that ramp. Right. I like I like that a lot. Right.

Adam Walker: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. So this is great.

Adam Walker: Well and then and then so so focusing on the assets side. Right. So so can we do video. Absolutely. Can we make it you know relatively straightforward. Absolutely. But then on the asset side it gives you and it gives the person you interview access to so many more assets that they can then share across so many more different channels. And and to me, that’s probably the most powerful component because, I mean, if if you’re if I’m an accountant, right. And I, I, I don’t know, I bring a lawyer in to, to my new show, for example, and interview the lawyer on basic, I don’t know, copywriting law or something like that. Um, I can then hand that person a ton of assets that then they can about their own profession, their own expertise, and then they can go share on LinkedIn and look like a hero. And now they love me way more than they did before, because they look so good in the content I’ve just given them. Right?

Lee Kantor: Right.

Sanjay Parekh: This to me, is also kind of like what um, Ted has done, right? They’ve got Ted, the main Ted, and then they’ve got Ted. They’ve got all these affiliates everywhere. Right? Yeah, those affiliates really are obviously about, uh, kind of uplifting people that are doing interesting things locally. But the video assets that they get from all of those, right? Some of them end up really, really shining. And I think for for the two of you, what it creates an opportunity for is actually having Business RadioX kind of main social handles, then that uplift some of these video assets that end up really taking off locally. Right. Like you find, hey, you know, in in the middle of nowhere, there’s this really interesting business or they had a really interesting video. And to be able to share that on the main Business RadioX channels, for them to be seen even more and even further. Right. That’s a lot of value, I think, for somebody like that to to then have their kind of story be told much more broadly than just somewhere locally.

Adam Walker: Yeah, I love that.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. No, that sounds good. And you guys have done a great job. I think that your persuasion has has really worked on both Stone and I.

Sanjay Parekh: Have we hammered you into submission now at this point. So, so then based on that, then, um, and I know you’ve done this in other episodes, uh, what are you all committing to in terms of, of this and like, how are we going to move forward?

Lee Kantor: I mean, I think we’re definitely going to test, um, sharing videos. Um, and I think that we’re going to definitely explore how to create a tiered approach and what that would look like kind of financially, because part of what makes our platform attractive to partners is it’s it’s not super expensive. It’s super affordable. So what does this mean? If they add a video tier, you know, what’s how is that going to change the pricing. Um, and what are they going to get for it? And how are we going to be able to execute and deliver on that? Um, so we have to kind of research that a bit. Um, but that’s I mean, that’s all doable. And I don’t think there’s any harm in in creating that tier and seeing, you know, what the market will will do with that.

Stone Payton: So I’m going to throw my hat over the fence, as is my style. And this afternoon I’m going to talk about our tiered system. Not in any great detail, but my part of my safety net is if I feel like we get going down that road and it is just too far outside our lane, then I think we go back to one of our core best practices, and we figure out a way to partner with best in class in that lane to help us execute on the gaps that we cannot or don’t want to try to fill. And I don’t know if you guys know anybody with expertise in that arena, but they if you do, they might be a good, good collaborators in some fashion going forward.

Adam Walker: You can call he likes to wear plaid shirts. He’s, uh.

Sanjay Parekh: I know this guy that always wears hats. I’ve never seen the top of his head before. There’s always a hat on there. I don’t know, doesn’t exist.

Adam Walker: There is no top of the head.

Sanjay Parekh: So.

Stone Payton: Hey, uh, and then there may be more to talk about, but I don’t want to miss this. What is the best way for someone to set up a conversation with you guys? If they’d like to talk with what you guys do at Edgewise Media?

Adam Walker: Yeah, I mean, just Edgewise Media. Edgewise Dot media is the website. And there’s a there’s a form on there to fill out and just, you know, book book it. We’ll book a time and have a chat. We give lots of free advice and sometimes it turns into something else and other times it doesn’t, which is fine.

Stone Payton: So fantastic. Well, don’t let me cut you short, I just, but I wanted to make sure we did that, and I wanted you guys to know how valuable I have have found this time together. Yeah, yeah.

Adam Walker: Well, I guess I guess the last thing that, uh, that might be helpful is to just chat for just a second about, uh, not because we’ve talked about capturing video and we talked about building relationships through video. And we and I think we assumed the power of video in marketing. But I wonder if we should explicitly say, like what all you can do with video and why it’s important. I mean, is that is it worth chatting about that for a second?

Stone Payton: Absolutely.

Adam Walker: Okay. Uh, so I’ll jump in, I’ll dive in and then suddenly interrupt wherever you want. Um, so I think to me, the power of video is that we’ve shifted from a social media connected economy or space into an attention space. And what that means is what I said earlier, where you can jump on TikTok today, have two followers and publish a video. And if that video is good enough quality, it can get a million views. And that’s and I’m not exaggerating. Like that is completely doable today. And that’s true to some degree for reels. And that’s true to some degree for shorts. But TikTok in particular that’s very true for. And so, um, and the way it works is when you publish a new video, it kind of shops it around to like a small group of people. And if that small group of people engage with that video, then it goes, oh, this is pretty good. Let me give it to a bigger group of people, and if that big group of people engaged with it goes, oh, this is pretty good, let me give it to a big group of people. And so a great example of that is our podcast, Tech Talk y’all. You know, we have a limited number of listeners, probably a thousand 2000 listeners somewhere in there. And we’ve got videos on reels and on TikTok.

Adam Walker: I think we’ve got a reels video that’s had over a million views on TikTok videos. Yeah, that have hit, you know, several hundred thousand views. Right. And it just gets more exposure for us and gets more exposure for the podcast in general and expands our audience. And so I think that’s the power of video. The other power of video is YouTube, where you can create longer format videos, maybe not full length, but but longer segments. And then you found on the YouTube search engine, which is, as everybody knows, the second biggest search engine in the world. And so it just gives you, again, more exposure for people that are looking for whatever it is that you do. And I think for hyper local people, it actually becomes even more powerful because if you think about it, there’s not very many accounts. I live in Lilburn, there’s not very many accountants in Lilburn where if I’m on YouTube and I type in like Lilburn accountant, you know, for business. There’s not gonna be any videos on YouTube for that. But if somebody did what you did and put it on you, they’d be there. Um, I don’t know what the search capacity is for that or the the, you know, I’m trying to say, but it’s there. So anything to add to that? Sanjay I miss anything?

Sanjay Parekh: No, I think you covered a lot of it. I think the the opportunity to have something go viral like this is a lot stronger, uh, on some of these platforms, uh, you know, we just obviously we do audio as well. We do, you know, distribute the podcast or Spotify and Apple Podcasts and all that stuff. There’s just not that opportunity to go viral on on a place like that. And so the videos is really where that opportunity lies. Uh, and so a lot of value is created there. And that kind of exposure, the whole thing that we’re talking about, uh, in all of this conversation is exposure for small businesses, right? Exposure for these people so that they can be successful in the things that they’re doing. And so why not leverage one of the best mechanisms that we have right now, uh, to do that?

Adam Walker: Yeah. So that’s that’s the pitch. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: I think I mean, we’re definitely game on trying. So. Yeah. Yeah.

Sanjay Parekh: I got I think we hammered them into submission a while ago. Yeah. Now, now we just bludgeoned to death from this.

Adam Walker: We’ll create some assets for for you all. And you can use them however you however you prefer. But we’ll make sure you’ve got assets in your hands ready to go and, uh, and we’ll see how they perform and we’ll create some for ourselves as well.

Sanjay Parekh: Do we need to do, uh, make Stone and Lee do like a TikTok video right now or something so that you can do that?

Adam Walker: Yeah. I mean, you want to see him up for a couple of a couple of, like, quick TikTok? Yeah, let’s do that. That sounds great. What’s the hook? Hook?

Sanjay Parekh: I think Lee’s about to pretend like his camera’s gonna fail. That’s what I’m saying. Yeah.

Adam Walker: This camera’s flickering. It’s flickering out.

Stone Payton: So.

Sanjay Parekh: Uh. Okay, we should probably wrap this up. Uh, but, uh, Lee Stone, thanks so much for having Adam and myself on. Uh, this has been a lot of fun hanging out with y’all. Um, hopefully it was helpful for y’all. Uh, but as always, we’re always here to help for for anything you all need.

Stone Payton: Well, I know you are, and this has been a tremendous help already. And I know it will be as this effort continues to unfold. Gentlemen, thank you so much. And, uh, sounds like we’ll be talking again soon.

Outro: Thanks for listening to scaling in Public the next Business RadioX 100 markets. Are you ready to enjoy a steady stream of discovery calls? And finally, stop being a best kept secret? It’s time to step out of the shadows and watch your coaching business grow. Let’s fill your calendar ten discovery calls in a month, guaranteed. Go to Birr to download the free Business RadioX playbook.

The Leadership Reset: How to Thrive Amid AI Disruption and Workplace Volatility

March 3, 2026 by Jacob Lapera

High Velocity Radio

The Leadership Reset: How to Thrive Amid AI Disruption and Workplace Volatility

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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee interviews Aday Adetosoye, founder and CEO of 1099 Impact Street, about the impact of AI on leadership, organizational culture, and employee burnout. Aday emphasizes that AI amplifies existing leadership and organizational dynamics rather than serving as a quick fix. They discuss common pitfalls in AI adoption, the importance of principled leadership, and the need for clear communication and strategic planning. The episode highlights the necessity of human-centered, ethical approaches to AI integration to build resilient, adaptive organizations amid technological change.

Dr. Aday E. Adetosoye is a leadership strategist, advisor, and founder of 1099 Impact Street. She works with executives, organizations, and mission-driven leaders navigating burnout, organizational volatility, and AI-driven disruption.

Her work focuses on principled leadership, disciplined judgment, and building resilient systems that do not collapse under pressure.

A former diplomat with more than 25 years of experience across global health, nonprofit leadership, and complex organizations, Dr. Aday helps leaders design sustainable performance in the age of AI.

She is the creator of The Leadership Reset, a framework for resilient leadership and ethical decision-making.

Connect with Dr. Aday on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on leadership and organizational culture.
The relationship between AI adoption and employee burnout.
Challenges organizations face when implementing AI, including leadership burnout and workplace disruption.
The misconception of AI as a quick fix rather than an amplifier of existing leadership qualities.
The importance of principled leadership and disciplined judgment in navigating AI integration.
Strategies for mindful AI deployment, including clear policies and communication.
The cultural implications of rapid AI implementation and its potential to strain organizational culture.
The significance of involving employees in the AI adoption process to alleviate fears and foster trust.
The necessity of a strategic approach to AI that aligns with organizational goals and human resources.
The Leadership Reset Framework for managing disruption and building sustainable performance in organizations.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have the founder CEO of 1099 Impact Street a day, Aday Adetosoye. Welcome.

Aday Adetosoye: Thank you so much, Lee. Glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about 1099 Impact Street. How are you serving, folks?

Aday Adetosoye: Excellent. You know, right now a lot of organizations are investing millions in AI and wondering why the leaders are burning out. We work on that gap at 1099 Impact Street. We work with leaders and organizations that are sort of navigating volatility, disruption, the AI shift and just general disruption in the workplace based on systems. So our focus is really principled leadership, discipline, judgment and ensuring that we’re all building systems that hold under whatever pressure, whether it’s technological, whether it’s personnel. So we’re here to just ensure that organizations are looking at the right systems, that hold the right people to do what they need to do.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned AI at the jump. Is there a correlation between people who are kind of leveraging AI or experimenting with AI and burnout? Are those two connected?

Aday Adetosoye: Yes, absolutely. Especially right now, AI is accelerating everything. And leaders at the top are wondering how they fit in and how does AI fit into their companies or organizations. So it then makes leadership clarity and decision stability that much more important. So I’m sure, you know, everywhere we look now we’re talking about AI. We’re talking about robots. We’re talking about this new technology that’s really just come to stay for now. So how do we ensure that people who have been doing their jobs, who have been relatively secure in their jobs, are not only freaking out about AI, but also are not burning out by this additional pressure of what AI means in their entity.

Lee Kantor: So is burnout happening statistically more today than it was five years, ten years ago?

Aday Adetosoye: Not necessarily. I haven’t looked at the latest statistics in that particular way. But what is happening for sure is that this idea of artificial intelligence is adding to the burnout, right? We are demanding more of our employees. We are asking, you know, there’s a lot of do more with less. You know, last year we saw record numbers of people get laid off, and those who are left behind have to do the job. So with or without AI, we’re already seeing that, uh, a lot of people are having to do much more than they were doing five years ago. And so what we’re seeing now is that with the additional layer of AI and the quote unquote threat, depending on how it’s defined, we’re starting to see that people are even feeling more burnt out as a result of this threat of AI, may replace me, may take my job. And so what we need to do is really work with organizations to sustain people, to sustain people, and to not reward overextension and compress timelines and treat people as if they’re endlessly adaptable. We’ve got to strengthen our systems to deal with burnout that is real, and burnout that is artificially extended because of this new AI situation.

Lee Kantor: Now, if this situation is systemic at the heart of it. You’re saying AI contributes to it, but from a leadership standpoint, aren’t most leaders kind of seeing the possibilities of AI and how it can enhance and help their people perform more effectively, more efficiently? Isn’t kind of that the heart of at least their belief? Maybe that’s not what it is in reality, for the kind of the people farther down the org chart. But in the minds of the leadership, don’t they see this as kind of a way to exponentially improve productivity, which should lessen burnout? But you’re saying that that’s not what’s really happening.

Aday Adetosoye: Well, yeah, it’s it’s a little bit of both, really. Li we see some leaders who are embracing AI as exactly what you just described, and we also see some leaders who view AI as a threat and also don’t know how to incorporate AI without, um, freaking out their employees. I see fear. I see a lot of fear of the unknown when I talk to leaders at the top. And if we say, well, how is AI changing their expectations? Ai does not replace leadership. And this is the core message is AI does not replace leadership. It magnifies it, right? It accelerates our ability to make decisions, to communicate and to execute. So when we use it the way we’re supposed to, it’s not supposed to add judgment and ethics or wisdom. So if leaders already overwhelmed AI will only help you burn out faster if you’re not using it correctly. But if you’re a leader who is clear and grounded, what AI does is reduce noise and protect your focus and help you strategize better. So what I’m seeing is that the mistake most organizations are making is they’re treating AI like a fix. Um, and it’s not a fix. It’s an amplifier, which means that the state of the actual leader who uses AI or who chooses to use AI matters more than the actual sophistication of the technology.

Lee Kantor: And that they have to use it strategically. And it’s not just kind of a blunt instrument, that it’s going to solve all your problems and make everything bad go away. Like, it has to be kind of strategically implemented in a manner that achieves the outcome you desire, not just creates chaos. So as part of your service that you go in and help leaders really understand how to deploy AI in a more strategic, meaningful manner.

Aday Adetosoye: That is exactly right. You just articulated that beautifully. That is exactly what we do, is we come in and we say, tell us what your current strategy is. Tell us what you’re thinking about AI. How are you feeling about it? What are you what are you thinking about doing with it? And then we find those gaps and try to fill them in with that strategy and making sure that, again, it’s amplifying and not replacing. Excellent. The way you put it.

Lee Kantor: Well, I think it’s one of those things where if it’s not deployed mindfully, it can be a distraction and a disruption and lead to that kind of downward spiral pretty quickly, because it’s easy to get overwhelmed, because you start asking your questions or you start putting data in and you’re going to get lots and lots of data back, and all of a sudden now you’re down 50 rabbit holes. That can be a distraction and not really strategically help you. So I think people do need to kind of rely on an expert or a Sherpa to help them kind of focus in on what outcome they desire, and just use AI as a tool to help you do that.

Aday Adetosoye: Yes, yes. And it’s really about what you put in is what you get. And so we talk a lot about prompt engineering, which is just really a fancy term for, you know, how do you tell this tool to give you what you want? So if you go in and try to sort of say, um, you know, you give it a very generic or a vague, um.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, like make me a marketing plan, you know, like, that’s not helpful.

Aday Adetosoye: That’s not helpful. You’re going to get those 50 rabbit holes that you just talked about. You’re going to keep going and going. So you have to be very clear and precise about what it is that you want it to do. You know, down to if you were blue Sky and your marketing plan had these five things and these ten outcomes, make sure that you’re putting in those precise, specific outcomes that you desire into that prompt, and then that’s what you’re going to get. So part of it too, is just having leaders and teams define exactly what they want to do with AI and not just see it as we’re just going to have it do all these things well, what are all these things? And that’s some of the things we help folks clarify.

Lee Kantor: So now what is happening before they hire you? What kind of pain or friction are they having? Uh, that is kind of the trigger to say, you know what? I gotta get a day in here.

Aday Adetosoye: Um, uh, what we’re seeing is there is a sort of, um, it’s a sort of frenzied moment, is what I would call it right now is, uh, and this FOMO, this fear of missing out because people are on LinkedIn or, um, various, um, social media platforms or even in the literature saying that, you know, uh, entity, a adopted AI and their output was so much greater. And so what we want to do that too, without really thinking through how you’re going to bring it in on an enterprise level and how you’re going to stagger it, um, onto and into your current human potential that you have. And so there’s this, you know, a CIO goes out there and gets, you know, um, a system and just brings it and says, now we’re going to be using AI. There’s no real strategy, there’s no policy, there’s no thought through, um, how this actually integrates with the human beings that are there and how the leaders are using it ethically, what the governance frameworks frameworks look like. It’s just sort of like the in the moment. Well, all we have to do is just get, you know, paid or pro ChatGPT or paid or pro, um, Microsoft Copilot or whatever tool it is that folks think they need and they just get and these are the ones I hear of the most is the ChatGPT and and, uh, here, Claude now a lot.

Aday Adetosoye: Oh, we’re just going to bring that in at the enterprise level, and we’re just going to tell everyone to use it. Well, no, you have to think through what again, as you mentioned earlier, Lee, what is your strategy and what is it that you want to achieve and how does it blend in with people? So by the time they’re calling me, they’ve already tried something. Um, AI related. And it has created more chaos than, uh, how it was before they brought AI into it. And so they call me in and say, well, we got the AI and it’s not working. Our staff are deflated and they’re feeling like we want to replace them. So we need your help and just, you know, strategizing and building out what our policy looks like, what the implementation plan looks like, and what success looks like down the road.

Lee Kantor: But, I mean, that makes perfect sense that that would occur like that, because AI isn’t that kind of a tool. Like if you put AI in the hands of ten people, those ten people are going to all use it differently, like some people are going to go crazy and think, this is the best thing that ever happened. Another person’s going to hate it and say, what is this doing? You know, it’s a robot revolution. Like, um, get it out of here. I mean, people some people will be threatened, some people will be thrilled. I mean, you yeah. It’s not something I think that you can just deploy just that casually.

Aday Adetosoye: Correct. Correct. But that’s what’s been happening. So people have been leaders have been feeling under pressure. And effective leadership is not about moving quickly or moving faster than the next. It’s about staying stable and staying steady. Right. So when you are stable in your decision making, it means that you are able to pause. You’re able to assess the risk, assess the outcomes you’re looking for, and act with clarity, even when everything feels urgent, you know. And teams at the end of the day mirror their leadership. And that’s why we say leadership matters. So when leaders are reactive, we see the situation we’re talking about where organizations become volatile. Like you just said, ten people will react ten different ways. That’s why that policy is important. The change management, the open communication, why we’re going this route, what we expect to happen, channels of communication. If you run into any issues, here’s what the organization is going to do about it. So that calm is important because that’s what increases trust and that’s what improves execution.

Lee Kantor: And if you do it, if you deploy it that casually, I would imagine if there’s any cracks in your culture, this thing just explodes it.

Aday Adetosoye: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And I say that’s why I say that, you know, there’s a saying that culture eats strategy. And I say strategy eats culture because the culture will not fail on its own. Strategy overwhelms it. And especially when a strategy is not executed properly, it’s one thing to have a strategy and it’s another thing to execute it. So when the strategy applies, pressure on your culture is when you know whether your cultural culture will stand or not. And what we’re seeing is this strategy around AI and just adopting it willy nilly, or adopting it out of FOMO. Um, you know, it is definitely putting a strain on whatever organizational culture was there to begin with, if it was. We’re seeing a lot of strain on that.

Lee Kantor: So do you have any advice for folks out there that are struggling in this area? And they’d like to have some cogent AI strategy? Is there kind of a minimum viable product when it comes to AI strategy? Like what are some of the basics dos and don’ts when it comes to deploying AI?

Aday Adetosoye: Some of the things we’ve been talking about, it’s really important to understand where your organization is. What are the pain points that you believe AI is going to help you solve? How do how does the introduction of AI blend with your human, um, potential and and resource that you have? And those are the questions that leaders really need to think about. You’ve got to think about the leadership part before you think about the technology, because it’s just a tool, and it’s what matters most is what is it that you want this tool to do for you? And it’s not just bring it in because it’s available. Um, but bring it in because there’s a pain point you have and it’s going to help you. Um, and maybe you haven’t identified that pain point yet. So that’s where you look inwards at your strategy and whatever risks you have that you think, you know, the adoption of AI can mitigate. Um, so that’s that’s sort of on the leadership side. On the technology side, again, it’s tied to the pain point, right? Each of these tools is better at different things. So you also don’t want to just introduce a suite of AI tools. I was recently working with a client who had many tools all at the same time, and they were misusing them unintentionally, but just because the tools were there and they weren’t leveraging the power that tool A had over tool B, because they just they were so interested in bringing so many tools in. So again, it boils down to what are those pain points And which tool out there can help you solve the pain that you have, the problem that you have, and then you bring that in. And again, the change management, because a lot of employees today are freaking out about AI replacing them. So you’ve got to you’ve got to hold your team because that’s your most precious resource. That’ll hold your team through it and solicit as much input from them as you as you go this route. That’s what I would say there.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share about one of your clients? How don’t name the name of the client, but maybe share the challenge they came to you with and how you were able to help them get through it and get to a new level?

Aday Adetosoye: Yes, absolutely. Several. But I would say one of the the more recent ones, um, is one who came there. Um, I would say about five years into they’ve got about a little over 50 employees and um, what they are social impact organization. They work with homelessness and, um, and people who are not housed across the country. Um, and one of the things that they wanted to do, uh, when they approached me was, well, we don’t want to have any more, um, administrative staff. So we’ve run into some hard times. We’ve lost contracts that we had with the government, and so we’re going to eliminate our administrative team. And, um, we brought in these tools. And what we’re finding now is we’re not able to do anything because there’s now chaos in the organization, our administrative staff, who who are still here when we brought in the tools, didn’t quite know how to react. Uh, we were being quote unquote transparent by telling them that we wanted to bring in these tools to ease them out and have the tools take over. So we wanted them to write out all the stops of the things that they were working on so that these tools would take over and we would just have like one person, uh, do what the team of five were doing. Um, using the AI tools. And what ended up happening was their team, um, remained, but they weren’t really working. They showed up. They were disenfranchized, uh, the person who was supposed to help them utilize the tools and sort of guide the process resigned, um, because the other ones felt that, um, she had turned against them and was working with the management to get rid of them.

Aday Adetosoye: And there was just general chaos, so work was not happening. The people who made the decision to bring in the tools were not the everyday users and didn’t quite know how to use the tools. And so that’s it was at that point that they came to me to say, we now have not only, um, a crisis where we’ve spent all this money to bring in the tools. It’s not being used. We also have the HR crisis. Our team is showing up, but they’re not motivated to work. We have used pips, uh, all kinds of things, to try to get them back on track, but they’re just. We believe they’re all looking for work, and the person who’s supposed to do all the work has resigned. So help. So what we did, we had a half day session, and we brought in all the the leaders who had made this decision to just talk through why, what what made you feel this was the route to go. And again, it boiled down to we heard of some organization that did it and it was working well for them. They cut XYZ costs of benefits and salaries. And so we felt after we lost the contract, it was important for us to also cut costs and use technology as best as we could. We were coming from an altruistic place, but our delivery looks like it landed wrong and our staff is mad at us. And even others who aren’t necessarily affected are also feeling like, could they just do this to us? And after I heard what they had to say.

Aday Adetosoye: I also talked to the middle level managers and the junior level folks, and that was pretty much the case. Um, so one thing that I gave to that leadership team was that they were able to keep a finger on the pulse of what was going on. Um, because when I spoke with the others, they pretty much verified that that was what was happening. In a nutshell, what I did for them was to bring back, bring everybody back to reality. Number one, you don’t tell your team that we’re going to replace you with this tool and say that you’re being transparent. What you do need to say is that we have lost funding, and we’re looking for ways to, um, cut our costs. And we’d like for you to help us with that. But we’re not going to let you go, per se. I mean, one of the things that you could do is reduce time, but not just, you know, declare that you’re letting them go. So we talked about now what is it that is really going to be replaced? Can you replace everything that person A was doing. Can you really do that. And found out that no, you can’t replace everything, so you’re going to need the human piece to guide the AI to what you need it to do. Uh, as much as we have these Agentic AIS and everything else, you know, build an entire system that doesn’t really work at the enterprise level of a social impact organization, because all of the social impact is about humanity and ethics and governance, and not so much just automated decisions.

Aday Adetosoye: So we got to the happy place. We’re still working through it, but we’ve gotten to a happy place where, you know, there is a recognition that humans are needed for this type of work and that you leverage all of the power that AI does to speed up things, speed up your reports, speed up the clarity, speed up the data. And as we all know, and I’m sure Lee, you know this too, that AI hallucinates and lies sometimes. So you have to check everything. And so you can’t just put the data in and believe everything that comes out. You’ve got to Fact, check it and make sure that it’s clear. And then also put in the right information. So where we are now is that we we are solving a few things at the same time. One, the strategic use of AI, which we’re now starting to see, you know, much better reports coming out. We’re starting to see much more confidence in using it from top to bottom. Um, how to strategically, strategically place it within humans and the technology itself to get the results that you need. And then finally, we’re also seeing that the leadership team is recognizing the value of their human resources and not to just get rid of them. So we’re we’re not quite there yet, but we are definitely, um, miles away from where we started, from the chaos of the org culture that I walked into.

Lee Kantor: So who is that ideal client for you, or is it mostly nonprofits or do you work with? Are you industry agnostic?

Aday Adetosoye: I’m industry agnostic, but I. I lean toward social impact nonprofit organizations just because of my background in global health. But I, I, um, at the end of the day, you know, the the the intersections are are very similar. You know, bringing in a new technology. It’s it’s still very similar.

Lee Kantor: Now, is it organizations of a certain size, number of employees, uh, amount of sales each year. Like, which when you hone in on that ideal, um, client.

Aday Adetosoye: Oh, I see what you’re saying. Yeah. My ideal client, I would say, is somewhere between, uh, 50 to 150 employees. Um, revenue is somewhere around, um, somewhere between, I would say 5 to $30 million per year. Um, distributed, um, operations. So either, um, across the country, across a region, or even internationally, um, but has, you know, staff in different offices and needs to, you know, usually has this pain point of how does everybody use the same tool to get fluency in the technology and in their operations?

Lee Kantor: So before we wrap, can you share a little bit about your Leadership Reset framework?

Aday Adetosoye: Oh yeah sure. So that I’ll I’ll quickly say I think we’ve got about four minutes here. Um, it’s got three parts. And the first is recognition. So that identifying, you know what the pain points are leaders. You have to be able to name where your strain and your misalignment are entering your system. You can’t fix what you’re not willing to see is what I say. So recognition of your problem. Second is regulation. The missing link in most leadership models is that, you know, leaders need capacity to stay steady under pressure. I worked in a very high pressure, 25 years in global health, working in infectious diseases around the world. It’s a lot of pressure and you’ve got to be able to stay steady. So you’re not making reactive decisions in high stakes moments. So I’ve worked with leaders across 40 countries, and I’ve seen the same pattern everywhere. When regulation breaks down, organizations pay for it. So second is regulation and the third one is reconstruction. So once you’ve identified your problem, you’re able to stay steady under the pressure of the problem. The next thing is how do you build. How do you rebuild to get beyond the problem. And this is where leaders redesign their boundaries, their authority, their purpose. So that performance becomes not a seasonal thing, but a sustainable, um, expected outcome. And it’s not about doing more. It’s about rebuilding leadership architecture that can hold the complexities that we’re facing today. So I say that regulation is a missing link, and most leadership models skip it entirely. So for for me, it’s, you know, the three things. It’s recognition, regulation and reconstruction. And understanding where you are in the regulation piece is the most critical.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Aday Adetosoye: The best way to connect is a day. A day at 1099 Street.com. Our website is WW 1099 Street.com. And we have a contact form on there. Or you can just email me directly. Either way is fine. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. We’re there at 1099 Street and on Facebook and Instagram.

Lee Kantor: And it’s the numbers 1099 impact Street.com.

Aday Adetosoye: That is correct. Lee. You got it.

Lee Kantor: All right today. Thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Aday Adetosoye: Thank you. Your questions are great.

Lee Kantor: All right. This Lee Kantor we’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Vintage 1986, Amanda Pearch Publishing Perspective

March 2, 2026 by Amanda Pearch

Chat with AP

Vintage 1986, Amanda Pearch Publishing Perspective

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Vintage AP, 1986.

The BIG 4-0 as they say.

I remember people putting posters at the neighborhood entrance growing up out in Brooks… “Lordy Lordy Gary is 40!” Anyone else remember that or was it a Line Creek Estates thing?

There’s something about turning forty that feels liberating actually. Not the hem haw people allude to. I feel seasoned, like Checkers French Fries.

It comes with awareness.

More like a steady exhale of relief after years of proving, building, stretching, and becoming…

So, “What now?”

“What truly matters?”

It’s less about acceleration and more about alignment. You don’t always need to go fast Ricky Bobby.

No more seeking applause – more about stewardship.

I’ve spent the better part of a decade behind a microphone, asking questions, listening closely, moderating rooms full of decision-makers, nonprofit leaders, executives, founders. I’ve had a front-row seat to resilience, brilliance, ego, generosity, collapse, reinvention, faith, and grit.

And somewhere along the way, without realizing it, I was being shaped too.

Forty feels less like “Look what I’ve built” and more like “Look who helped build me.”

ALL GLORY BE TO GOD.

I have immense gratitude for:

My parents, their tolerance and support, to this day!

My nephew AT who is my hero.

My Twin, Orangejello.

Mentors who helped mold me as a professional.

Friends who stayed.

My dog Tucker Carlson.

Guests who trusted me with their intimate stories.

Those who believe in my OUT OF THE BOX visions.

Small groups. Spirit led friendships and leaders. Pastor Chuck Ramsey, Preston Morrison, Pastor Chuck Allen, Pastor Jensen Franklin, Joanne Holz and Sue Diamond- to name a few.

That said…

I didn’t get to forty alone. It’s more like life is layered, like tiramisu or lasagna or CAKE.

Layered with lessons about humility.

About time and how it is not renewable… I did a podcast about this, check it out.

About saying no- conserving energy is important.

Validation chased is never satisfying…

That the marketplace is loud, blinders can be good- I used to think they were limiting.

I’ve learned that authentic curiosity is still my superpower.

Consistency compounds.

Loyalty matters.

Sew Good Seeds, reputation is currency.

Most importantly… above the milestones, business & personal growth and podcasts…

Jesus Christ is King.

He is my anchor.

There were rooms I walked into unsure of myself, He prepared the way.

There were contracts that fell apart, He was by my side.

Through partnerships that disappointed, He was by my side.

Relationships that disappointed too, He was by my side.

Times my heart was broken, He picked up the pieces and collected my tears.

There were seasons where growth felt invisible, He sees everything.

There were prayers whispered before stepping onto a stage, there were prayers inaudible sobbing on the floor in my bathroom- HE WAS THERE.

Every single time.

His faithfulness, forgiveness, and Perfect Love continue to steady me.

I’ve become dependent upon it, my quiet time with the Lord, satiated in the Word.

Forty is about metamorphosis.

Learning to live life in complete surrender.

I recognize that the platform was never mine. The gifts were never mine. The opportunities were never random.

They were and are, provision.

If I’ve built anything meaningful over the past decade, it’s because He allowed it.

So today, I don’t feel older. I feel grateful.

Grateful for the yeses. Grateful for the nos.

Grateful for the pruning seasons.

Grateful for the wilderness season.

Grateful for the doors that opened only after He prepared me to walk through them.

Onward.

<3 AP

Adios friends, thanks for hanging out with me for a birfday BLOG.

Thanks for reading my birfday blog. This is #2 should I keep writing? They are fun and flouncy, and I feel like I can be personal in a way I cannot on pods.

Send me a message titled #40 at amandapearch.com if you want to share coffee/ Diet Coke and Chat with AP.

Connect with AP at amandapearch.com

Amanda Pearch is a powerhouse strategist, podcasting expert, and high-impact communicator with a heart for purpose-driven work. With nearly a decade of experience as a professional broadcaster and a strong foundation in marketing and communications, Amanda has built a vibrant career by helping mission-focused brands “find their voice” and spark intentional engagement.

As the owner and operator of a professional podcasting and production agency, she brings a bold voice and unmatched energy to every audience she touches. Whether it’s coaching executives, producing high-quality content, or leading strategic conversations, PURPOSE is at the center of her work.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, raised in Peachtree City, Georgia. Pearch is known for her ability to turn ideas into action- she’s recognized as a trusted voice for relevant & meaningful content, both locally and beyond.

Connect with AP at amandapearch.com

Leadership Lessons from a Life of Challenge and Change

February 27, 2026 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Leadership Lessons from a Life of Challenge and Change

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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, host Joshua Kornitsky interviews Kim Harrington, CEO of H10 Enterprises, about his remarkable journey from a challenging childhood and military service to leadership in business. Kim shares insights from his time in the Marine Corps and law enforcement, emphasizing resilience, discipline, and people-focused leadership. He discusses his transition into corporate training and consulting, highlighting the importance of empathy, communication, and supporting team members.

Kim Harrington doesn’t just inform he transforms. Audiences leave with shifted perspectives, renewed purpose, and actionable strategies. His presentations create those rare “before and after” moments that change how people lead, work, and live.

Impact Through Service – Kim’s commitment to giving back is woven throughout his life’s work. He serves as Chair of the MADD Georgia/Alabama Advisory Council and Victims Impact Panel Speaker (40+ years), and Vice Chair of Movement School’s Governing Board.

He mentors youth in juvenile detention centers, teaches life skills to formerly incarcerated individuals, and supports Beat the Odds scholarship programs ensuring that young people facing adversity receive the same kind of transformational guidance that changed his own life.

Connect with Kim on LinkedIn and follow H10 Enterprises on Facebook.

Episode Highlights

Kim’s challenging early life and its impact on his leadership philosophy.
The transformative experience of joining the United States Marine Corps and the values learned.
The importance of teamwork, discipline, and attention to detail in military training.
Transitioning from military service to a career in law enforcement and the lessons learned.
The challenges faced during career transitions, including moving to a new state and job insecurity.
Founding H10 Enterprises and focusing on training and development for organizations.
The significance of leadership traits instilled in the Marine Corps and their application in civilian life.
The importance of understanding employee motivations and tailoring leadership approaches accordingly.
The role of effective communication and operational systems in successful organizations.
The perception of sales as a noble profession and the importance of fulfilling customer needs.

About Your Host

Joshua Kornitsky is a fourth-generation entrepreneur with deep roots in technology and a track record of solving real business problems. Now, as a Professional EOS Implementer, he helps leadership teams align, create clarity, and build accountability.

He grew up in the world of small business, cut his teeth in technology and leadership, and built a path around solving complex problems with simple, effective tools. Joshua brings a practical approach to leadership, growth, and getting things done.

As a host on Cherokee Business Radio, Joshua brings his curiosity and coaching mindset to the mic, drawing out the stories, struggles, and strategies of local business leaders. It’s not just about interviews—it’s about helping the business community learn from each other, grow stronger together, and keep moving forward.

Connect with Joshua on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Joshua Kornitsky: Welcome back to High Velocity Radio. My name is Joshua Kornitsky. I am a professional EOS implementer and your host here today, and I’ve got an incredible guest here with me in the studio. My guest is Kim Harrington. Kim’s a leadership professional and CEO and founder of H10 Enterprises. His perspective on leadership is shaped by the environments where accountability matters and the decisions carry real consequences. Kim brings a practical, people centered approach to developing leaders at every level, and his work emphasizes clarity, clarity, pardon me service, and personal ownership. Welcome, Kim. It’s truly a joy to have you here, and I can’t wait to learn more about how you help people.

Kim Harrington: Yeah, man. Listen, thanks for having me, I appreciate it. The weather that we’re dealing with right now is a little suspect. However, we’re in the South. We’re in Atlanta, so just wait.

Joshua Kornitsky: Just wait.

Kim Harrington: Time. Wait. Three days will change anyway.

Joshua Kornitsky: Would you slide the mic just a little bit closer to you just to make sure we we get your voice? Thank you. So, um, let’s begin at the beginning. Tell tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you to the place where you’re able to make this type of an impact.

Kim Harrington: Wow, I love that question. So up until 2005, I would not have shared this information with anyone.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so, um, I was I was actually born to a heroin addicted mother.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And a career criminal father.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: So by the time I was born, my father had already spent half his life in prison.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: And because of that, I was raised in five foster homes and three group homes in New York City. And so I believe that all of us as leaders, we bring a unique perspective based on our belief window that we’re looking through. A guy named Hyrum Smith would talk about the belief window, and it’s basically how you’ve gone through your life.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so those formative years dealing with abandonment, neglect, people being mean to you, not supporting you has been a true driver in my life. And obviously, there were people periodically that made a significant difference, teachers and mentors that did pour into me that I do appreciate and remember those vivid moments in time.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it must. But it had to have been a hard way to grow up.

Kim Harrington: Oh, 100%, 100%. But you know, when you’re when you’re in the blender and it’s on and you’re moving around, right? You don’t notice it as much until you get out of the blender.

Joshua Kornitsky: Fair enough.

Kim Harrington: Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: You don’t know how hard it is because you have nothing to compare it to. It’s your life.

Kim Harrington: There you go. It’s your life. Uh, and so I went in the Marine Corps when I was 17. Uh, so, uh, this was 1978.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so that’s only three years removed from the end of the Vietnam War.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yep.

Kim Harrington: And so there weren’t long lines at the recruiting stations?

Joshua Kornitsky: No, I imagine not.

Kim Harrington: There you go. In fact, it was the reverse of that, where people, you know, our military was treated much different back then, much different in shameful ways. Uh, because, uh, any anybody that’s in the military or served in the military after January of 1973, post conscription, did it on a voluntary basis. So it wasn’t mandatory that people served and there was no draft.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And so you think about the sacrifice of those men and women that served in the military post conscription.

Joshua Kornitsky: All the way to now.

Kim Harrington: All the way till now, and their families, because the families are involved in this as well. So the I would just say the the best decision Joshua ever made in my entire life was enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps took me from a life of no direction to a life of absolute direction. It taught me how to be a man, how to stand tall, be proud, honor, integrity, loyalty, all those things. And to more than that, it took me from a place of being by myself. Feeling like I was on an island to being part of something bigger than myself. Being part of a team with the ultimate goal of accomplishing the mission regardless of race, creed, color didn’t matter about anything other than the mission.

Joshua Kornitsky: So I want to ask you about that. And first, of course, thank you for your service. But the part of that that’s a mystery to those of us who have never been in the military. Right. They use your words. They made you into a man. They taught you the discipline. They taught you how to make sure that the mission gets completed. And and I presume that in a post-military career, the mission still is, whatever the current focus is. So how does that happen? Because it can’t. You know, most of us, I’m sorry to say, have our particularly our view of the military, but specifically the Marines. You know, there’s a handful of movies that tell us how Marines are made. Um, and while I’m sure there may be some elements of truth. Uh, because after all, Arlie Emery was a marine drill sergeant, and he got that job as he was the advisor to the actor. And the actor was so bad he got the job. 100% Full Metal Jacket. Yeah, good for him. He made a career out of it. You know, most of us probably have a pretty convoluted understanding of what that looks like. So can you help somebody from the outside of that universe understand what, at a high level that transition looks like? How do you even find that path?

Kim Harrington: Yeah. So it’s that’s a fantastic question, by the way, and I’ll share with you why I think that’s a fantastic question. So I never had the intention of going in the military. It just it kind of happened. Uh, I was walking out of a McDonald’s on Jamaica Avenue in Queens.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: Uh, the the f train was passing by above. And if you’ve ever been under an elevated train before, it is significant. It rattles your body. You can’t hear anything. And at that same time, I was passing by a glass door and there was a gold seal on it, said Armed Forces of the United States of America.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And something simply just drew me to that door, and I opened it, and I went in there. I eventually made it through the Army recruiter, the Navy recruiter, the Air Force recruiter, and ended up in the doorway of the Marine Corps recruiter. And his words to me were, come on in, young man. It’s okay. And then he put that video in. It says, are you up for the challenge? Are you up to being a marine? And it really showed and displayed something that was completely foreign to me.

Joshua Kornitsky: I can only imagine completely foreign.

Kim Harrington: The only, I would say the only consistent team type of event or organization was Little League baseball.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: Little league play little league baseball.

Joshua Kornitsky: Little gap between Little League and the Marine Corps. I’m guessing.

Kim Harrington: 100%. 100%. But, um, I did I did take that step. I said, I am up for it. And then there’s a there’s a lot of stories that go along with this. But I was 17, I wasn’t 18.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you couldn’t actually join?

Kim Harrington: I couldn’t actually join. He said back then, I don’t know if they still do it or not, but he said, you have to have a parent sign for you. And I said, no problem. And I’m thinking my foster parent, right. And he said, no, you need a biological parent. And I said, well, that’s not going to happen.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And he said, what’s her name? And I said, Beverly Wheeler. He said, give me some time. And so this is 1978. We didn’t have any technology whatsoever. I mean, if you wanted to study something, you had to go to a library, right? And so no cell phones. Within one week, the phone rang at the house. He said, I found I found her, she said she’ll sign for you. So now, of course, now she’s signed for me. Now I’m on the bus going to boot camp, and I have no clue about anything that you just asked me about. What’s the difference between that transition from civilian life to military life?

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and even all joking aside, all the common references I just cited don’t yet exist.

Kim Harrington: There you go.

Joshua Kornitsky: You know, the Marines stormed the beach at Iwo Jima. There you go. Beyond that, you know, unless you had a military family, you probably didn’t know anything.

Kim Harrington: Nothing. And so the in the Marine Corps is so different and so unique. There is a reason for everything. There are 13 stars on every button. 13 original colonies.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: There are seven belt loops on every single pair of Marine Corps trousers. The seven seas. And so there’s a reason for the way your pants hit your shoe has to be at a certain angle. On every single Marine Corps uniform, there is attention to detail that is off the charts. The ribbons that you wear have to be an eighth of an inch above the top of your pocket. Okay, this is made up stuff. That stuff is made up because they want you to pay attention to detail. Because when they give you a coordinate, if it’s 75 degrees, they want it to be 75 degrees, not 74 and not 76. Right. Because you have to be accurate. And so in the in boot camp, I was a complete follower as you think about this, as a 17 year old, I’m not 25 and there were some older people there, but I’m 17 and I don’t even know who I am at this point. And so I’m a complete follower. You follow instructions, you follow directions, and you make the best of your situation. And there were a lot of people that obviously wanted to give up while they were in there. But the drill instructors, although they were, um, like Full Metal Jacket, right? They were there to help support you and build you up after they break you down and to create those, those fighting machines basically is what we are is a marine, right? And so I would say the the main thing about the military is specifically the Marine Corps, is that it gives you so much courage, so much you have so much pride in yourself and your your fellow Marines that you will go through the fire for them without hesitation.

Joshua Kornitsky: So it’s it’s not just confidence, it’s bonding. It’s it’s and and does that translate to today? If you meet someone who was a marine you still have that connection.

Kim Harrington: So Joshua, listen, there’s this once again unique thing about the Marine Corps. If you find out someone is a marine, it’s like you’ve known each other your entire life. And my wife served in the army, so it does not happen with any other branch of the military, but with the Marine Corps. You find someone, find out someone’s a marine. The first thing you’re going to say is Semper fi, devil dog. So Semper Fi means always faithful, and Devil Dog is just kind of a nickname for Marines. Okay, there’s Devil Dog, there’s Leatherneck, there’s Jarhead.

Joshua Kornitsky: But typically I’ve heard them all. There you go.

Kim Harrington: And but when she when you I. This could be a marine from, uh, I could talk to a marine from the Korean War.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And I served this. There was no conflicts in the world when I served. There was Grenada, and there was the, uh, the hostage crisis in Iran. That’s it. So. But I can talk to someone from the Korean War. I could talk to someone from Iraq or Iran. And immediately there’s a brotherhood or a sisterhood between Marines. Okay. That is. That is unlike any other branch in the world.

Joshua Kornitsky: So let’s go back. You’re 17, maybe 18 now, right? Uh, first of all, how long were you in active duty?

Kim Harrington: Six years.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. So you were there. You were there till you were the literal definition of a man, 100%. Um, you get through boot camp, what happens? You’re. When? When you graduate.

Kim Harrington: So. So in all the military branches, you take an Asvab test. It’s an aptitude test before you get in there. Based on your scores, you are going to probably get placement in a certain military occupational specialty based on your scores. My scores were low, so I was a I was an infantryman. Every single marine is an infantryman. I don’t care if you’re a four star general or a buck private. You all go into it. You’re a rifleman. So my MOS, upon graduating from boot camp was a machine gunner.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: So the life expectancy for a machine gunner?

Joshua Kornitsky: Probably not great. No.

Kim Harrington: So when you hit the beach and you’re a machine gunner, your life expectancy is seven seconds or less. The only person that they target before that is the radioman, where they have a life expectancy of two seconds. So you you you graduate from boot camp, then you go to your, your infantry training school. My specialty was a machine gun. So I learned how to shoot an M60 machine gun. I don’t believe they have those anymore. But you learn how to do every single thing possible with the nomenclature of a machine gun, how to break it down, how to put it together blindfolded, how to do it with one hand, your off hand, and how to do it with the other hand. Uh, how to understand how to shoot the weapon. And when you’re a machine gunner, you’re in a weapons platoon. When you’re a weapons platoon, you have teams. So when you’re the machine gunner, you have other people. You have an ammo bearer.

Joshua Kornitsky: That are supporting the role.

Kim Harrington: You’re supporting my.

Joshua Kornitsky: Role. Gotcha.

Kim Harrington: And so if the machine gun weighs 29 pounds, 29 pounds is nothing. If you’re going a mile but 29 pounds, going 25 miles is super heavy. Now imagine being an ammo bearer, and you have to carry those cans of ammunition, which weighs a whole lot more than 29 pounds. So there’s it’s just a team effort. There’s there’s other things with the machine gun that takes a team effort. If once you shoot a certain amount of rounds out of an M60 machine gun, The barrel is literally on fire, so it has to cool down. But you have your team member with an asbestos glove. They’ll take it off so they don’t get burned, and they’ll put another barrel on.

Joshua Kornitsky: While.

Kim Harrington: You’re rotating. You’re going, you’re not stopping because you know, my barrel is off. I got to take a break. You know, everything is related to combat. And so the one thing that I, I would say that’s super different in the military than the civilian world is called the civilian world, is that camaraderie and teamwork. There is it is unmatched in especially the Marine Corps. It is unmatched, unrivaled. And I don’t believe I’m not. You never say never. Never say always. I don’t believe it can be replicated in a civilian world.

Joshua Kornitsky: It, uh, rather than argue because no one can know for sure. To your to your point, um, I understand exactly what you mean by that because for for Literally comparison’s sake. The expression tends to be, you know, having gone through combat together. Right. That’s that’s the common nomenclature for explaining a bonding situation. Trial by fire. Well, that fire is probably not a fire pit. Right. So. So it’s become our standard. So. So you emerged from this life and what happened to you?

Kim Harrington: So, uh, so once you reach a certain reach a certain point in the Marine Corps, um, there’s once again, like, just much, much like any company out here, when people change companies or change roles, right? There are things that happen in the military that will either keep you in there or kind of say, hey, maybe it’s time to look somewhere else.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And so my, my changing point was that, uh, I wanted to be a drill instructor.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’re looking for the easy way out? Yeah.

Kim Harrington: But I, I right. I was the model marine.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, it’s a desire to. To help. Really? I mean, all, all stereotype of that role aside, that role, as you yourself said, is a supporting role to make better Marines. Yes, yes. That’s a pretty, pretty good aspiration.

Kim Harrington: Oh my God. And your drill instructors are you’ll remember for the rest of your life, first of all. But they are the most squared away knowledgeable people on the planet to you when you’re going through that, they are your mother or your father. They’re looking out for your health, your well-being. They are guiding you through the process all the way from the very beginning until the very end. And you know, they have your best interests at heart. And it is super hard. They have an Fu file where they they mess with you for no reason whatsoever just to see how you respond. Do you elevate or do you crumble? Right. One of the one of the building soldiers.

Joshua Kornitsky: You kind of need to know that.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely. One of the the things that, uh, that bothered me the most was something as, as innocuous as them saying two sheets and a blanket get online. And all that meant was you’re going to strip down your rack, you’re going to hold two sheets and a blanket with your pillowcase in your mouth. Everybody’s online and they say, you’ve got two minutes to make your racks move. That’s not a lot of time. And you’re talking about making your rack with a six inch fold and all the other things. Box corners is always going to be someone slow, always. And they’re going to say, oh, I see we’re not finished. And they would do this for hours. Not I’m not talking about 20 minutes, but for a couple of hours you would have to get to. And you know, by the time you’re done, you’re looking at that slow person like, hey, man. And they want you to do that. They’re encouraging you to be a unit and you’re going to be only as good as the weakest link, and you have to lift them up. And that’s what it’s all about.

Joshua Kornitsky: So how did you. Well, so you. So when you made the decision, uh, did you become a drill sergeant?

Kim Harrington: I did not.

Joshua Kornitsky: You did not.

Kim Harrington: So, uh, they said that I had to spend more time in my primary mos. So my first couple of years, I was on barracks duty in Yokosuka, Japan. Okay. So if you talk to any marine, they’re going to say barracks duty is pretty cake. It’s. You’re an MP basically somewhere. And I was an MP on a Navy base. There were 60 Marines on a basically as the command of the seventh fleet. Okay. The Navy, 60 Marines on a base full of sailors. And so, uh, it is it is easy duty, but it is hard duty because you’re a military policeman and you’re dealing with the adverse conditions of everybody. Right. Uh, and so I did that for two years. Then I was a machine gunner for a year, and then I put in for the drill field, and they said I had only spent a one year as a machine gunner, Enter. So I need to spend more time there. So basically what happened was I just got a new MOS and I worked at a military prison for three years.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: Now I can share with you this that the whole thing about not judging a book by its cover is 100% true. Because you really see people that have been fully adjudicated after they did their crime, and now they’re serving their sentence, their consequences. And if I were just to look at somebody, I couldn’t say what they did or what they didn’t do. Sure. And there were people in there with some horrific, horrific crimes that they committed. And I would have never guessed in a million years that they would have done that because of their demeanor, their disposition, the way they communicated. And you find out what they did and you’re like, oh my goodness.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And so that that helped me a great deal.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s a huge lesson.

Kim Harrington: Oh, my. Listen, Joshua, that helped me a great deal because once I got out the Marine Corps, I was a California Highway Patrol officer.

Joshua Kornitsky: That was that’s you’re jumping to the next phase of the story. But that’s where we’re headed. Yes. So now, you know, and it’s it’s funny, you mentioned, uh, I, I’m involved with a leadership committee in Bartow County, and I know, uh, Chief Jody Matthews, the chief of the Euharlee Police Department, and as part of the the, um, committee that I was on, we got to see the police simulation that they use. Yes. Uh, one of many. And one of the scenes that that the officers go through is just this helpless woman who just needs your help because somebody took her whatever. And it’s a very interesting thing as an outsider to observe, because as soon as you turn, she kills you.

Kim Harrington: Of course.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, but to all normal, uh, eyes, this was a person in need and a person asking you for help. Right. So now I understand exactly why that would tie in, where you learn not to judge that book by its cover. So? So now you’re in California and you’re a highway patrolman?

Kim Harrington: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Where do we go from here?

Kim Harrington: Well, so you, um, when you’re in a military, first of all, it’s almost a natural transition to go in some type of law enforcement. Law enforcement? Sure. It just is.

Joshua Kornitsky: Especially because you’re disciplined.

Kim Harrington: And plus, if you have, like, I was an MP for two years and I worked in a prison for three years. So it’s almost natural. And so I applied at three different departments, uh, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, LAPD and the California Highway Patrol. And I got accepted at all three.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, wow.

Kim Harrington: Uh, but then I had a conversation with someone, and they said, hey, man, do you want to be chasing someone down in an alley when you’re such and such age? I’m like, oh, I don’t know about that. So I felt that the California Highway Patrol would be best suited for me and my skill set.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and based on the timing, chips should have been very popular.

Kim Harrington: It was very popular. I was a chocolate chip. And so but the the training also those three departments have robust, fantastic training. Most departments if you, if you really, um, did a survey, um, uh, Woodstock PD or anybody else like that, they don’t have a robust academy that they may attend. A lot of times. They may go through community college and take some courses, and then they’ll have some type of, uh, academy training, but it’s not extensive. So the California Highway Patrol training is a live in, 21 week program.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow. So you got to go to a different boot camp.

Kim Harrington: Got to go to a different boot camp, and the attrition rate 50%.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: Which is super high there. There are very a lot of challenges there that a lot of people don’t know about. But the first thing is that, uh, the attrition rate was 50%. We started with 140 cadets and we graduated 70. You? You have an opportunity. There’s tests all the time. You’re basically cramming in. I would say two years worth of an education into those six months. Five and a half months. So there’s a lot of exams. After you get the education and so you have an opportunity to take a test. If you fail it and you do not pass it on the retake, you’re gone. The minimum score to pass it is 70.

Joshua Kornitsky: If you take it high standard.

Kim Harrington: High.

Joshua Kornitsky: Standard but high. The outcome is the best of the best.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely, absolutely. And the other part of that is you can fail two exams. Retake them, pass them. You’re still good. If you fail a third one, you’re gone.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so there’s a very high standard. There’s a there’s daily PT physical.

Joshua Kornitsky: That must have did it appeal to you. Because it sounds like coming from where you were coming from, you were used to maintaining a standard.

Kim Harrington: Yes. However, there’s always wake up calls in life. Sure. And that very first exam I took, I got a 71. And I did see other people fail the exam. And I saw other people fail the exam and not pass the retake. And they were gone. And I’m thinking to myself, I can’t be gone. This is everything I have right now. I’ve put everything in here so I cannot fail at this. And so it was a wake up call, which was a great wake up call.

Joshua Kornitsky: Better early than late.

Kim Harrington: Better early than late.

Joshua Kornitsky: So obviously, you must have made it through the Academy.

Kim Harrington: I did.

Joshua Kornitsky: And how long did you stay with the California Highway Patrol?

Kim Harrington: 16 years.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, wow.

Kim Harrington: So. And I retired from an injury, so I was. I would have still stayed there. And so. So 16 years of the academies in West Sacramento, in California. Then you have your first duty station, and you have a choice. There’s a list and you put in for it. And then based on everything that’s involved there. You’ll then basically go where they send you, right? And so my first duty station was Santa Cruz, California. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Santa Cruz.

Joshua Kornitsky: I’m not.

Kim Harrington: That’s why I’m so Santa Cruz is a beautiful area of California. It is 90 miles south of San Francisco on the coast.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, okay.

Kim Harrington: It is about 35 miles north of Monterey, California. And it’s probably 35 miles over the hill from San Jose, California. So this is a very this is an affluent area. It’s a beautiful area. But I was young, so 23 years old as a California Highway Patrol officer, which was was a benefit. But it was also kind of a drawback because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Still, you’re young, you don’t know that you’re 23 and you’re doing a job. You’re enforcing the laws of the state of California. You are you’re part of an allied community, which means that we are supporting the sheriff’s department, the police departments, other governmental agencies. They’re supporting us. This is a Santa Cruz County is the second smallest county in California.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you must have been bored.

Kim Harrington: Uh, no, I wasn’t bored. But the the this not the activity of a city like San Francisco or Los Angeles or San Diego, but there’s always activity. Everywhere you go. People say, well, there can’t be a possibly be a bad. There’s a bad area everywhere that you go, even here in Woodstock.

Joshua Kornitsky: There are bad people that make the area. Absolutely.

Kim Harrington: And there’s alcohol everywhere.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’ll.

Kim Harrington: Do it. You think about, you think about people being under the influence and making decisions that they would not normally make if they were sober, right?

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, Lord knows no one ever makes a bad decision. Certainly not when alcohol is in the picture.

Kim Harrington: That’s right.

Joshua Kornitsky: Um, so 16 years. And were you injured in the line of duty, or is that something you will talk about?

Kim Harrington: Okay, I’m an open book. So, Um, I had been injured several times on the job, but the last incident that did me in was a collision.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And most people in the highway patrol, you’re exposed to extreme speeds with cars. Just. I mean, if you really think about it from a fundamental point of view, let’s say that someone is going 80 miles an hour and they just zoom by me. How fast do I have to go to catch up to them to initiate an enforcement stop?

Joshua Kornitsky: Right. There’s an acceleration curve where you’ve got to be going about 110 to get there.

Kim Harrington: That’s exactly right. The the roads that we travel on are not racetracks, which means they’re not designed like a racetrack. I mean, if there’s not going to be a pebble on a racetrack, they’re going to make sure everything’s removed from the racetrack because it’s so safe. There are roads in our country that the I call it the Superelevation is going the wrong way. If I’m trying to make a turn to the left and it’s leaning that way, That’s not good, right? But there are roads designed like that for whatever reason, or that’s the end result.

Joshua Kornitsky: Drainage or whatever.

Kim Harrington: Exactly. Right. And so it’s you have to be super familiar with your environment if you are in that role. And so there’s a California, they call it the land of the pursuits. Uh, and 16 years, I would say on average, I would be in ten pursuits a year, a year.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s crazy.

Kim Harrington: It’s absolutely crazy. There’s some people that will go their whole career without being in one pursuit in different departments.

Joshua Kornitsky: And you had 150 of them, at least.

Kim Harrington: And there are times where you are the passenger in the car during a pursuit, or you’re the driver, and once again, you are relying on the other person to do everything possible to achieve the goals. I’m relying on the person driving the car that they’ve gone through, the same training that I’ve gone through, and they’re going to be diligent, following all the rules that we follow to make sure we stay safe, I stay safe. Right.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s crazy. So obviously there was an accident of some sort.

Kim Harrington: There was an accident, and it was. It is just weird how people, um, the news, how they present information. So this was a we were back in another officer up. He was on a traffic stop. The vehicle came back as stolen. There were two people in the vehicle. They were making furtive movements. They were moving around. He called for some backup. So we’re flying there to back him up. The other officer said, hey, make sure you turn nighttime, so make sure you turn your lights off so you don’t silhouette me to the people in front.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And so we turn the lights off. But once you turn your lights off, your depth perception is off. We ended up. Long story short, my partner ended up running into the back of the other patrol car. Uh, and it was a devastating collision. My knees broke up the dashboard. Everything was just. There was a helicopter overhead. It was smoke up in the air. Wow. And the only memory I had up to that point was the other officer running by, and I saw highway patrol in the back of the other car and then collision. And then you’re like, come back to your senses. Uh, so the press said that a drunk driver had run into the back of a highway patrol car on the freeway, and I was like, that’s interesting. I was there, and I don’t remember that, but. Right. But so that that was the the last one it did me and I was I think I was 40 years old at the time. And my wife said, hey, how much longer are you going to do this? Because it’s not just about me like this getting in a car. It’s me putting on 20 pounds of equipment, me wearing a duty belt that has handcuffs in the back, and now I’m not sitting in a seat the same way I would if I didn’t have anything on. Right. So there’s a lot of factors involved with your safety and how are you going? I mean, am I going to run after somebody at this point where, you know, I had knee surgery and then my back was messed up? How safe can I be?

Joshua Kornitsky: Right. And never mind protecting and serving the people of the community. It’s just your ability at that point to function as a normal human being.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: So what did you decide to do? You’re now you’ve you’ve been a marine. You’ve been a highway patrolman. You decided it was time to put your feet up. No.

Kim Harrington: Um, so the cool thing about California, and specifically the state is if you get injured on the job, they have something called 4800 time. And so 4800 time basically is you have a year to obtain vocational training for the next, whatever the next is.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s amazing.

Kim Harrington: It is amazing. Not only that, during that year you’re getting full pay tax free.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s got to be life changing.

Kim Harrington: Life changing. And so the first thing I did was I took a couple months off. And then I had a friend that worked at a gym, and he was he was just working at the gym. He was doing his thing. Very nice guy. He was even a bodybuilder at one point in time. Then all of a sudden, one day things switched for him and he went from working at the gym to driving an $80,000 car and wearing $800 suits.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And I said, dude, what happened? He said, I got my real estate license. And so he was a real estate agent, and he started to become successful. And he had been doing it back then. I just didn’t know it. And I’m the first thought was, if that guy can do it, I can do it. Right. So I got my real estate license. I used that time to get into real estate. And there are certain, um, organizations, certain industries, that there are companies that are really good at onboarding, really good at training. And so back then it was Coldwell Banker this Keller Williams. Now there’s companies that really invest in their people with training, which everybody should do. By the way.

Joshua Kornitsky: I agree.

Kim Harrington: As.

Joshua Kornitsky: A The leadership team trainer. I agree.

Kim Harrington: Yes. Uh, so I did that for a year in California, and then, um, our family dynamics, we needed to move out of California because one of my my kids needed a change of environment.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: Uh, so we we got on a computer. There was nothing keeping us in California. So we looked at, uh, areas with great schools and parent friendly. So there were two locations, believe it or not, after all that intense searching, two places came up. One was a location just north of Orlando.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: The other one was right here in Georgia in East Cobb. And so we said, well, Florida’s probably a little bit like California, so we’re going to pick Georgia. I didn’t know one person here. And I went from 100% commission job to 100% commission job.

Joshua Kornitsky: And roughly what year was this?

Kim Harrington: This was two months before September 11th.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, okay.

Kim Harrington: And so if you and I didn’t think much of it. Then we had sold our house. We had some proceeds. Not a lot. We had two vehicles, kids, a couple of dogs, and we caravan across the country to go to Georgia. And obviously, my wife and I already found a place here. But that’s a risk.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yes.

Kim Harrington: I didn’t I didn’t view it that way then. But years later, when I my best friend in the world, he talked to me about it, he said, man, I really admired you for that. And I’m like, what are you talking about? And then he really explained it to me that.

Joshua Kornitsky: It was just your next step in your.

Kim Harrington: It was just my next step.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’re here now? You’re real estate agent? Yes. And I assume you have some measure of success.

Kim Harrington: Yes. However.

Joshua Kornitsky: Man, there always seems to be a however.

Kim Harrington: There’s always a however. So this is you think about 2001. Uh, and so this was the time of the.com era.

Joshua Kornitsky: I remember it well.

Kim Harrington: There you go. And then so now we have this thing called the.com bubble. And that bubble was bursting the entire time I was there during real estate and the it finally burst. If you were a real estate agent, life was not good for you. If you were a lender. Life was fantastic for some reason and it seems to be that way sometimes. But um, so the bubble finally burst. Uh, don’t spend your money before you have it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yep.

Kim Harrington: Uh, however, my my wife made plans. We started putting things on credit cards, and I had two deals. Not close, so I was. I was in a bind because of that, um, extra debt that I wasn’t counting on. Uh, and at the same time, I was being recruited to work at a financial services firm, a company called home Bank here in the southeast, which was a phenomenal company. Uh, it is probably one of the top three companies I’ve ever worked for in my entire life.

Joshua Kornitsky: That’s great.

Kim Harrington: Fantastic culture, great people. We were on fortune magazine’s best 100 companies to work for all four years. I was there in 2007 when we closed our doors. We were ranked 14th on fortune magazine’s best 100 Companies to Work For.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: The only reason why we weren’t higher was because we didn’t have on site daycare and the CEO of the company, which is an amazing man, Pat flood, he said. If we can definitely have on site childcare here, but we can’t have it in Tennessee, we can’t have it in Florida, and we can’t have it in North Carolina. So if they can’t have it, then we’re just not going to have it as a company.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right. Okay. So again, you’ve now reinvented yourself for the fourth time. Yes. Uh, and that doesn’t count the little ones in between. That’s right. Right. So now, uh, you said they closed doors. What did you do next?

Kim Harrington: Well, it was a wake up call, too. And the reason why it was a wake up call was, uh, I was I was drinking the Kool-Aid. I literally thought I was going to retire there. I did, absolutely. I was.

Joshua Kornitsky: Until the rug got pulled out and it was great.

Kim Harrington: I was 46 years old at that time and I said, well, this is it. I mean, everything’s fantastic. I can be myself, I can flourish, I can advance, I can do great things here and help people at the same time. Because if you’re a lender, it’s all about helping people. It’s all about helping people. And the other thing about that is that you’re not offering anything tangible. They can’t touch it. They can’t feel it. It’s not like you’re selling a house, right? And so there’s a trust factor, and they really have to believe in you that you’re going to deliver on everything that you’re promising. And so the wake up call was this, um, I had just taken over a territory in Tampa, Florida, relocated my family down there, and I had been down there maybe six months, and everything was going fantastic, I thought. And then on August 7th of 2007, they said, hey, we’re closing our doors on August 10th.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: So, three days notice. No one asked me, and I’m being dramatic. But no one asked me what I thought about it, right? And obviously it’s business, right? I get it, I understand. But I felt like I got slighted. I felt like they were, um. I felt like I was that kid again in New York City, that I was being marginalized.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, and obviously they were seeing the writing on the wall because come 2008, the bottom dropped out.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: So what are you doing at that point?

Kim Harrington: Yes. And this is where.

Joshua Kornitsky: So you’re still in Tampa?

Kim Harrington: Still in Tampa. And this is where life really changed for me. And I would say in a positive way, too. And I’ve had a lot of things happen along the years that that have been great. I’ve had some obviously challenges like everybody else.

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.

Kim Harrington: But this one thing said, hey, well, I got a family, I got to do what I got to do, and I wasn’t going to get a job with another mortgage company because everybody was suffering.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right?

Kim Harrington: And so I ended up doing basically freelance contract work for training and development companies.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay.

Kim Harrington: And so this is where H10 enterprises was founded in 2008. But I would work for training and development companies. And I would um, I would call on large companies, midsize companies, small companies, get them excited about having me come in and do an assessment on their sales or service teams to see if we can increase costs. Uh, I mean, excuse me, increase profit or decrease costs.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And get people on the same sheet of music to make sure that everybody’s productive and successful in the company. And the sweet spot were call centers. I would say 90% of these were call centers. And so if I was able to to get on site, I had secured the business 75% of the time.

Joshua Kornitsky: Wow.

Kim Harrington: 75% of the time.

Joshua Kornitsky: It’s a hell of a closing.

Kim Harrington: It is a hell of a closing rate. But the fact of the matter is, and I’m not trying to be crass or anything, but most people do not know how to sell as a professional.

Joshua Kornitsky: I would absolutely agree with that statement. Yes, it’s true. And people have uh, and I see this quite often. People are embarrassed to ask for money for their goods or services. Yes. And I grew up in the car business. I don’t have that affliction. There you go. Uh, but I completely agree with you. Now, I have to ask at this point, because now you’re interacting with various organizations and different teams. Does your military experience come into play here? Is there?

Kim Harrington: Absolutely.

Joshua Kornitsky: Is there anything in your background that helps you make an impact in this space?

Kim Harrington: Yes. So in the Marine Corps, first of all, the Marine Corps is a breeding ground for leaders.

Joshua Kornitsky: I believe that.

Kim Harrington: There are 14 leadership traits inherent to every single United States Marine, whether you are a buck private or a four star general. 1414 everyone knows him. And so there’s a judgment justice, decisiveness, integrity, dependability, tact, initiative, enthusiasm, bearing the way you carry yourself, unselfishness, courage, knowledge, loyalty and endurance.

Joshua Kornitsky: There’s got to be an acronym in there.

Kim Harrington: Jj did tie buckle.

Joshua Kornitsky: Is that how you remember it?

Kim Harrington: That’s how you remember it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Okay. And so I mean, those are all incredibly admirable traits.

Kim Harrington: And they’re portable. Obviously they’re useful in the military, but they’re also useful not only in your professional civilian life, but in your personal life. 100% in your personal life. And so the reason why the the leadership traits are there in the Marine Corps is because it’s next man up. If you really think about, um, combat situations, part of combat is that someone is probably not going to go home with you. Right. And if it’s a let’s say it’s a lieutenant, uh, the next person up, if the lieutenant’s gone, is probably going to be a sergeant.

Joshua Kornitsky: And they have to know what the standard is to step into.

Kim Harrington: Absolutely. There’s no on the job training to be a leader in a marine.

Joshua Kornitsky: A combat.

Kim Harrington: A combat situation is next man up. You’re going to get on the radio. You’re going to do whatever it is because you’re next man up. And so the the portable skills of the 14 leadership traits are, uh, just it’s who I am as a human being, first of all. And so the way I communicate on the phone, the way I secure business, the way I travel, the way I pack my bag, the way I show up at a job site, I’m going to be super squared away. I’m going to be very, very, uh, mindful of the way I communicate with the receptionist, the person keeping the place clean. Uh, all these people are super important to me in an authentic way, not in a hey, I better say hi to this person. No, I mean it honestly that this person is an integral part of that company. If I walked in that company and there was trash everywhere, what would be my impression of the company? Trash. Trash. If I walk in there and I can’t understand what the receptionist is saying.

Joshua Kornitsky: At the very least, frustration.

Kim Harrington: It’s going to frustration. And so there’s there’s a there’s a reason for, um, everyone’s role. And if everyone in a company appreciates everyone’s participation as being part of the company, they flourish. It’s when it’s when people have a superiority complex that there are challenges. And it could be leadership. It could be the, um, the top salespeople. It could literally be anybody. It could be the person if they have a cafeteria serving the food and they think it’s their kitchen and their food and you’re going to do it and but they’re impacting other people. Uh, so I would want everybody to be mindful of that. But so when I show up to a job site, I’m there to learn. So of course you conduct effective discovery leading up to it. But even when you’re there, I want to be a fly on the wall. I’m going to ask questions. I’m going to meet with leadership and say, I’m here. Where do you want me to go?

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: I’m going to introduce myself to the person. I’m saying I’m invisible. I’m not going to ask you any questions. I’m just going to sit here if that’s okay. And that’s really the the gist of it is that I’m obtaining information. I’m getting data so I can put it in a proposal and I might say, hey, listen, you guys are doing everything great. And and that’s it. More likely than not, I’m going to say, hey, there’s areas where there’s an opportunity for improvement.

Joshua Kornitsky: And that’s it. And I think that’s an important distinction. Right. It’s not that they’re doing something wrong, it’s that there’s always an area where there’s opportunity for improvement. Always. Yes. No matter how well run an organization is, there’s always a spot. In fact, you know, we we tell our clients that that our goal is Lose 100% achievement in in all of the strengths and all the categories. But we accept that 80% is reality because 100%, even if you achieve it, is not sustainable over the long haul for anybody or anything. And I think that’s a really important distinction. So in the work you’re doing now, obviously you’re still helping companies 100%. What. Well where does I’ll get the acronym wrong? I’m just going to.

Kim Harrington: Jj did tie buckle.

Joshua Kornitsky: Where where where does this fit today.

Kim Harrington: Well I would say that there are two that that jump out at me. And the one that really jumps out at me is dependability. Because, you know, you think about being credible. You have to be being credible means that I understand you. I understand you as a CEO. I understand you as an EVP of sales. I understand you, uh, your operational, uh, view of everyone in the company. And I understand your competition. I understand these things may have factors outside factors on your business, whether it’s current events or something else. Sure. So I understand. So I have to be credible with the information that I have that I’m going to share with them. Sales is sales by the way. And whether I’m selling a pen or I’m selling a mortgage, sales is sales. However, um, there are different, um, strategies, there are different processes in place, and the goal is to make them as effective as possible. Uh, part of being dependable is being on time. Uh, you know, we have this right here. I want to be at least ten minutes early. Right? I don’t want to show up at the time because that’s not on time.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right? Early is on time.

Kim Harrington: Early is on time.

Joshua Kornitsky: Vince Lombardi.

Kim Harrington: Vince Lombardi and just, uh, you know, having manners, uh, understanding that, um, my goal right now, my company, my goal is to help everyone reach their full potential.

Joshua Kornitsky: What are the types of organizations that you primarily work with?

Kim Harrington: So it doesn’t matter. I’ve worked with Hewlett Packard. I’ve worked with companies like Carlton Bates, which is out of little Rock, Arkansas, which they sell little widgets that I don’t know how they make money off of. I’ve worked with a company called Corbis. Corbis is a comparable to Getty Images. Okay, so they sell obviously sell images and things like that. So it really doesn’t matter the type of company, it matters the function of what I’m going to be there for. So I do I do keynote speeches, I do motivational speeches, but I also do the back end stuff where there’s a I have a two day workshop on communication skills, you know, so it’s really about, um, being becoming an effective communicator, right? Learning how to have a process of even structuring what you’re going to say If, for example, even me coming in here today, I have a general idea of what we’re going to talk about. So of course I’m going to prepare before I come in here. I’m not just going to come in here, and then you start it and wing it, and you start talking to me, asking me questions about NASA. And I’m like, I got nothing on that, right? So there’s always preparation if I sales is a beautiful, um, industry to be in a beautiful role to have, you can take care of your family if you’re doing it the right way. And what I mean by the right way is, uh, being in other centered person rather than a self-centered person. It’s not about what I’m going to get out of it. It’s is I’m going to ask you discovery questions. I’m going to identify an area where you have a need, and then I’m going to offer something if I have it that aligns with that need to help you. If if I don’t have something, my goal isn’t to say, well, we can’t work together. My goal is to say, well, listen, let me make a couple of phone calls. I have some somebody else that may be able to help you. Would you like an introduction?

Joshua Kornitsky: And and ultimately, you’re still leading with helping first. Right. And and do you, um, work with individuals one on one or are you primarily team based with the organizations?

Kim Harrington: Well, so I do work with people one on one. And typically it’s for a limited time only. I usually work with companies and it doesn’t matter if they’re small, mid-size or large. But I like the companies because I can put a roadmap out for. And I don’t want to, you know, you do it individually. You’re going to charge people a lot more money than.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well, but you’ve got such a unique background and unique experiences that I imagine the type of guidance that you probably provide one on one. And it’s funny because I had this conversation earlier today. Um, confidence is a funny thing. Yes. And the. The best speaker in front of a crowd of a thousand is likely sweating through their clothes underneath their jacket. Right. Right. Whereas some other people can step onto that stage and talk to 10,000 people and and not shed a drop of sweat.

Kim Harrington: That’s right.

Joshua Kornitsky: But they neither one of them can share that outside of the group of advisers that they have. And I see that as a place where you probably, without asking names, can provide that type of confidential guidance because nobody wants to be known as the CEO or the VP without confidence.

Kim Harrington: That’s right.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it’s unfortunately going back to the book and its cover. That’s an example where we judge entirely harshly. If we think that a great leader lacks a core skill, we will immediately the company’s value will drop, people will lose confidence in it, and it’s nothing more than somebody stumbling through a bad speech.

Kim Harrington: Right. No, no. Yeah. So I have worked with people one on one. It’s I guess let me put it to you this way. My bulk of my business comes from organizations, and I do a one off, one on ones. But what I found, found doing that is that my target audience isn’t as robust as it is because you’re you’re still marketing. You’re doing all the things to generate business. So it’s I guess it’s a little bit easier to get business from larger organizations than it is one on one.

Joshua Kornitsky: 100%. But but what I have found is often in that group there’s someone that your story resonates with. And we we took a long trip. Thank you for sharing so much of your life to get here. But ultimately, this is what I wanted to talk about with you, was to better understand who you help and how you help. But I think the journey we took to get here. Tells everybody why you help. Yeah. And and why talking to you and getting guidance and, um, assistance from H10 enterprises is a worthwhile investment of time and resources because you have an incredible story backing you up. That’s all you. Yeah. Um, what is your favorite type of organization or organizational role to work within? Is it sales? Is it? You seem to have an affinity for it.

Kim Harrington: I do. So, um, so first of all, my my favorite audience are leaders. Okay. Um, and it doesn’t matter what industry. It doesn’t. They don’t even have to be in sales. Sure. But what I found with leaders is, and I’m sure you’ll agree, is that typically when they have a one on one or a power meeting with someone, it’s not structured. It’s especially if it’s sales. They say, hey, you know, your numbers are low. I’ve noticed this for the last couple of meetings we had. You’re going to need to bring your numbers up. So let’s work on that. And we’re going to meet again in next week or two weeks. And then that person will leave the room scratching their head saying, hey man, you’re my manager, help me. So, um, what I love doing with with leaders to say, hey, listen, let’s just peel the onion back. We need to get to know our people. We need to know whether there are independent thinkers. We need to know if their detractors. We need to know if they’re they’re strivers or achievers. And I’m going to allocate my time accordingly. The challenge with most leaders is they spend the bulk of their time with detractors. They spend the bulk of their time with people that are a rub.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right.

Kim Harrington: And, you know, you know, we try to fix people. And if we have that fixing mode in our head like, hey, you know, I’m going to fix this guy, I’m going to make sure, well, I’m.

Joshua Kornitsky: 80% of your time is fixing the the moderate performer. That’s right. While the top performers are floundering because they get no support.

Kim Harrington: Not only that, they’re not feeling the love. And so there’s an opportunity for them to leave and go somewhere else. And so if you if you think about someone that has a high will level, but their skill is low. To me that’s where you spend the bulk of your time. Because I can teach you what you don’t know. I can’t teach you to care.

Joshua Kornitsky: No, and that’s actually a point that I find myself making more and more. Um, we cannot, in a business context, make someone give a crap. Either they’re wired for it or they’re not. To your point, capacity can be taught to some degree, but if you don’t get it and you don’t want it, there’s not really a magic pill that’s going to fix that.

Kim Harrington: No.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it’s time for everybody’s benefit for for you to find another place to be.

Kim Harrington: That’s that fork in the road conversation. Yeah. You know, and so I love working with leaders to get them to understand that their, their entire existence is to remove barriers to the success of their people, to lift them. Basically, look at yourself as an inverted organizational chart. You’re on the bottom, and you’re holding the weight of the organization on your shoulders. And your job is to help everybody get to where they need to get. And if they can do that, they’re going to really think about it as opposed to, well, I need to increase revenue, I need to decrease costs, I need to do this and doggone it, you better do it or that’s the challenge, right? And you think about EOS and putting those operating systems in place, helping organization function and a like a Swiss watch. Yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: Well it goes back to, to a joke that’s so old. The first time I saw it was on a fax machine that the beatings will continue until morale improves. There you go. Right. If all you have to do is yell at him to get him to be productive, you might be thinking about it the wrong way. That’s right. If that’s your only solution, um. And it seems to me, Kim, that you have found a way to harness all of the raw material that went into forging you.

Kim Harrington: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: And, and and have really beat that into a pretty sharp sword.

Kim Harrington: Oh, yeah.

Joshua Kornitsky: And it sounds like you love what you do.

Kim Harrington: I love what I do, and it’s really it really boils down to a process. It part of the process is. And it’s not brain surgery. Right. This is everything that we do is always going to be about people. Ai is fantastic. I use AI, it’s fantastic.

Joshua Kornitsky: Collaborative tool.

Kim Harrington: There you go. Uh, however, it’s always going to be about the people. And so I need to know how to communicate with people. Part of me knowing how to communicate with people is identifying their personality type. Are you super task oriented or your relational? I’m going to adapt and adjust my communication style to best suit you. If I’m trying to help you, I’m not going to treat everybody the same and be neutral. That’s just not how the world works. And it doesn’t mean that I’m going to become the other person, but.

Joshua Kornitsky: No, but you learn from them.

Kim Harrington: Of.

Joshua Kornitsky: Course, right?

Kim Harrington: If you. If I’m talking to someone that’s super task oriented, I’m not going to talk about little Jimmy at the soccer tournament, right? I’m not going to talk about the weather. It’s I’m really going to talk about the data, the details, because they care about results over relationships. Yeah. If I’m talking to Jim Carrey and all I’m talking about is data.

Joshua Kornitsky: He doesn’t care.

Kim Harrington: No. He’s like, man, don’t I get a kiss first? Yeah. And so I want to make sure I know who I’m talking to. And as long as I know that, then I can adapt my communication style to to benefit them. I can ask amazing discovery questions. Open ended, clarifying, checking questions to make sure I’m getting all the information I need in order to present my information. The very best light, because a company can have a special and they can do all this other stuff and say, if you sign up with us now, we’re going to. Well, I don’t need that. Why are you trying to sell me something I don’t need? And and think about it this way from a customer’s point of view. If I just say the word salesperson to people, just that word alone, right? Typically they’re going to lean towards a negative.

Joshua Kornitsky: Yep.

Kim Harrington: And they’re leaning towards a negative because of personal experiences. They’re leaning to. Have you ever seen a salesperson in a television show or a movie depicted in a positive light?

Joshua Kornitsky: Not without some considerable thought. Can I give you anything other than a no.

Kim Harrington: That’s right. And so then you have the the news media, you know, live at five. We have this pill, doctor, live at five. We’ve got this mechanic shop and they’re always talking about what someone’s doing wrong as opposed to what they’re doing right. And the gift of sales is that your your your your job, your role is to identify a need and fill the need with what you have. If you don’t have it, then you find somebody that that can fill it and that’s it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Right. So I want to ask one more question that occurred to me from what you just shared. Yes. And I don’t I want to ask it in an open way so that I’m not leading you to an answer.

Kim Harrington: Okay.

Joshua Kornitsky: Is it okay for a leader not to know what to do?

Kim Harrington: Yes.

Joshua Kornitsky: Why?

Kim Harrington: Because you have other resources. I’m not going to as a leader. I’m not going to know everything. But let me put it to you this way. Just everyone, whoever’s listening to this, think about when you started a new role at a company and you went to your first meeting and they were using acronyms, uh, they were saying.

Joshua Kornitsky: The bane of modern existence.

Kim Harrington: That’s right. And they were using acronyms. They were talking about all this other stuff and everything literally sounded French to you other than, hey, Kim, how you doing? Right. And so that is the beginning. However, over time, you’re going to get all that knowledge. And people are hired into leadership roles in companies that they have no clue about how the company runs or operates, but they’re hired because they’re a great sales leader. They’re hired because they’re a decent human being that can make a difference in an organization. The rest of the stuff, the X’s and O’s, they can learn. And so the other part of that is you have to rely on other people. If if I’m on an operations side, I’m going to make sure I have the tools for the other people to be successful. I don’t need to know how to sell anything. I just need to know how you sell it.

Joshua Kornitsky: Provide the keys to the success. Easier than trying to be all things to all people.

Kim Harrington: That’s right. I mean, think about how many leaders or people that own companies that, um, that they don’t have any social skills, but their company is super successful?

Joshua Kornitsky: Sure.

Kim Harrington: Well, because they have people in place that can do those things that they have a deficiency at.

Joshua Kornitsky: I think it was Bill gates who said that he always hires lazy people because they find the fastest way to get things done. And and mind you, his version of lazy people and other version of lazy people. Probably a pretty big gap. Big gap. Uh, but the concepts the same is you hire the right person, they’ll find the right way to get it done. That’s right. Kim, what’s the best way for people to get Ahold of you?

Kim Harrington: So, uh, best way to get in touch with me. Go to my website, Kim Harrington.

Joshua Kornitsky: Com, and we will share those links, please.

Kim Harrington: Kim Harrington. Com or you can, um, email me at info at H10 enterprises. Com.

Joshua Kornitsky: Fantastic.

Kim Harrington: My telephone number. My telephone number is (813) 830-3545. I know a lot of spam calls from that come from that area code, but it is my number, so I will make sure someone answers that phone.

Joshua Kornitsky: Fantastic. I can’t thank you enough. The time flew by and it was a great conversation and you’re fantastic teller of your story, but just stories in general. Uh, and I think that’s what resonates most with people.

Kim Harrington: Yeah, well thank you.

Joshua Kornitsky: Thank you so much for your time.

Kim Harrington: I appreciate you, Joshua.

Joshua Kornitsky: Oh, it’s my pleasure. So my guest today again has been Kim Harrington. He’s a leadership professional and he’s the CEO and founder of H10 enterprises. And I think as everybody heard, his perspective on leadership really is about accountability and that real consequences come from the decisions that are made. Um, we will share all of his links. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your insight. Um, my name is Joshua Kornitsky. I am a professional EOS implementer, and this has been a really amazing, uh, version and and episode of High Velocity Radio. Thank you so much, Kim. We’ll see you guys next time.

Christy Krzyzaniak on Bookkeeping for Small Businesses

February 25, 2026 by John Ray

Christy Krzyzaniak, ClearLedgers LLC, on Bookkeeping, Financial Clarity, and What Small Business Owners Get Wrong About Their Books (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 941), with host John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

Christy Krzyzaniak on Bookkeeping for Small Businesses

00:00 /

Christy Krzyzaniak, ClearLedgers LLC, on Bookkeeping, Financial Clarity, and What Small Business Owners Get Wrong About Their Books (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 941)

On this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray welcomes Christy Krzyzaniak, founder and owner of ClearLedgers LLC and a Certified Bookkeeper based in Alpharetta. Christy built her firm to offer small business owners the attentive, relationship-focused bookkeeping support she saw missing in high-volume accounting firms.

Christy and John dig into why so many business owners put off hiring a professional bookkeeper for as long as possible. Software companies market their tools as user-friendly, attracting business owners to purchase, and before long they realize they are overwhelmed. The result is clients who only reach out to a bookkeeper when desperate, plus the shame owners feel about their books. Christy’s two responses to the shame are: your mess isn’t the first one she’s seen, and the messier the books, the better she likes it.

The conversation also covers what makes a bookkeeper actually qualified. Christy describes the bookkeeping landscape as “the wild west” and walks through the difference between software-specific certifications and the Certified Bookkeeper designation she holds, which is issued by the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers and requires passing six exams, proctored testing, and a minimum of two years of documented experience. She also shares a story that captures the hidden cost of the do-it-yourself approach: a business owner who called her saying he needed marriage counseling because his wife was managing his books on top of her full-time job.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Business owners most often reach out to ClearLedgers when they are overwhelmed and out of options, not when they are being proactive. Christy sees this as a pattern driven by the mistaken belief that doing the books yourself is free.
The real cost of DIY bookkeeping shows up in stress, missed deadlines, and strained relationships. Christy shared the example of a client whose wife was about to leave him over the burden of managing his business finances on top of her own full-time job.
ClearLedgers differentiates itself through communication. Christy sees two or more clients per month who switch firms because their previous bookkeeper stopped responding. Her commitment: a same-day reply, even if just to acknowledge receipt and set a follow-up time.
When vetting a bookkeeper, look beyond software badges. The Certified Bookkeeper designation from the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers requires real accounting knowledge, proctored exams, and verified experience, not a two-hour online course.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:20 John Ray introduces the show and guest Christy Krzyzaniak
02:11 Christy introduces ClearLedgers LLC and the range of services offered
03:47 Christy’s background and why 30-plus years across operations, HR, and payroll sets her apart
06:32 The difference between basic bookkeeping and controller-level services
07:01 Why so many business owners hesitate to hire a professional bookkeeper
10:39 Why owners think DIY bookkeeping is free, and what it actually costs them
14:49 The value of time: helping business owners calculate what their hours are really worth
16:35 The messy closet problem: owners are ashamed of their books, but they don’t need to be
17:58 What makes ClearLedgers stand out, especially around client communication
20:18 Viewing the client relationship as a true partnership
21:07 The “wild west” of bookkeeping: how to spot a qualified bookkeeper versus an imposter
23:08 What the Certified Bookkeeper designation actually requires and why it matters
26:22 Signs that it’s time to call a bookkeeper
28:13 What the onboarding process looks like from first call to clean books
29:36 The most common thing clients say after ClearLedgers takes over their books

Christy Krzyzaniak, Founder & Owner/Certified Bookkeeper

Christy Krzyzaniak founded ClearLedgers LLC and a Certified Bookkeeper and QuickBooks ProAdvisor known for her personalized and relationship-focused approach to supporting small businesses. With more than 30 years of experience across accounting, operations, payroll, and human resources, she brings both technical expertise and practical insight to every client she serves.

Christy began her professional journey in retail and later in CPA firms, long before earning her associate degree in accounting. Those early hands-on roles shaped her real-world understanding of business operations and sparked her passion for helping business owners gain clarity and confidence in their financial records. Over the years, she expanded her skills through formal education, platform certifications, and experience across multiple industries, including manufacturing, construction, healthcare, e-commerce, nonprofits, and professional services.

Motivated by a desire to deliver bookkeeping that is both precise and personal, Christy founded ClearLedgers to offer business owners the thoughtful, attentive support she saw missing in high-volume firms. Her approach prioritizes clarity, transparency, and genuine care. She believes excellent bookkeeping should keep a business financially healthy and give owners something equally valuable: the time and mental bandwidth to focus on what matters most.

Today, Christy leads ClearLedgers with an ongoing dedication to accuracy, responsiveness, and client success. She works directly with every client, providing services that include historical financial cleanups, monthly bookkeeping, payroll management, sales tax compliance, and controller-level oversight.

ClearLedgers LLC

ClearLedgers LLC is a boutique bookkeeping and financial support firm serving small businesses across Metro Atlanta and the Southeast. Known for its commitment to clarity, accuracy, and responsive partnership, the company provides certified bookkeeping services designed to help business owners gain financial confidence and stay focused on running their businesses.

Christy Krzyzaniak founded ClearLedgers to meet the needs of small business owners who were overwhelmed by disorganized books and the impersonal nature of high-volume bookkeeping firms. Built on more than 30 years of combined experience in accounting, operations, payroll, and human resources, the firm was created to provide a more attentive, relationship-driven alternative.

ClearLedgers offers a full suite of services, including monthly and quarterly bookkeeping, historical cleanups, payroll administration, sales tax filings, W-9 and 1099 processing, financial statement preparation, accounts payable and receivable support, and migrations to QuickBooks Online. The firm also provides controller-level oversight, giving business owners structured financial management and guidance without the complexity of CFO-style services.

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Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

The studio is located at 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.

You can find the entire archive of shows by following this link. The show is accessible on all major podcast apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.

AP Publishing Perspective with Amanda Pearch

February 24, 2026 by Amanda Pearch

Why I’m Writing in a World That Doesn’t Slow Down

I’ve spent the better part of a decade behind a microphone.

Conversations. Panels. Executive interviews. Civic leadership rooms. Nonprofit storytelling. Strategic positioning. Real dialogue.

Audio has been my home. I truly LOVE voice.

So, writing this feels … slightly rebellious.

Not because I don’t value writing — but because I’ve always believed voice carries something text cannot. Tone. Timing. Inflection. Presence.

And yet, here we are.

Because something has been bothering me. So typical AP- time for a social experiment…

We are living in an age of acceleration. Instant gratification.

Everything is faster. Shorter. Louder. More urgent.

But urgency is not the same thing as depth.

Somewhere between 15-second clips and 90-minute interviews, there’s a gap. A place for developed thought. Not reaction. Not performance. Not algorithm chasing.

Perspective.

That’s what this is.

Not a blog.

Not a content play.

Not a traffic funnel.

A publishing perspective.

I’ve moderated rooms of decision-makers. Sat across from founders who built from nothing. Interviewed nonprofit leaders who carry the weight of real responsibility. I’ve observed something consistent:

The leaders who endure aren’t the most visible.

They’re the most clear.

Clarity requires space.

Writing forces that space.

You can read at your own pace… hey, this rhymes.

When you write, you can’t hide behind cadence or charisma. You have to think. You have to choose words carefully. You have to decide what you actually believe and why.

That’s different than talking. Especially for me because even at age 40 – I “hunt and peck” as I type this.

And maybe that’s why it matters.

This is an experiment in slowing down in public. Tossing out an AP B L O G.

If you’re still here reading this, I’m curious:

Do you miss long-form thinking?

Or have we collectively trained ourselves to skim past anything that asks for more than a scroll?

Either way, I’m stepping into it. Let’s GOOO!

Send me a message titled BLOG DOG at amandapearch.com if you want to share coffee/ Diet Coke and Chat with AP.

Adios good folks, thanks for hanging out with me. AP

Connect with AP at amandapearch.com

The Garrett Group on Retirement, Estate Plans, Long-Term Care

February 23, 2026 by John Ray

Mary Ellen Garrett and Patsy Townsend, The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch, on Retirement Planning, Estate Strategy, and Long-Term Care (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 940) with host John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

The Garrett Group on Retirement, Estate Plans, Long-Term Care

00:00 /

Mary Ellen Garrett and Patsy Townsend, The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch, on Retirement Planning, Estate Strategy, and Long-Term Care (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 940)

On this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray welcomes Mary Ellen Garrett and Patsy Townsend of The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch. Mary Ellen, in her 41st year with Merrill Lynch, and Patsy, her daughter who joined the team after a career-defining moment working in the nonprofit sector, offer a comprehensive view of what it means to get financial planning right across every stage of life.

The conversation covers the big picture issues that too many people overlook: keeping wills and beneficiary designations current, coordinating with estate attorneys and CPAs, and understanding what the new estate exemption thresholds for 2026 mean for their families. Mary Ellen recounted the real-world consequences of outdated paperwork, including a client who still had his second wife listed as a beneficiary when his third wife was very much alive and unhappy about it. The team also addresses business owners facing potential windfalls from private equity transactions who have not done the personal financial planning to match their business success.

The discussion turns to longevity and healthcare, where Mary Ellen notes that The Garrett Group now runs all its planning reports to age 100, a change inspired by her mother, Patsy’s grandmother, who recently turned 101. The message is not to be a miser but to invest appropriately so clients can live a full life, take the trips, and make the gifts, all without running out of money.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

The Garrett Group opens every new client relationship with a Private Wealth Analysis, a comprehensive planning report that must precede any investment recommendations, because context matters more than credentials.
Outdated wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations are a common and costly problem; Mary Ellen recommends reviewing all documents at least every five years and any time a major life event occurs.
Business owners preparing for a possible sale need to start personal financial planning well before a transaction closes, not after the windfall arrives.
Patsy’s advice on when to call a financial advisor: if a dollar sign is keeping you up at night, that is the moment to make the call.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

**Mary Ellen Garrett and Patsy Townsend, The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch**

00:20 John Ray introduces the show and guests Mary Ellen Garrett and Patsy Townsend
02:24 How The Garrett Group serves clients across all areas of financial life
03:41 Mary Ellen’s 41 years at Merrill Lynch and why she is still passionate about the work
04:26 Patsy’s path from nonprofit work to joining her mother at The Garrett Group
06:17 The big financial picture that most people miss
08:19 The Private Wealth Analysis and why comprehensive planning must come first
10:32 Financial goals and estate planning priorities for 2026
11:18 Keeping wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations current
13:05 Estate planning for blended families and those without dependents
14:01 Business owners, private equity windfalls, and the need for advance planning
16:17 Retirement longevity: planning for a 30-plus year retirement
17:42 Why The Garrett Group now plans to age 100
20:54 Retirement planning for younger clients and new parents
23:31 Healthcare costs, Medicare, and long-term care insurance
28:35 How to know when it is time to call a financial advisor
29:26 Client success stories spanning three generations

Mary Ellen Garrett, Managing Director, Wealth Management Advisor

**Mary Ellen Garrett, The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch**

Mary Ellen’s financial and civic life has been a profile of influence and devotion since she joined Merrill in 1985. Highly regarded in the industry and among a loyal and growing clientele, she has built a reputation for caring deeply and sharing important life lessons with generations of clients and their families.

Mary Ellen’s skills and ability to provide outstanding wealth management have been recognized repeatedly. She has been named to:

Forbes “Best-In-State Wealth Advisors” List (2018-2025) (Published annually Jan – April. Rankings based on data as of June 30 of prior year.)
Forbes “America’s Top Women Wealth Advisors Best in State” List (2022-2025) (Published annually in February. Rankings based on data as of Sept 30 of prior year.)
Forbes “Top Women Advisors” List (2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021) (Published annually Feb – April. Rankings based on data as of June 30 – September 30 of prior year.)

Mary Ellen was also recognized by Merrill, from among more than 50,000 employees worldwide, as a recipient of the 2015 Bank of America Corporation’s David Brady Community Service Award.

An active listener, Mary Ellen has long facilitated thoughtful discussions with clients and sought to empower their confidence in making informed financial decisions, educating whenever possible and meeting with entire families to explain how each stakeholder can contribute to positive outcomes.

Known for her candor, Mary Ellen often tells clients “yes” to sensible ways of saving, investing and savoring meaningful outcomes, and “no” to excessive spending that may seem extravagant or short sighted. Encouraging families to ask questions and share any circumstance that could have financial implications, she looks to educate, so that clients are able to develop and sustain wise financial habits.

In the Atlanta community, Mary Ellen currently serves as a Trustee and Vice Chair of Emory St. Joseph Hospital Board and as Trustee of The Parkinson’s Foundation. Mary Ellen previously served as Chair of the Atlanta Catholic Archdiocese Finance and Advisory Council. She also speaks at seminars on many topics including wealth and estate planning strategies.

Mary Ellen and her husband, Scott, have been married for more than 40 years. They have three children and three grandchildren.

Patricia (Patsy) Townsend, Senior Vice President, Senior Financial Advisor

**Patsy Townsend, The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch**

Patricia (Patsy) Townsend has been an integral member of The Garrett Group since she joined Merrill in 2015. Her greatest professional reward is getting to know clients exceedingly well and using that understanding to help craft a strategy that truly reflects their distinctive needs and desires. Patsy’s ultimate objective is to simplify clients’ financial lives, so that they can focus on what brings them joy.

In early discussions and over the course of each relationship, Patsy aims to appreciate what inspires and concerns clients. From there, she can connect the dots in their lives to a strategy meant to address key aspects of their financial picture. She also identifies risk in a way that provokes conversation around topics such as cash flow in retirement, liability management, and having or adding protective components such as long-term care insurance.

Patsy believes that a sound wealth management strategy begins with each client’s vision of the future. Dedicated to being a consistent financial resource and presence, she feels it’s incumbent on her to provide clients with the confidence to make informed decisions, especially when emotions can take hold.

Generous with her time and resources, Patsy served as a founding board member of Most Valuable Kids in Atlanta. She previously served as secretary and board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia and as board member of City Springs Theatre Company.

Patsy earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and History from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She resides in Marietta with her husband, Danny Jr., and son, Danny III. The family enjoys cooking together and hiking at Kennesaw Mountain with their Golden Retriever, Hattie.

The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch

At The Garrett Group, they bring their extensive wealth management knowledge to a diverse clientele that appreciates their competency, care, and consideration. It is with gratitude and respect that they continue to build on these relationships and welcome new clients to their practice.

Results and relationships throughout the U.S. matter to them, and to those they serve in the Atlanta area. The people they serve are active and retired, including male and female executives (many with Fortune 500 companies), successful business owners (many with 401k plans that they administer), attorneys, and physicians. They also assist several non-profit endowments and foundations whose missions they have long supported.

Led by Mary Ellen Garrett, who founded the group at Merrill more than 35 years ago, they have cultivated an approach that places clients at the center of their concentrated efforts. They are proud to engage frequently in thought-provoking conversations that revolve around their clients’ families and interests, not just their finances. They feel it’s important to know what drives clients personally and financially.

Perhaps old-fashioned, they find there’s no substitute for face-to-face meetings and talking to clients on a casual basis, not when the calendar says so. Through honest dialogue with both spouses, whenever possible, where they share their own stories and lessons learned, they work to help clients see around corners to prepare financially and emotionally for what they envision.

Their engagements span investment and retirement planning, tax-minimization and estate planning strategies. In addition, they provide clients with ready access to Bank of America, N.A. for traditional banking services, and in residential lending, treasury management, equipment financing, and other forms of commercial lending. It is also their practice to be a total resource to clients and stay connected with their other trusted advisors, including CPAs and attorneys.

They feel good knowing that their clients’ success has paralleled their own. Many of them have become close friends. These natural connections inspire their best efforts.

Website

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

The studio is located at 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.

You can find the entire archive of shows by following this link. The show is accessible on all major podcast apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.

Search Results for: marketing matters

Steve Reising, Briskin, Cross & Sanford, on Business Contracts, Litigation, and Selling Your Business (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 943)

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Topics Discussed in this Episode

Steve Reising, Senior Attorney

Briskin, Cross & Sanford, LLC

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

Why Attainable Housing Feels Impossible in North Fulton, and What Can Actually Change, with Mark Murphy, City of Mountain Park and the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta (North Fulton Voices, Episode 17)

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Topics Discussed in this Episode

Mark Murphy

North Fulton Improvement Network

Jack Murphy

Nancy Diamond

Sponsor for North Fulton Voices: John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC

Vintage AP, 1986.

ALL GLORY BE TO GOD.

Jesus Christ is King.

<3 AP

Connect with AP at amandapearch.com

Connect with AP at amandapearch.com

Connect with AP at amandapearch.com

About Your Host

Christy Krzyzaniak, ClearLedgers LLC, on Bookkeeping, Financial Clarity, and What Small Business Owners Get Wrong About Their Books (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 941)

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Topics Discussed in this Episode

Christy Krzyzaniak, Founder & Owner/Certified Bookkeeper

ClearLedgers LLC

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

Why I’m Writing in a World That Doesn’t Slow Down

Connect with AP at amandapearch.com

Mary Ellen Garrett and Patsy Townsend, The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch, on Retirement Planning, Estate Strategy, and Long-Term Care (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 940)

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Topics Discussed in this Episode

Mary Ellen Garrett, Managing Director, Wealth Management Advisor

Patricia (Patsy) Townsend, Senior Vice President, Senior Financial Advisor

The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

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