Search Results for: marketing matters

Trademark and Intellectual Property Protection for Service Providers, with Trademark Attorney Katie Moore

July 17, 2024 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

Trademark and Intellectual Property Protection for Service Providers, with Trademark Attorney Katie Moore

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Trademark and Intellectual Property Protection for Service Providers, with Trademark Attorney Katie Moore, Katherine Moore Law LLC (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 109)

In this episode of The Price and Value Journey, host John Ray discusses the importance and process of protecting intellectual property with trademark attorney Katie Moore from Katherine Moore Law LLC. They cover the distinctions and value of trademarks and copyrights and emphasize the significance of protecting intellectual property for service providers. Katie explains the steps involved in obtaining a trademark, from initial consultations to federal applications, and addresses common misconceptions about protectable intellectual property. She also highlights the business and legal returns of investing in trademark protection and provides practical advice on using and maintaining trademarks effectively. Additionally, John shares insights from his own experience of trademarking “The Generosity Mindset,” offering a real-world example of the considerations and benefits involved.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

Katie Moore, Founder, Katherine Moore Law, LLC

**Katie Moore, Katherine Moore Law, LLC**

Katie Moore is the founder and principal attorney of Katherine Moore Law, LLC, a business law firm specializing in trademark and intellectual property matters. With a focus on helping business owners protect and grow their enterprises, Katie expertly guides clients through legal requirements and practices related to intellectual property.

As a trademark attorney, Katie assists clients in safeguarding their brand identities and creative assets. Her services include trademark searches, applications, and enforcement, as well as other aspects of intellectual property protection. Katie’s passion lies in empowering businesses to establish and maintain strong legal foundations for their brands and innovations.

Katie’s approach to law is characterized by her dedication to providing personalized attention and tailored solutions to each client’s unique needs.

Website | LinkedIn

Topics Discussed in this Interview

00:00 Introduction and Book Announcement
00:15 Engaging a Trademark Attorney
01:26 Meet Katie Moore: Trademark Attorney
02:53 Understanding Trademarks for Service Providers
04:36 The Generosity Mindset: A Case Study
07:43 Trademark Application Process
08:52 Legal and Business Considerations
10:08 Classes and Categories in Trademarking
11:25 Intent to Use and Timing
22:22 Intellectual Property Types
31:47 Protecting Your Trademark
33:54 Conclusion and Contact Information

About The Price and Value Journey

The title of this show describes the journey all professional service providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire, and trying to do all that at pricing that reflects the value we deliver.

If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line and the mindset you bring to your business.

The show is hosted and produced by John Ray and the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®. The show can also be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

John Ray, Author of The Generosity Mindset and Host of "The Price and Value Journey" — John Ray, Author of *The Generosity Mindset* and Host of *The Price and Value Journey*

John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.

John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include business coaching and advisory work, as well as advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, coaches, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

In his other business, John is a Show Host and Producer and owns the North Fulton (Georgia) studio of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their own podcast using The Generosity Mindset™ Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.

John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 780 shows and having featured over 1,200 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.

John’s book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices

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

If you are a professional services provider, your goal is to do transformative work for clients you love working with and get paid commensurate with the value you deliver to those clients. While negative mindsets can inhibit your growth, adopting a different mindset, The Generosity Mindset™, can replace those self-limiting beliefs. The Generosity Mindset enables you to diagnose and communicate the value you deliver to clients and, in turn, more effectively price to receive a portion of that value.

Whether you’re a consultant, coach, marketing or branding professional, business advisor, attorney, CPA, or work in virtually any other professional services discipline, your content and technical expertise are not proprietary. What’s unique, though, is your experience and how you synthesize and deliver your knowledge. What’s special is your demeanor or the way you deal with your best-fit clients. What’s invaluable is how you deliver great value by guiding people through massive changes in their personal lives and in their businesses that bring them to a place they never thought possible.

The combination of all these elements is quite different for you compared to any other service provider in your industry. Therein lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.

If pricing your value feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar to you, this book will teach you why putting a price on the value your clients perceive and identify serves both them and you, and you’ll learn the factors involved in getting your price right.

The book is available at all major physical and online book retailers worldwide. Follow this link for further details.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Business RadioX®: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Orion Brown’s Journey with BlackTravelBox: Celebrating Women of Color Business Owners

June 24, 2024 by angishields

Women in Motion

Orion Brown's Journey with BlackTravelBox: Celebrating Women of Color Business Owners

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In this episode of Women in Motion, host Lee Kantor interviews Orion Brown, founder of Black Travel Box. Orion shares her journey from a corporate career to entrepreneurship, driven by her frustration with the lack of suitable hair and skincare products for travelers of color. She discusses her initial consumer research, the development of her first product—a travel-friendly body balm—and the importance of building an authentic community. Orion also talks about her involvement with iFundWomen, a crowdfunding platform, and her future plans to expand Black Travel Box’s presence in hotels and retail spaces.

Orion Brown is the Founder & CEO of BlackTravelBox®, a trailblazing clean beauty brand with a passion for serving women of color. With nearly two decades of experience, she’s a seasoned brand strategist who’s excelled in diverse industries.

Her journey includes notable roles in brand strategy at Oracle, consumer brand marketing for iconic digital brands like Transformers and My Little Pony at Hasbro, and significant contributions to beloved global brands during her tenure at Kraft Foods.

Orion recently joined Ifundwomen as a Senior Coach, helping the team equip women founders to close the funding gap by raising non-equity dilutive investments from their personal networks, and customers, and broader business communities.

Orion’s impressive academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Chicago and an MBA from Duke University. Beyond her career, she’s an avid traveler and a devoted food enthusiast, always seeking the best of both worlds.

Connect with Orion on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women in Motion. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women in Motion, we have Orion Brown with BlackTravelBox. Welcome.

Orion Brown: Hey, thanks for having me, Lee.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to get caught up with you. For folks who aren’t familiar, can you tell us a little bit about BlackTravelBox?

Orion Brown: Yes. So BlackTravelBox is really at the apex of beauty and travel. So, we’re a hair and skincare brand, really a lifestyle brand focused on travelers of color. So, everything that we make is in forms and formats that travels well, gets through TSA and it’s actually inclusive. So, our hair and skin care products actually work for a wide variety of hair textures and skin tones.

Lee Kantor: And what’s the back story? How’d you get involved?

Orion Brown: Oh my gosh. Well, I’m a career brand strategist. I spent a lot of time in corporate America, took all of my vacation days, and I just found that every time I was traveling and every time I was on vacation, I had this singular frustration with not having access to products that really worked for my hair. I had quite a bit more hair back in my 30s, curls and everything, just so much volume. And it was a lot to really contend with bringing my own products, rewrapping things, repackaging things, running around town, trying to find a store that I could potentially find something that would work for me in. And it just took away from the beauty of being able to be on vacation and be away from sort of corporate life and be able to unwind. And so, I was on a trip to Japan, and it just really hit it home for me that there really needs to be something on the market for women of color who travel.

Lee Kantor: Now, did you launch this while you were working in corporate, or did you say, “I’m going to pull the ripcord and I’m going all in here”?

Orion Brown: Well, you know, when I started BlackTravelBox, I actually wasn’t even really thinking, “Oh, I’m going to become an entrepreneur now.” I thought- I spent quite a bit of time in food and beverage and had run pretty big brands, pretty well-known brands, and I was like, “This would just be a really cool passion project to work on and create something interesting.” So, I was working full time and continued to work full time for a while and got the feedback, particularly from early-stage investors that, you know, “We need to see that you’re all in. So, you need to be full time on it.” And so, I did take some time and do that. But you know, not all advice is good advice. So I have gone back throughout my time with working on BlackTravelBox to supplement and really to fund much of the work that we’ve done here.

Lee Kantor: So, the first move was to get investors. It wasn’t to, like, create a minimum viable product or something along those lines?

Orion Brown: No. Yeah, the first move was to do the consumer research. So, I spent about a year just looking at and understanding the consumer. And, arguably, I think a lot of time people make the mistake of believing that because they sort of resonate with the idea that they are complete and total in terms of the ideal consumer. And that’s not really true. So, I spent quite a bit of time doing consumer insights and research, surveying, doing interviews, all kinds of things, as well as going out into the marketplace to see what competitive products were out there. Because even if I hadn’t heard of it, it might already exist. And so, I went to things like Expo West and those types of places to better understand what was going on within the beauty industry as a whole, so that I could really anchor in what was the unique value proposition of this potential brand and product, as well as, like, what were the competitive set and what were really the pain points that customers like me or consumers like me had beyond the ones that were obvious.

Lee Kantor: So, you spent a lot of time kind of understanding the consumer before even putting together what the service or product was going to be?

Orion Brown: Correct, correct. And so, it really was doing that initial, my poor friends, I interviewed the crap out of my friends. Every time someone would come in town, I’d be like, “Oh, this is great, let’s have lunch. What’s in your luggage?” And just really started talking to people and then, of course, scaled that up. So, doing surveys and doing quantitative studies and that kind of thing. So really understanding.

Orion Brown: And I took a very corporate approach to it. I’m sure this isn’t like the scrappy, just sell it out of your car kind of approach. But I really took the approach of doing the due diligence to understand the consumer side and then building out both. The brand was one sort of lane of build, and then the other lane was product, right. So, what is this brand? What should it be? What should it mean to you? How does it show up in the world? And how can it be different and really differentiated? And then, from a product perspective, what can we develop that will actually meet and exceed expectations on these particular pain points?

Lee Kantor: And then what was kind of 1.0? What was the first product or service you landed on?

Orion Brown: So, the first product was our body balm. And it was an amalgam of a lot of conversations where men and women alike were like, “You know what? The products that are in hotels are just so watery,” which nobody really likes them. But the challenge is, is that they have a filler in them. And that filler is a white powder when it’s not mixed with water. The first ingredient in those lotions that you get at a hotel is going to be water. The next ingredient is some form of filler. So, what happens is, is it goes on brown skin, the water evaporates, and it leaves the white film behind. And it’s just you look dustier than you did when you were trying to get rid of the dryness.

Orion Brown: And so for me, it was about, well, how do we create a product that’s rich, emollient, and kind of does the job that we need in terms of efficacy? And then, let’s back that out and understand how do we get this thing to travel well, to be convenient, to last long? And then, how do we also then get around the headaches of TSA? And that’s where I landed on a formulation that is very, very stable. Semisolid, I would say. It’s a whipped body balm. And it’s something that our customers really, really love. I actually- it’s arguably 1.0, but it hasn’t changed since we started, and it’s been doing pretty well.

Lee Kantor: So, what was it like when you had- like, this is kind of one of those moment-of-truth times, right, where you’re like, “Okay, we’ve thought about it. We’ve talked all these people. We have a product that these people should buy,” and then you put it out there. Were you getting traction right away? Like, what was that like when you put it out to the market and just got that real data, not your friends, just real people that are going to spend money?

Orion Brown: Yeah, totally. So, the funny thing is I spent quite a bit of time after I got to the MVP doing some consumer research with the actual physical product. So, sending product out, particularly to influencers. And this is influencers like lowercase I, not uppercase I. I’m not talking about big celebrities, but folks who are in both the travel and beauty space. And the reason why is because I wanted to find super users, people who have the use case more often than most people, people who have to pack products, use products while they travel more often than most people. And so, that was the initial sort of get in front of people and get their reactions. And we got a lot of great feedback and a lot of great support from that.

Orion Brown: Once it was time to actually launch this into market, there was sort of a twofold thing. So, the first challenge was is I totally came into this, I would say arguably very naive thinking, “Entrepreneurship, it’s a meritocracy. If you show up, if you have the experience and the chops, people will come, they will invest in you and you’ll get the support you need.” That just wasn’t the case. And that first year that I went out kind of focused as a full-time job as of sorts in trying to get that funding, that initial pre-seed funding for the business, it was just like, that’s the best- that’s the technical term I’d have to give for it. So, I said, “You know what? That’s okay.” And this was going into 2020 now. So, you know how we do. We do our vision board in January. We’re like, “Okay, 2020 vision. I got this. This is going to be great. I’m going to do it organically. I’m going to bootstrap it.” And my launch date was pegged at April 1st, 2020.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, it was probably something on that vision board that showed up that wasn’t on the vision board.

Orion Brown: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The world caught a cold, to say the least. And the brand and business that was all about out-of-home use, no one could leave their homes. So, it was a little bit of an anticlimactic thing. I still launched. I took about a month to just decide whether or not I was insane for even trying to move forward. But I did decide, “You know what? Here’s the thing. If I move forward, it’s so new that the unique value proposition, we can’t pivot for COVID and then pivot back.” I don’t see a way to do that. And so, I said, “You know what? I’m just going to keep this really anchored in travel and travel as the esthetic and sort of the brainchild for the entire brand. And we’re going to continue to celebrate that, but we’re going to focus on cultivating community.”

Orion Brown: And so, through that time, it was twofold. One, it was getting product into people’s hands via promotional things. So, we did a hospital or frontline workers bundle, which was our hand cream, as well as our lip balm. And being able to- you could purchase one and then donate one to a frontline worker. People wanted to be able to support frontline workers. And particularly within the black community, we found that like a lot of major hospitals and health clinics that were just overrun, just disproportionately hit by COVID. And so, it was a way to, one, give back to the wellness of my community. But two, also get people engaged and involved and understand the product without getting in like a weird space of, “Hey, you should be traveling. Hey, you should be doing this,” because I didn’t feel like that would be the right way to go.

Orion Brown: And so, that was a really wonderful way to introduce people to the brand. They understood what we stood for. They understood why we weren’t like on scene in Tahiti, like shooting stuff. And it built up our initial customer base. So, we were able to get to 10,000-12,000 followers on our social in that period of time and really start to build a buzz that landed us in a number of publications, eventually on Beyonce’s website and a number of other places.

Lee Kantor: Now, that’s a great lesson for entrepreneurs in terms of investing time and energy and resources on building community. Do you have any advice for an entrepreneur that wants to build community but may not know where to begin?

Orion Brown: Yeah. I mean, I would say the biggest thing is, is begin with the thing that’s probably most uncomfortable. I’m going to be super transparent. I don’t love to be on camera. I don’t love to be on live. I’m a little bit- I’m just old enough to not be intrigued by the internet as much, but young enough to still understand that it’s important in how it works. And so, for me, one thing that was really breakthrough was started doing Wind Down Wednesdays. And the reason why it’s a Wind Down Wednesday – again, obviously this is like I didn’t invent this. It was as a thing that was out there. But I was like, I get to have a glass of wine, so my nerves aren’t shot, and I can go live and talk with people and talk about the thing that I’m excited about without kind of freaking out and being a total klutz about it.

Orion Brown: So, the advice is, is really kind of do the hard thing. In terms of building community, especially as a small business owner or as a brand, an entrepreneur that has a brand that’s really structured around you or structured around identity, being able to see you and see who you are is so, so critical. And I think it’s also- particularly so if you don’t have funding. When you have funding, you can have no name or no face brands, right? You can have tons and tons of ad spend and acquire customers at scale really quickly. When you don’t really have that funding, the key is then to draw people in with realness. And that’s where you’re going to get highly engaged smaller communities that are really, really loyal because they get to know you as a person.

Lee Kantor: And that’s an interesting lesson for everyone to hear, but also from you coming from kind of a corporate background, where their first move usually is throw money at it.

Orion Brown: Yes.

Lee Kantor: But as an entrepreneur, with limited resources, you have to do what you got to do. So then, you had to do kind of ground up. So, it’s interesting for you to have gone through that and shared the story because you get to see both sides of that. You’ve seen what it looks like throwing money at it. And now, you’ve seen what it looks like kind of earning your way up the ladder like that.

Orion Brown: Definitely, definitely. And it’s- you know, we’re still earning our way up, but that’s the value of the connections. At one point, I had actually stopped doing wind downs. I had done maybe 80 or 90 of them in a row. Just every wee,k I was interviewing new people. We just brought it back, but I had gotten a little bit burnt out with doing it and stepped away and came back and people were like, “We missed you. We missed this.” Like people were looking for it a year and a half later, which was pretty impressive considering the internet really gives us the attention span of a flea, if at best. So, knowing that we’ve created these really deep connections with people that I can even kind of go away and come back, and they’re still there, and they’re still hungry for that connection, because we resonated on a really authentic level, it’s just priceless.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Well, that’s one of the markers of you have a brand that matters is people miss you when you’re gone.

Orion Brown: Yes, I guess that is true.

Lee Kantor: Now, can we talk a little bit about this Ifundwomen. I’m not familiar with it. I’d love to learn more. Your role in this and what it is.

Orion Brown: Sure. So, IFundWomen is a rewards-based crowdfunding platform and a community actually. A very large community, of tens of thousands of women who are entrepreneurs and who are looking to fund their businesses. So, I came into the IFundWomen community initially a couple of years ago through a grant that they had in partnership with Caress, the brand Caress. And so, with the Caress brand grant program, I was introduced to the platform. I had heard of it a little bit. And many of us have heard of like, sort of, the Kickstarters and stuff of the world. It’s that idea. It’s non-equity based. You’re essentially selling a product, service, experience, whatever it might be in service of funding your business.

Orion Brown: And so, what I was really looking for was taking the business to the next level because we had some opportunities, potential opportunities coming up in retail and other places. I had done a number of accelerators, and I really wanted to raise $50,000, so that I could get warehouse space and get out of my house and, like, execute this in a more structured way. And so, yeah, IFundWomen was great. I got amazing coaching. I think we went through about 6 or 8 weeks of coaching and classes that actually took us through the IFundWomen method, which is their way of essentially soup to nuts planning a campaign and executing it.

Orion Brown: And so, we hit and surpassed that $50,000 target. I think we came in at right around 67K as we were closing that round. And even after that, I had done tons and tons of like grants and things like that that I was like applying for. Some hit, some missed. And so, I actually opened it back up about a year and a half later or a year later, and raised an additional, gosh, we got up to 80, I think, in total. So, we had- it was just such a great experience, and I was able- the process is repeatable, it’s reliable, and it really puts, I think, the entrepreneur in the driver’s seat of their own destiny in terms of funding. And so, I joined IFundWomen recently on the back end of the business as a senior coach. And so, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with them, helping them to help entrepreneurs like me, and kind of bring in that experience of having gone through the programing to build even better programing.

Lee Kantor: Wow, that sounds wonderful. Is this a nationwide organization or global?

Orion Brown: It’s actually global. So I have literally coached people random times in Norway because it’s as long as you can make a time, all of the programing is digitally delivered. So, it gives you the opportunity to really- whether you’re reviewing things asynchronously, like watching videos of workshops and things of that nature or getting one-on-one coaching, it’s all done remotely. So, it’s very, very much global.

Lee Kantor: And can you tell us- we use the word community multiple times here. I’d like to ask you a question about why you decided to become part of the WBEC-West community.

Orion Brown: Oh, yes, definitely. It’s funny because when I first started out, I was like, “What can I do to get this business in front of as many people as possible?” And one of the first things that comes up is when I walk in a room, people notice that I’m black and I’m a woman. And so, understanding that there are a lot of platforms in different places out there that do certifications and things like that for the disadvantaged or minority businesses or whatever you want to call it. I started to do research. And actually, at the time I had spoken with a woman who she was just really kind, and she was like, “I used to work with WBENC and let me just tell you more about it.” And it just felt like it was a much more comprehensive community-based sort of situation or certification than anything else that I had seen out there. There was a lot more programing, a lot more community, a lot more connectivity. And so, that’s what brought me in. And then I’ve been a certified WBE for now, I think three years. And we just had our conference out here in Denver where I’m located. And it just continues to give dividends.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s next for BlackTravelBox?

Orion Brown: Oh, my. I would say my focus now and has been for really almost the last year but continues to be, getting us into hotels. We’re in a hotel called Rooms in New York. We’re looking to get into other hotels within their sort of blanket of hotel groups, as well as talking to some of the major players. And that’s always a challenge, right, when you’re a small business. But we’re really hopeful for an opportunity to not only get into in-room, but get into sundry shops, get into their retail, etc., because we really want to be where our customers are. The challenge for most people is we can’t find you when we need you. And so, that is the focus as we go into this next phase of growth.

Lee Kantor: So, if somebody wants to connect with you and become part of the BlackTravelBox community, where should they go?

Orion Brown: Oh, yes. So, you can find us at BlackTravelBox.com, or you can find us on pretty much any social platform. Although I would lean towards Instagram, @BlackTravelBox. And if you’d like to find me, Iamorion_helana on Instagram.

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

Orion Brown: Thank you. I really appreciate you guys for having me. This was really fun.

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

Frank Zaccari with Life Altering Events

June 18, 2024 by angishields

Houston Business Radio

Frank Zaccari with Life Altering Events

00:00 /

Frank Zaccari is an adept Professional Problem Solver, and engaging TV, podcast and youtube Show Host and speaker. With a diverse background spanning military service in the U.S. Air Force, over 25 years in the high-tech industry, and acclaimed authorship, Frank brings a wealth of experience to his endeavors.

As a 5-time Best-Selling and 2-time Award-Winning Author, Frank has penned nine impactful books and co-founded the Trust the Process – Book Marketing Program, propelling numerous authors to success. He is a passionate mentor, conducting workshops at institutions like Arizona State University, the University of California Entrepreneurship Academy and guiding veterans through the Veterans Treatment Court.

An accomplished speaker and NAMCA Certified Speaker, Frank captivates audiences worldwide. He hosts a popular Roku TV and YouTube show with over 240,000 listeners across 42 countries. Frank holds a Management Development for Entrepreneurs Certification from UCLA Anderson School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from California State University at Sacramento.

Driven by his mission to unlock opportunities, solve challenges, and foster high-performing teams, Frank Zaccari continues to make a profound impact in business, leadership, and authorship.

Connect with Frank on LinkedIn and Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Really excited about the guests that I have on with me today. Mr. Frank Zaccari, CEO of Life Altering Events. He’s a five time best selling and two time award winning author. Frank has penned nine impactful books and co-founded the Trust Process Book marketing program, propelling numerous authors to success. He’s a passionate mentor, conducting workshops at institutions like Arizona State University and University of California Entrepreneurship Academy, and guiding veterans through the Veterans Treatment Court. Frank, welcome to the show.

Frank Zaccari: Trisha, thank you. It’s always a pleasure to be with you.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m really excited about our conversation today. So the first thing that I want to draw out, Frank, is you’re in California and I’ve invited you to be on Houston Business Radio. And you and I have a background together through the Houston Regional Veterans Chamber of Commerce. And thank you so much for all you give to that organization. And you’ve also got some other Houston ties. I want to just give one plug. Thank you, Frank, for allowing so many of us to be authors in this best selling book. It was an amazing experience. So let’s talk about Frank’s ties to Houston first.

Frank Zaccari: Sure, be happy to. I love Houston. I used to come to Houston in my high tech life many years ago and spent a lot of time there. Um, then I was went back to Houston again when the, uh, when the housing meltdown occurred and Houston was becoming almost like a ghost town or even was leaving, it was a disaster. But but what I love about the people of Houston and I love about the organization, is that they they said, we’re not going to let this define us. And the city has come back and the whole community, the whole area has come back and has brought businesses back in, and it’s got a very positive attitude and positive approach to life. And then it started partnering with people like the Houston Regional Veterans Chamber of Commerce, because what I saw with Houston is they started to look around. It says, all right, what do we have a lot of? Okay. We have a lot of oil and gas and we have a lot of veterans. Okay. So how now do we take this big block of veterans that we have that are living in the Houston area, the community, and bring them into the fold because these are the people. These are the kind of people you want to own businesses and be part and be employees. Yeah, that was the CEO for several years. Everybody wants loyalty and persistency and a leadership and willingness to work around and find obstacle around obstacles and get that way. And I look at Houston and that’s what I see. I see a city who finds a way around. Whatever the problem is, it will find a way.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And just to note, we have the highest concentration in the nation of veterans. Uh, second highest, excuse me, of veterans in the greater Houston area. And we’re number one for female veterans in the nation here in the greater Houston area. So you’re absolutely right. There is a huge market to be served here when it comes to our veterans and how we can help them. And for those of you who are only listening and are not watching the video, the plug that I was giving was on this beautiful book that Frank afforded many of us from the chamber and otherwise, but veterans to coauthor business secrets from the battlefield to the boardroom. And for most of us, Frank, it was our first time to go through that process. And I know that you have built a business around helping people with that. So would you just give us an overview of a short overview of your background to get started, and then we’ll take a deeper dive?

Frank Zaccari: There. Sure. Very thumbnail sketches that grew up in Western New York in the Buffalo area, and I was the only ladder guy I ever won was the military lottery, and my draft number was ten. So, okay, that pretty much made a lot of decisions to things were done. They were deciding. Um, I enlisted in the Air Force rather than going into the Army. I was during the Vietnam War. And so I was a medic in the military near the end of the war. I didn’t I was not combat medic, but I was in the Air Force during that period of time. When I got out and went back to school and I got into the high tech world, I don’t know how or why, but I did, and I thought, well, I’ll stay in high tech for a couple of years. I my degree is in finance. I’ll go back into the finance world. And 27 years later, I was a CEO of two companies up in Seattle, and it was still in high tech. All right, which I loved, I loved we had a domestic situation change and I became a single father with my two young daughters. And so getting out of high tech was necessary because I was traveling too much and had to be a full time father. I took over an insurance agency which which I tell everybody, if you come from high tech, proactive industry and you go to insurance reactive industry, it’s like dying and going to hell if you’re a type A personality like God.

Frank Zaccari: But it was a means to an end, a means to an end. I had to get my daughters through school to get them into their first, what they call grown up jobs, which we did, and they both did them very, very well. Uh, I, uh, got married again at in my 60s. And so my wife had a house in San Diego, which is where I am now. And then I have a house in Scottsdale, Arizona. So we basically go between the two quite frequently. Uh, we the book thing for sure, just it nothing was planned. I didn’t plan any of this. Um, I was going through counseling after the divorce, and one of the counselor said, Frank, you need you need to journal and write this down. No chance. Don’t write this down. I’m living it. Well, I want to write it down and memorable. So, um, one of my daughters said, yeah, dad, do it. So I do stream of consciousness. I’ve never been trained as a writer, never had not just stream of consciousness. Write down, write down, and then go back and start it to starting to make sense a little bit. And I found out that cannabis, who became my publisher and we put the book out, um, and the first book was not it was a good book, but it didn’t what I was doing.

Frank Zaccari: Right. Right. So I did five of those that way not knowing what I was doing, what, five books? And then I said, okay, I’m going nowhere. Stop, this isn’t working. And then Cat cannabis calls me back and I’m driving to Phoenix and I’m in the middle of the desert. And she says, you got to write again. You’re too good. And I said, okay, I’m tired. I don’t want to do this anymore. So I said, let me get off the freeway. So I’m sitting in a Dunkin Donuts in Goodyear, Arizona, and it’s 110 degrees. And she’s saying, Frank, we’re going to do a series. We’re going to do a series of books in the Business Secrets series. Okay. And the first one was going to be about business things you don’t see coming. And so that one went to number one, and we figured it out, and that my partner Melissa Van Hoss and me, at least we figured out how to market and promote books. Right? So book goes to number one and the second, uh, cat comes back to me. She says, Frank, people say they got their business under control, but the personal life isn’t very good. And we need to write about relationship issues because you’re a master at failed relationships. Thanks, Cat. Not a nice.

Trisha Stetzel: Compliment.

Frank Zaccari: There’s a second book and it went. Yeah, yeah, that one went to number one. And then we had, um, your life could be going good, but you get stuck, and that’s just the way it is. Everybody gets stuck. So that was a third book. Then I wanted to do the fourth one with veterans. I’ve always wanted to do this, and David Weaver and you and your group are so gracious to step up and say, yeah, let’s be part of this. And what we wanted to show. And this is not just for veterans, it’s for anybody. Everything’s a transition. Every transition is difficult. So what are you going to do and what is your goals and how do you connect and how do you reach out and find people. And that was what it was all about. And we talked to veterans. They all say, oh, I can’t write. And my story is boring. And so as we did with, uh, with this one, we sent questions and said, here, fill these out. We’ll fine tune it with you for you. And what was amazing was, as we were going through, we 1919 contributing authors, and as we were going through it, the women, their stories were so much better. They were so much more in depth. There was so much more emotion. There was so much more detail. And it made a huge difference when the guys were good that the guys were, yes, I’m there, did this, and they’re pretty much, you know, to the point.

Frank Zaccari: Yeah. But uh, but but the lady, the women veterans, we had a mom, a military mother, and then we had a woman who, uh, um, flew the troops over. She was a flight attendant, flew troops over to to Vietnam. And we got her perspective on what it was like, uh, interacting with military so that the thing that that I found in doing this book and the thing that I find. And every time I go to Houston and meet with you and your team is there’s this there’s this resiliency. Okay, we’re going to not just do okay. Here’s something just for veterans okay. That’s wonderful. There’s 45,000 entities that deal with veterans. But you go to the other side and you go into the Houston community and you say, okay Houston, we’ve got these people. You got great employees or great businesses here. And what do you need and how do we make it better for you, as opposed to what I see in some veteran groups that come out and say, look, we served you and now you owe us. Okay. Well, then what? He owes you anything? No one owes you a thing. So what do you bring? What value? And when? When I read your story and Carlene and, uh. And LaToya, uh, Westbrook. The story was this is the value that I have. This is how you take all those skills that you’ve developed and you translate it because the world is changing radically.

Frank Zaccari: I interviewed a futurist named, uh, doctor, um, Edward Hess from the University of Virginia at the Darden School. And he told me, he said, Frank, children entering kindergarten today, right now, today, 65% of them are going to work in a career that doesn’t exist today. It doesn’t exist. Wow. And I said, well, that’s pretty intense. And he said, look over, look over history, the industrial revolution, those jobs didn’t exist. And you went to the automation that didn’t exist. And the tech world. He says. So it’s in a constantly evolving thing. So finding your value and finding your skills and how do your skills translate? And I hear this all the time, particularly the veterans. You know, I get ready to go. And you know what? I don’t have any skill. Yeah you do. Yes you do. But let’s sit down. And when you do a great job with working with veterans and working with the community, here’s what they bring to the party. Here’s the value proposition. Now, doesn’t this make sense in your business? And if you have a business, doesn’t it make sense to say, look, this is what this is what I can bring and you have to have value. Just can’t be I serve. So help me out here. It’s got to be I have value build what it is and you guys do a great job.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you I appreciate that. I love the mission of this particular chamber because it’s not just about networking. It really is about identifying all of those amazing veterans out there who have opened a business. And you’ve you’ve heard my story, John Cleese. Many of us spent years as business owners without ever identifying as a veteran, because we didn’t think we needed to. Uh, I can do it myself. You and I talked about this on your show, right? Uh, those five words. I can do it myself. I don’t need a handout. And that’s really not the message here. The message is we need to know who you are, because we may need you to help the next guy or gal who’s opening a business come out and mentor them. And that’s really important to me, right? We all have something, something of value to give back to the community. And I think that’s really important. Well, I want to circle back around, Frank, when I first introduced you, um, I talked about trust the Process book marketing program. I’d love for you to talk more about that so that our audience can really understand the work that you’re doing with people there.

Frank Zaccari: Be happy to. Uh, my partner is Melissa Vanasse, and she lives in Washington, DC, and she was on my show and she had written a book, and we started talking about, what are you doing and how are you marketing? And so she had a lot of this process already figured out. And I said, well, let’s collaborate because I think we could productize this. Okay. So then we tried it on ourselves first we did it on ourselves and our books went to number one. I said, okay, we might have something here. And then we started looking at, well, what are what are the things that are preventing it? And there’s a there’s a ton of myths in the publishing world. Authors. All they want to do is get the book done. Okay, you’re writing a book. I just want it done because it drives you crazy. So you got it done. Now what do I do? I put it on Amazon. Everybody’s going to go buy it. Okay, that don’t work like that. 11,000 books are released every single day in the United States. 11,000? Okay. How are you going to stand out? What are you going to do different? And so what we did with our program and Melissa and I is that we, we meet with the other first potential author and say, number one, why do you want to do this? Okay.

Frank Zaccari: If you want to do a legacy book for your grandchildren, then okay, probably not the right people for it. But if you want to write a book that’s going to enhance the value of what you’re doing, help your business, open up speaking engagements, webinars, workshops, and all of those kinds of things, then let’s fuck. And then it comes down to consistency and continuity. Because the first thing that every author thinks is, oh, my publisher, because they tell you this, my publisher is going to market my book. No they’re not. Publishers publish. They don’t market. That’s it. Okay. Now they might put out a press release that nobody reads, but they’re not going to market your book. Okay. Now it’s up to you. And then they’ll say, okay, well, um, I was told I should have a watch party, and so I’m going to get this big party, this big event at this hotel or whatever. And I said, how many people said they’re going to come? 150. How many people actually show up? Ten. Six. Four. Doesn’t matter. So you’re spending all this time and energy when you could be sending out a consistent and a message? Something better than that, right? So we we create a whole campaign. We do the campaign. We create the content working with the author, and then we send it to them. We say, here, post this on this day at this time.

Frank Zaccari: All right. So the first step is who are you author and why should anybody care. And we say it nicer than that obviously. But here’s what the skill sets are. So we spent a period of time putting out posts about this author is then we go into the launch process. Okay, now you know who the author is. Here’s this book that’s coming. And this is why it’s important I know who she is or he is. This is the book. This is what we’ve been prepping you for on this day. Go buy it. Then we’re going through a whole long sequence. So we have a social media campaign, we have an email campaign. We have a live video campaign. We have people on on my show and other people’s shows, uh, during the course of this thing. And the net net is release day is the magic. And you drive everybody to buy the book on that day, right. Mhm. And we’ve now had 13 in a row. 13 consecutive titles have gone to bestseller, 11 went to number one, five have won awards. So we’re thinking okay I think we’ve got this kind of figured out. Yeah. Now it’s a matter of sitting down with the authors and we do a real hard screen to fish. We say. We say no more than we say yes.

Frank Zaccari: Okay. And if it’s a you want to use it as an evergreen tool for business or for your life or for something along those lines, are you willing to be coached? Right. Because when you write a book, everybody and their brother and their uncle’s cousin is an expert. Of course. Oh, you should do this and you should do that, and I get a kick out of it. And I did a talk at the Military Info Influencers conference in Las Vegas about this. And I said to to the people there, I said, who are the smartest parents in the world, smartest parents in the world. And they went, what? And I said, people with no children. They are the smartest parents in the world because they’ve never done it. But they can tell you what to do, but they’ve never done it. It’s the same with the book. Okay, so you can write a book, you have an editor, you can have editors to do it, and then you got to market it. So one of my third book hit Number one, I get a call from a big distribution house. They actually called me and they said, why aren’t you using us? And I said, okay, what do you bring to the party? They said, we’re going to put your book in Walmart. We’re going to put your book in, uh, target, and we’re going to put your book in bookstores.

Frank Zaccari: And I said, how are you going to do that? And he said, well, we got this giant online catalog. And I said, like the old yellow Pages, remember the old yellow pages? Yeah. And I said, so I’m one line in a big giant book. Right. And they said, well, yeah. And I said, they’re going to buy 10,000 copies of my book off of this one line. And they said, no, no, Frank, Frank, Frank, what you do is you create the demand for it. And then when you are driving. 8 to 10,000 sales, then we’ll put all our muscle behind it. And I said, if I can get 10,000 by myself, I don’t need you. Right. I’ve already figured it out. So that’s what we’re doing with Trusted Process. So authors are out there and you want to write a book and people say, what would I write? You write about something, you know. Okay. You start with something, you know, and everybody has a story. And this is what we head into with the veteran, right? You have a story, and there’s somebody out there who’s going to probably thousands of people are going through what you are going through or what you went through. And that story, that book, could be the thing that triggers them to continue going forward or gives them hope.

Frank Zaccari: I’m speaking at the veteran, uh, the VA Department of Defense Veterans Suicide Conference in, uh, in one month in Portland, Oregon. And that’s what this is. That’s what this am I talking about, publishing the book. We’re talking about the connection portion of it is that your story matters and your story can help somebody else, right? Help them move forward. And then it comes. And it comes down to, well, I don’t know how to write what we can do. We got people could do that. We got people who can help you write it. We have editors. We have people from the graphics. The whole thing is we tell the author, if you can do if you can cut and paste, we can run the campaign for you. And are you willing to listen? Big thing because are you willing to listen and take direction and say, here it is. And one person told me, Frank, you know, if you post something in three times a week or four times a week, you’re you’re annoying people. And I said, okay, you’ve heard of Coca Cola. You’ve heard of McDonald’s. How many times do you see ads for them? Every day. Multiple times a day. And when I was at the Military Influencers Conference conference in Las Vegas, there was a group that was involved in the second Top Gun movie where they were involved in the production side from the military side.

Frank Zaccari: Yeah. And so I said to them, how far in advance did you start working on promoting that movie? Everyone knew it was coming. Everyone knew the first one. Everybody knew Tom cruise. Seven and a half months before the release, they started marketing the movie. So consistency and continuity of the message is so important, and that’s what we excel at in. Melissa is a master at it, and we create this and say on this day, at this time, post it. Now why is that important? Because social media, if we’re using the social media part, social media if you don’t get a response, not a click, not a yes or a statement or a comment, if you don’t get a comment within the first 15 to 30 minutes, that post goes away. Have you ever seen a post and you say nobody saw that? What did he go and you can’t find it? Well, nobody responded, so therefore the algorithm pushes it out. It’s gone. So we know what it’s going to be posted. We comment on it, we share it. We send it to our networks. And that’s how you start that that spider approach that goes through. And then it comes down to you then touch your your key people that you can send emails to and say, hey, I’m doing this.

Frank Zaccari: Can you help me out? And then why video? Why video is critical because now you’re telling your story. And as you and I said before we started filming here, sometimes you can get a little long winded like I’m doing right now, but on those videos we call them minute and 30s no more, and we write the script for them. Okay, now you can tune it up to make it sound more like you, but right. 30s. First person we did it with with timer stopwatch. And so when you hit a minute 30s, I said stop, stop. We didn’t get to the point yet, and I said, exactly. You didn’t get to the point. Get to the point. Do it now. Here. Say this. Yeah. And then leave them wanting more. Right. Okay. What is this? And there’s something about it. And we create an author page, one page author sheet for the author. Okay. And then when we want to go to interviews or other certain things, we have them send that out. And then we have an award winning, uh, journalist. And if the author wants to have a news article, not a press release, no one reads press releases, news article. Okay. Publications are lazy. And if you send them an article that’s already done and they have space or it fits.

Speaker4: It.

Frank Zaccari: They’ll plug it in. So the last two that we did were picked up by 117 and 171 different publications, including Bloomberg, USA today, New York Times, etc. because they they don’t want to pay for content and they don’t want to pay for journalists anymore. So if you send them something that’s.

Speaker4: Already.

Frank Zaccari: Done, they may just pop it in and then we’ll do virtual book tours. If the author wants to do that, where we get, um, if they call themselves book geeks, right. We’ve done enough of these where we’ll say, look, the book is about this. I don’t want somebody who does zombies talking about a family or relationship book, somebody who does that. Like when we did the battlefield book, we had veterans write, do veterans read it and commented about it? And and the beauty is when you reach out and you ask people that are friends or you build a relationship or help, they will help you. Does everybody says, how can I help? How can I help? But we never tell them how, right? No, I can do it your typical way. You said before. I’ll figure it out, right?

Speaker4: Yeah, I’ll.

Frank Zaccari: Just.

Speaker4: Do that.

Frank Zaccari: You’re not going to figure it out by yourself. These people are willing to help. Tell them. Do this for me, please.

Speaker4: Well, I mean, it works.

Frank Zaccari: And so far, so good.

Trisha Stetzel: I’ve seen part of this process work live with the the book that we put together together. Uh, and using that process where we reached out, you fed us everything we needed. Here’s an email template. Send this out by email, put it out on social. And I had so many people interested because I was engaging with them, saying that I had written my story in this book, and so many people reached back out to me and said, I bought the book and it was amazing. And so I know we didn’t use the whole process around this particular book, but we used parts of it, and I know that it works, and I think it’s really important to have somebody like you, uh, on your side if you’re going to write a book because you’re right. You write a book, and then what? You don’t know how to get through the rest of the process. And that’s what you guys have built out and I think is so amazing. So, frank, as we close up, can you share the name of your show where people can find it and how they might reach out and contact you? I know you’re also on social, so if you want to give those channels as well.

Speaker4: We, uh.

Frank Zaccari: We have a web. My website is Frank Zuccari. Com we have a new one coming out. Authors trust the process.com. It’s not done yet, but it’ll be done soon. Uh, I’m on LinkedIn. I’m on Facebook. I’m easy to find. Linkedin usually is the best place. I get a lot of emails. Frank Zachary at gmail.com. I keep everything simple because I’m old and I can’t remember all the passwords and logins.

Speaker4: Yep. So it’s like yeah, absolutely. There’s just too many. Yeah. Uh.

Frank Zaccari: Call me (916) 718-5517. Um, I’m easy to find, and, uh, we’re very open to have a conversation, uh, with our new site trustee. Uh, authors trust the process. There’ll be, uh, information where people can fill out what it is they’re trying to do or what they want to do, and then we’ll set up a time to meet with them.

Trisha Stetzel: Wonderful. Frank, thanks so much for being with me today. This is so much fun. And we may have to have you back to talk about some other things.

Speaker4: Okay. Anytime.

Frank Zaccari: Happy to do it. Oh.

Trisha Stetzel: Well thank you I appreciate it. And that’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.

Julia Cox with Just Closed With Julia and Amber de Marché with Mortgage Right

June 13, 2024 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Julia Cox with Just Closed With Julia and Amber de Marché with Mortgage Right

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Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors

As a realtor with nearly 3 years of experience in her beloved community, Julia Cox’ passion for helping others has always extended beyond the realm of real estate. With three generations of military service in her family, including her father, husband, and son, the values of service, dedication, and respect are deeply ingrained in Julia’s character. These values drive her commitment to supporting the elderly, a cause close to her heart.

Growing up in Georgia and spending decades in this vibrant area, Julia has witnessed firsthand the invaluable contributions our senior citizens have made. Their wisdom, resilience, and stories enrich our lives, and it’s her mission to ensure they receive the care and support they deserve. Whether it’s through assisting with downsizing, finding a home that better suits their needs, or simply offering a compassionate ear, Julia strives to make their lives a little easier.

As a retired military member, Julia understands the unique challenges that come with aging, especially for those who have dedicated their lives to serving our country. Her approach is detail-oriented and empathetic, ensuring that every senior she works with feels heard and valued. It’s not just about real estate; it’s about community over competition, fostering connections, and creating a supportive environment where our elders can thrive.

In addition to her professional endeavors, Julia is an avid gardener, crafter, and dog lover. These hobbies have taught her patience, the importance of nurturing, and the joy of seeing something grow and flourish—principles she applies when working with the elderly. Her goal is to help them navigate their next chapter with dignity and grace, providing them with the resources and support they need to enjoy their golden years to the fullest.

Together, we can build a community that honors and uplifts our seniors, ensuring they feel as cherished and respected as they truly are.

Connect with Julia on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Amber de Marché’s professional journey has been an exciting one, leading her from a successful ten-year career as an educator in the cosmetology industry to discovering her true passion for real estate during the challenging times of COVID.

With a decade of experience in education, Amber has developed a strong foundation in communication and empathy, which has seamlessly transitioned into her role as a Loan Officer. Helping first-time homebuyers and veterans navigate the complex world of real estate is a true joy for Amber, but she’s equally dedicated to assisting anyone on their journey to finding their dream home.Education is at the heart of her approach. Amber firmly believes that understanding the loan process is crucial for borrowers to make informed decisions. That’s why she takes the time to explain every step of the way, ensuring clients feel empowered and confident throughout the entire process.But it doesn’t end with the closing of your first deal. Building meaningful and lasting relationships with her clients is paramount to Amber. She’s committed to being your trusted lender for life, ready to support you in all your future real estate endeavors.When Amber isn’t immersed in assisting clients, you can find her cherishing precious moments with her family, like chasing her toddler around. As an avid lover of the great outdoors, Amber seizes every opportunity to explore nature’s beauty. And when it’s time to recharge, you’ll likely find her indulging in a well-deserved nap!

Connect with Amber on LinkedIn and Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this morning, and today’s episode is brought to you in part by our Community Partner program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending Capitalism, promoting small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Main Street warriors.org and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors Diesel David Inc. Please go check them out at diesel.david.com. You guys are in for a real treat this morning. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast, first up on Cherokee Business Radio with Just Close With Julia, and 1Look Real Estate office. Miss Julia Cox, how are you?

Julia Cox: I am doing fabulous. It’s a beautiful day out and I’m going to go wash my car after this, so yay!

Stone Payton: Well, we’re delighted to have you in the studio. You and I have been plotting this conversation for some time now. Uh, Julia and I are part of the young professionals of Woodstock, and so we’ve gotten a chance to know each other a little bit. But today we’re going to get to dive in, visit with her about her and her business, maybe get some pro tips for some folks out there. And you’re going to introduce us to a guest that you brought with you here in a little bit, too. Yeah.

Julia Cox: Yes.

Stone Payton: All right. Tell me a little bit, maybe a good place to start. Mission. Purpose. I know you’re in the real estate arena, but for you specifically, you’ve kind of refined your mission, your purpose, your focus. What are you really out there trying to do for folks?

Julia Cox: I am trying to help seniors mostly right now because they are in desperate need for somebody to just help. They get taken advantage of left and right by everybody. So I’m here to inform them, to let them know what their choices are to get them. There’s legal aid. There’s all kinds of things that they are that they can have. The biggest thing right now is I wanted to make sure that all the seniors know that they can appeal their tax assessment. You can either call them and they will send you a written copy, or you can go to the Cherokee County Tax assessor’s office. And down on that page it will say appeal. You have 45 days from your first day of notice. If your appeal is approved, it’s good for three years. So that way you know your your tax is going to stay the same and you’re going to be good to go for three years.

Stone Payton: Well, I’m certainly no expert in the arena, but it has been my observation that our assessment never goes down.

Julia Cox: No it doesn’t.

Julia Cox: Yes, I worked with this one lady. Hers went up 30%. I mean, seriously 30%. So and you know so you know, all you have to do is get one of your trusted realtors to give you a CMA, which is a comparative market analysis, which will show how much in the market the house is worth. And then you can tell that and you can take that and put that in your paperwork and you can go from there. But it really helps. And please, there’s not a realtor out there that will not help you out and it’s no charge.

Stone Payton: So what is the the back story? How in the world did you find yourself in this line of work?

Julia Cox: Well, my thing is, I wanted to be a realtor all my life. It’s just such a big part in people’s life, and it’s such a family oriented thing that this is just something I wanted to do. But as many people know, being a realtor is incredibly hard and it takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of face time. And usually you don’t see any income from anywhere from six months to two years. So it took me a while and I finally get to do my dream job, which is very exciting. And then I got into it and I was trying to find, okay, where where do I fit what’s what’s a good place for me? And just so happens that I’m going into my senior years and we are retired military. So I went and got my Qris, which is a senior real estate specialist certification, and I got my MRP, which is a military relocation professional, and that way I can help the people that I am. And I work with seniors, you know, the 500 and 1C3 the nonprofit seniors like stand up for seniors, Cobb Cherokee Senior Services. There’s quite a few out here, and I work with them because I want to people to move in my community that I support and I work toward and I work for. So it just makes me feel better. They’re walking in and I know what they’re walking into so I can help find them a place where they’re going to flourish. They’re going to feel comfortable. They’re going to know people. They’re going to know, you know where to go when they want to do something, whether they want to be in a quilting circle or wanting to be in a book club, we can help with that.

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

Julia Cox: The most fun about it, and this just happened recently, is I had a senior lady and this was just awesome. Um, her son was going to sell her house because obviously he knows more than anybody else. But in the end, she we talked and, you know, we got this set up and she actually told her her daughter that, you know what? She doesn’t want my brother to sell a house. She wants you to. And my brother called me and asked me, what in the world why is mom so ready to move now? And she’s okay with it? That was a huge win because she felt that comfortable with me and it was great.

Stone Payton: Real estate strikes me as a very I don’t know if it’s fair to say, crowded, but a competitive arena from a sales and marketing standpoint, how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a real estate agent? Because there there’s I I’m operating under the impression that there’s plenty of opportunity out there, but there’s also a lot of folks in your business, right. How do you go about the sales and marketing thing?

Julia Cox: You do the best you can and be authentic. You have to be authentic. And it’s like when you go and you you work at a you are what, one of the 500 and 1C3 events and you’re taking pictures. People are like, well that’s rude. You’re taking a picture to advertise. You’re not you’re not advertising yourself. Very rarely am I in the pictures. I’m advertising the event. Plus I just talk to people. I like going out. I like meeting seniors, and I’m authentic and people gravitate toward that. And the real estate is it’s very it’s very challenging right now. And a lot of people are getting out. It’s not as crowded as it once was. The numbers are going down very quickly, actually. So a lot of people are saying the cream of the crop will stay in, but being authentic and being in it for the reason your heart’s in it, there’s a reason that you’re in it. And if your heart is making money, then it’s still your heart. So you’re going to make money. But it’s just honestly, it’s being true to yourself, being authentic, just getting in front of people, helping your community and just being a part of your community is huge.

Stone Payton: Well, and I know you personally to be very invested in the community, collaborative, very relationship oriented, I guess, I guess I would say and one tremendous example of that I think, is, is how you work with other people with specialized expertise in their domain to make all this stuff come together. And you brought one with you. Did I tell us who you brought with you?

Julia Cox: I brought Amber de Marché and she is a loan officer with mortgage. Right. And Darren Hunter is the lead the lead mortgage lender on that team. And Amber is wonderful. And she actually knows how to do reverse mortgages, which is another item that I can bring to the table when we’re talking to seniors. And she also is very savvy about making sure that people are not getting ripped off, and they know how to send money through wire so they don’t send it to somebody in. You know, I don’t know Nigeria because, you know, the prince needs money.

Stone Payton: Yeah, I got an email from him. I haven’t responded.

Julia Cox: But it’s amazing, isn’t it? That man needs a lot of money.

Stone Payton: Well, Ms. Amber, what’s it like to to hang out with Julia?

Amber de Marché: Hi. So super excited to be here. Julia is awesome. All the things you said I second, she definitely has a passion and a heart for helping people, especially the seniors. So yeah, lots of fun with Julia.

Julia Cox: So how did you.

Stone Payton: Get in the mortgage business?

Amber de Marché: Oh, Covid actually helped me get in mortgage. Yeah, I was, um, my background is actually in cosmetology. I was an instructor admissions director at a cosmetology school in Arkansas. And Covid shut all of that down and kind of made me rethink. I knew a mortgage broker that was like, hey, maybe this is for you. You should try it. You’re at you’re not doing anything at home anyways. You might as well come shadow with me. And I totally fell in love with it. So it’s, um, it’s been really, really rewarding, especially, um, you know, growing up with parents that were divorced and living paycheck to paycheck and, um, never really thought that home ownership would be something attainable for myself. And then learning through working in the business that it actually was and have bought two houses now. So I love helping people realize that it’s not quite as complicated. And if you have the right people helping you, like Julia, it really can be simplified and not as stressful.

Julia Cox: So it’s something else that Amber does that I think is really, really great is she is getting a class so she can actually help people budget so they can pay off their credit cards. They can start. And these are because younger people are coming out with credit card. It’s not really money because they don’t teach these items in high school. So she it’s really cool. She’s going to go get her license with this for this. And it’s just that’s going to be huge. That’s going to make a difference. Maybe she can go talk in some high schools. You know even middle schools.

Amber de Marché: Yeah I’m excited getting my financial coaching certification. So yeah I’m excited to be able to to spread my passion for helping people and and help people dive into more day to day financial stuff too. So.

Stone Payton: Well, I agree 100% for what that’s worth. That financial literacy for me is a very important topic, and I also was not very knowledgeable or disciplined about money, even to the point I was very fortunate and made more money than most at a younger age than most in in my first career. But I spent just a little bit more than that.

Julia Cox: And part of it.

Stone Payton: Was like, you developed this mentality when when that is your path, what would just make some more tomorrow?

Julia Cox: Yeah, absolutely.

Amber de Marché: I, I tell people all the time, you know, sometimes I talk to borrowers that are they really want to buy a house, but maybe they’re not quite sure what that looks like and maybe they’re not quite there yet. And like, don’t feel bad about yourself. You know, like they don’t teach you that stuff in high school. And and if you know, your parents are in survival mode or just maybe they they weren’t taught that stuff either, then it’s. It’s just what it is. And I made all the mistakes in my 20s with I can tell you I totally ruined my credit and had to rebuild it. And so through that, you know, definitely have learned a lot and hope to use that to help other people.

Julia Cox: I bet you.

Stone Payton: In your line of work run into some patterns, some things you see over and over, and maybe there’s some patterns among young people trying to get their first house and they do some things, or fail to do some things that to you or just walking around sense and if you can get to them early enough, or even if they’ve made some of those mistakes, you can help them recover. Is that accurate?

Amber de Marché: Yes, absolutely. I would say the biggest piece of advice I give people is just make your payments on time. Like if you’ve opened a credit card or a loan or something, just make your payments on time. It’ll make a huge difference in your whole life.

Stone Payton: And maybe don’t make a crazy big move like the new truck or the new yeah, yeah, yeah. Right in the throes of things. Yeah.

Amber de Marché: Uh, 100%. Yeah. Especially when you’re going through the mortgage process. Like, don’t go buy a truck, don’t change jobs, don’t quit your job. Like, just basically freeze everything. Don’t cosign a loan for anyone. Don’t, you know, purchase anything big? Um, when you’re getting a mortgage, you know, we’re looking at your ability to repay. And sometimes there are certain things that we need to be at a certain point. So maybe you can do it after, if that’s if your heart desires to go buy that brand new Ford F-150, then that’s okay. Do it. After you close on your house.

Julia Cox: You sounds like good advice.

Julia Cox: And you know, some of the some of the two things that I thought that was really cool, that Amber told me about is also, don’t pay off your credit cards and keep your credit cards at like anywhere between 10 and 30% because they want that consistent payment. So I thought that was fascinating.

Amber de Marché: Yeah, they want to see you. The credit bureaus want to see you having a healthy relationship with that credit. So keeping a balance and keeping it paid down.

Julia Cox: And well, I’m glad you.

Stone Payton: Mentioned that because that that would that would be a little counterintuitive for me. But, you know, I’m at a different stage in life where I’m don’t carry debt. But at that point, you really you want to have the the debt capacity, but you don’t want to have the, the where you owe very much. Right?

Amber de Marché: Yes.

Julia Cox: Yeah. Interesting for sure.

Stone Payton: So have you like Julia and maybe you already partially answered this question because because of your focus on financial literacy, but have you chosen any particular niche, a demographic, a psychographic, a certain group of people that while you you’ll be delighted to help a lot of people, that this is where you’re going to focus your sales and marketing energy on and your education and community energy on.

Amber de Marché: Yeah, for sure. And it’s not maybe as specific as Julia, but, you know, young, young families. So young families that either they bought their first house, but it was 5 or 10 years ago. The market’s very different now. And they’re needing to expand. You know, they have kids coming. And you know like we do that take up a lot of space. Um, or um, you know, young young families that maybe are first time home buyers and, and aren’t really sure where to get started or what the process looks like. Those are my favorites to help. But like you said, I’ll help everybody.

Julia Cox: And I wanted to add to that because the more I dive into seniors, because I’ve already doubled the amount of C credits, which is continuing education credits for my seniors, the more I dive in to the seniors, the more it helps me understand the process better. So I like helping seniors, but I am more able to handle anybody because I know how the mortgage works. I know how I know all this vendors, the partners that can help me get their houses up and ready to go or what we’re looking for. So it’s like you, you have a niche, but the niche actually, if you really dive into that niche, it helps you across the board, which is kind of cool. I think it’s the same way for sure.

Julia Cox: Yeah, well.

Stone Payton: Let’s dive into a use case and maybe we can we can have you both dive into a single use case, but let’s just take well, let’s take the young couple and they somehow got into their first home, uh, no kids making pretty good money and all that. And so they were able to get into that one that’s not going to serve in this next phase of life because they want to, you know, they want to have kids. And then, uh, what’s the do they approach you first typically to start getting their financial ducks in a row? Amber. Is that the walk us through kind of at least the early stages of what that looks like?

Julia Cox: Yeah.

Amber de Marché: So it’s funny you ask that question, um, because a lot of people go to the realtor first. Um, but really they should talk to the loan officer first, because when you go talk to the real estate agent, they’re going to say, have you talked to a loan officer? Have you gotten pre-approved? Um, and mostly because as a real estate agent, you know, they don’t want to take you to look at a $400,000 house if you can’t afford to buy it. Right. If your budget is only up to 375, well, now you’ve fallen in love with the house and everybody’s going. To be really disappointed.

Julia Cox: But also they will not. If you if they fall in love with that house, they will make an offer on it. They can’t. Right. Because they haven’t gone through the approval process. Yeah. So it just we’re like breaking hearts and we’re crying almost as much as, you know, the people that want to buy the house, it’s it’s a sad thing. Yeah.

Amber de Marché: So you would definitely reach out to a loan officer first. Um, go through the pre-approval process. So they’re going to most likely ask you to fill out an application, um, you know, maybe provide some documents to verify your income, that you have some savings if that’s the route you’re going. Georgia has some down payment assistance programs. That would be a whole other podcast episode for you. Yeah, yeah. Um, but um, so yeah, depending on the route. So basically anything you put on the loan application, we just have to verify with documents. So like your driver’s license says, this is who you are and this is where you live. And, you know, income is a big thing and asset. So like your bank statements, savings accounts, stuff like that. So definitely talk to a loan officer first and then you can go do the fun part that everybody wants to do, which is go look at the houses with the real estate agent.

Julia Cox: So when I actually talked to people that are coming in and looking at the houses at the open house, I’m like, are you pre-approved? If you’re not, please, I’ve got some great lenders. I can, you know, send you to, well, we’re not looking to buy for six months. And I’m like, the lenders would love it if they got you six months before you bought the house.

Julia Cox: Okay. Excellent. Six months to a year.

Julia Cox: They they would love it because there’s no surprises. They can knock it out before it even happens. So and that’s what I try to encourage people to do is talk to your lender. I mean, just seriously, a year, six months before you’re even looking for a home.

Julia Cox: Wow. Okay.

Amber de Marché: Yeah, I always think about it like, um, like if you’re going so, like, you decide to get healthy, right? And you’re so you have like two parts of that, your diet and your working out. So the real estate agent does the working out part, which is the one that everybody posts about. Right? Like nobody wants to see what you’re eating. They want to see like that heavy weight that you lifted so they can be like, wow, you deadlifted 300 pounds this morning. Way to go. But so so the real estate agents like the trainer at the gym, the loan officers like, the dietician like we’re going to look at your finances and make sure that your finances are healthy enough and that you have good habits. So it could be six months to a year before you’re ready to buy that house. But if you talk to the loan officer first, we can definitely look and see how to get you there.

Stone Payton: It makes all the sense in the world to me. So let’s take this young couple. Let’s say that they took this advice, reached out to you a good six months plus ahead of time. I guess initially you might come back with kind of a working number, but it’s not really a hard number. Right. Like let’s, let’s call it 375. Mhm. Um, let’s and but you’re not necessarily saying okay go get you a $375,000 house. You’re saying, okay, we know that we’re in this neighborhood financially. Now let’s continue to look at and then we’ll get you even better or we’ll help you think through. Yeah it’s 375 but I think we’ll we’ll stop at 350 or something. Yeah. Yeah.

Amber de Marché: Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, a lot of times the purchase price makes a difference. Right. But the biggest thing that we’re looking at is the monthly payment, because that’s really going to impact you more than anything in terms of looking at. So maybe we say, okay, you can afford up to $375,000 based on just how we qualify you for a mortgage, how the bank looks at you, but comfortably for you guys in their mind, they may they might be like, I don’t want my mortgage payment to be more than $1,500 a month. And then it’s like, okay, well then you need to keep your purchase price at 350. That’s going to get you right where you want to be with your mortgage payment.

Stone Payton: So yeah. So getting into the mortgage business, I’m sure the answer to this is yes, but I’m going to ask anyway, did you have the benefit of one or more mentors to kind of help you navigate that terrain and a team you could lean on for a while?

Amber de Marché: Yes, 100%. You definitely need it in the mortgage and in the real estate world because it’s really, you know, everybody says this, but you, you learn so much through the classes that you have to take and the licensing process and all of that. But applying it in the real world is a lot different than reading about it in a textbook, you know?

Julia Cox: So in real estate, they call they call it drinking from a, you know, a water, um, a fire hydrant because you’re getting you can only drink so much. You’re getting all this information. So it it takes you, it takes you a little while. And the more you work at it, you go, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. It’s really good because it’s like anybody you learn better when you do it. Yeah. So doing it is just huge. And or you can help somebody do it.

Amber de Marché: Yeah.

Julia Cox: Which is awesome at mortgage right.

Amber de Marché: I mean I ask those guys all the time, I’m like, so I have this scenario, I don’t know what to do. So yeah, definitely lean on. And Darren’s been a huge mentor for me. Just helping, you know, with building the business for myself. And you know, we’re all our own brand. Right. So so helping with that as well. So. Yeah.

Stone Payton: Well, that’s a good point. Yes. Your mortgage. Right. And and a lot of us around town know Darren to be a marvelous person. Yes, but you’re also Amber and you get. So you’ve got this whole sales and marketing differentiation thing. I don’t, I don’t know. Do you employ, uh, tools like social media and getting out there in the community talk. Walk us through how you kind of do your sales and marketing thing, if that’s the right term.

Amber de Marché: Yeah, it is the right term. That’s what I call it anyway.

Julia Cox: Okay, good, good.

Amber de Marché: Um, yeah. So I do social media, um, you know, like most people, I get tired of it sometimes. So I take a little. I took a little break, but I’m getting back into it now. Yeah. Um, I do a lot of the business networking groups around to like the Kennesaw Business Club, Woodstock Business Club. I’ve been to some of the business associations, so I’m doing that big in the chamber, the Cherokee chamber. Um, love those people there. Um, and then, you know, I have a passion for helping people, so I, I consider my volunteer to be networking as well.

Julia Cox: Yeah, absolutely.

Amber de Marché: Um, I volunteer with the chin up program through the Children’s Haven. So they, we do like a, a, a program a couple of times a month for middle school and high school kids that are having truancy issues in school and stuff and maybe just need like a positive role model there, somebody to spend some time with them. So, um, I do that. I’ve, I’ve volunteered with Cobb Mentoring Matters, where we mentor kids in, in the middle schools to just kind of be a guide for them to figure out what path they’re taking. And, um, I’ve done some mentoring through Serenade Heights, which is a nonprofit that helps single moms kind of get back on their feet or go back to college and stuff like that. So, um, that’s a big part of of my passion for all of this, so.

Stone Payton: Well, I can tell it. I can hear it in your voice. I can see it in your in your eyes. I think this might apply to both of you guys. Uh, I know I came from the training consulting world, and we would often lean on other practitioners who had specific expertise in another domain much deeper than ours, like home services folks, the people that can get a house ready. Or do you guys probably know a lot of those people? And you, you’ve got your go to lot guy and your go to roof person. Is that true?

Julia Cox: That is.

Julia Cox: Yes. That’s like part of my when I go in to speak to somebody, especially a senior, because there’s a lot you have to do because they’re moving into a different lifestyle. So it’s almost like they have four different buckets. They have what they’re taking with us, they have what they’re going to put in storage. But we’ll probably they have what they’re given to their children, and they have what they’re going to do an estate sale with, or they’re going to sell on Facebook. And I have people for both of those, and then they have what they’re going to donate. So it’s just and then I have this wonderful packer that will help. Impatient. I have a wonderful mover that will take things to the four different places, or break down the old swing set in the back yard. I have an amazing person that can come and do like mold remediation. I have a wonderful roofing person. I mean, it’s just these people are what make up my toolbox. They are so awesome and they they’re what make me smile. And I know I’m doing a good job because they’re doing a good job. It’s like it just reeks of goodness. It’s awesome. But yeah, those are you’ve got those are wonderful.

Stone Payton: And you’re and you’re the same way. Right. You know people in that arena as well, right?

Amber de Marché: Yeah, 100%. I would say most of the time the homeowner looks to the realtor for most of that stuff because they’re in the houses with them, and maybe they’re looking at a house and like, oh my gosh, is this foundational crack in the wall? Or is it just settling, you know? So, um, but I definitely do have people. You definitely have to be the guy that knows the guy, you know?

Stone Payton: Doesn’t that feel great? Don’t you find that incredibly rewarding? In my experience over the years has been if I can just try to help people address their challenge, even if it has nothing to do with what I do, or if it has a lot to do with what I do. But, uh, Tim over at Mesmerize Media, he’s awesome is going to be a better solution because what they want to do right now needs to be more video centric than the than the work that we do. I mean, that’s my my first phone call. I but I get a lot of, uh, and it sounds like you do too emotional compensation from from and it feels good to be the guy that knows the guy. Yep.

Julia Cox: It makes me feel powerful. It really does, because I get very confident because I know these people are going to do a good job. I know we’re going to do a good job on your house. And it just it’s just such a powerful to have all these people behind you. And it takes time. I mean, you know, you’re building I’m building relationships with these people. This is not someone I’m looking up in the Yellow Pages. I’ve met them and talked to them. So. And some of them I’m actually used. I’ve actually used NB roofing because they’re awesome. And I’ve used, um, Russell Hollister to cut down a tree in my backyard.

Julia Cox: Oh, this is great.

Stone Payton: I’m keeping. I’m gonna send them all an invoice.

Julia Cox: Yeah. No, but it’s just. No.

Julia Cox: But I mean, it’s just these these are down home people that come and they talk and you meet and you get. You build relationships there? Not just this person. There a person. Yeah, that makes sense.

Stone Payton: It makes a ton of sense. I’d like to. Before we wrap it up, I wonder if we could do a little bit of a pro tips kind of section. I don’t know if you might draw on something you’ve written before, or some things that you know you’re always going to mention to people, and we can do a couple of different use cases or whatever. And maybe we start with you, Julia, with seniors. And maybe the advice is directly to seniors. My parents recently last six months moved up from Pensacola, Florida to here. So I’ve I’ve been in and around a lot of what you described. And maybe we should have had this conversation six months ago, but maybe a little bit of, you know, things to do don’t do, uh, be thinking about reading just a few pro tips. We could, uh, leave people with who are either the seniors themselves or the people that are kind of trying to help them, like their kids.

Julia Cox: Absolutely. My biggest one for the seniors is please sit down with your family and have the difficult talk. You need to have that talk. You need to know where your finances are. You need to know who’s going to be the executor. You need to know these things, and you need to let your family know that this is how it is. Get your will done. Make sure that somebody’s got the power of attorney to do this. It’s just it’s so important. It helps the strife. There’s not as much strife when somebody dies. People react in different ways that are just so unlike them. And usually it’s negatively because they’re they’re mad their parent has died, so they’re going to take it out on somebody and usually it’s the other siblings. So get that done, have that conversation. And if you don’t know something, please ask your kids don’t. They’re not going to think anything less of you. They’re not going to, you know, please ask them because they’re probably going to know my, you know, 30 year old son helps me with my internet and my Facebook because holy cow, that thing’s over my head. Sometimes I’m like, why is Facebook shutting me out? So just have those conversations. They are difficult, but they’re so, so important.

Stone Payton: I’m sure you got a handful of tips as well. Oh yeah.

Amber de Marché: Yes, a whole handful. Um, I would say the biggest one for any listener that’s thinking about buying a house, whether it’s your first house, second house investment property. Like don’t one, don’t be afraid to go talk to a loan officer. We’re not going to be mean to you or judge you or any of the things, like you’ll get some really valuable information and also talk to a couple. Um, you know, we all do the same thing, but the way that we do it is a little bit different. I had a couple last year that had been trying to buy their first house. They had talked to a couple of lenders and were like, well, we just can’t get approved right now. So I spent a Thursday night, a couple of hours at their house talking to them, and figured out that they actually could buy a house right now, and they actually did last year, buy their first house. So sometimes, you know, spending that little bit of extra time asking questions, if someone says, well, you don’t qualify because of this, like push them to be like, well, what do I have to do? Help me figure it out? So, um, you know, I think if that’s if that’s a goal of somebody, then they, they deserve to, to get that goal.

Stone Payton: So yeah. And I want to reinforce that. Give yourself some runway. Right. Yes. Those things play well together. Yeah. Yeah absolutely. Julia, lay it on us.

Julia Cox: I’ve actually got.

Julia Cox: One more, um, the seniors that are looking to move, whether they’re upsizing downsizing or they just want to stay at home, I really try to convince family and the seniors to stay in the home as long as they can, because seniors are living longer, people are living longer. And, um, the retirement communities, the senior living, the assisted living, it’s very expensive. And make sure that you talk to a loan officer or talked to a financial adviser and see how see what it looks like, because it can get very scary very fast.

Stone Payton: Well, and there’s more and more options, as I sometimes say, more better. My my high school English teacher would not like that for making that a more practical solution for longer, up to and including. I’m sure you both have a go to person to put the bars on the shower and make it a safer place. Absolutely everything from from that to some, uh, I don’t even know what you call it. Like some some bridge services where maybe you do have somebody come in and your home and hang out with you and take you grocery shopping on Wednesdays or whatever before you make that big leap into full blown care. Absolutely.

Julia Cox: And we have people that will go in and I don’t and, and actually watch one of the couples so the other couple can just go out and have maybe sit at the lake and just watch the duck goes by, just have a moment to be themselves. Because one of the biggest things is when a when a person dies, the other one is basically lost because they’ve been spending 24 over seven with that person and they’ve kind of lost their own identity. So they they need help to regain that back. So people going in and just giving them just, you know, four hour break and I know those people.

Julia Cox: So there you go.

Amber de Marché: Yeah I need someone with empathy like Julia to help you through those times.

Julia Cox: So. That’s right.

Julia Cox: That’s so sweet.

Julia Cox: Thank you. Well.

Stone Payton: Amber you were sharing with us before we came on air that you have a family. I know you obviously have a very vibrant career. I don’t know when and how you would find the time, but I’m interested anyway. So I’m going to ask passions, hobbies, other interests that you might pursue outside the scope of your work. Anything like.

Julia Cox: That?

Amber de Marché: Yeah, well, I have a two year old. He keeps me really busy. We’re actually potty training right now, so just keep us in your prayers. Um, but yeah, outside of that, we love pretty much anything outdoors. Um, hiking, kayaking, canoeing. Um, I grew up in Arkansas, so that’s, you know, there’s not anything else to do in Arkansas except for outdoors.

Julia Cox: That is awesome. We live there on tour when we were in the military and yeah, it’s beautiful. Oh my gosh, it’s gorgeous.

Amber de Marché: It is. It’s a pretty place. So yeah, that’s pretty much pretty much it. Besides watching mindless TV shows that probably are not productive in any way.

Stone Payton: But sometimes that’s just a good escape, though, where you don’t you just turn the brain almost completely off.

Julia Cox: Yep.

Amber de Marché: Don’t even have to think about anything. Just worry about what’s happening on the screen.

Stone Payton: Yeah, Julia, we didn’t talk much about military, and it’s probably a whole, uh, additional episode or or more, but there are some special programs and some things to look into for veterans. Is that accurate?

Julia Cox: Oh, absolutely. Well, you have the you know, the veterans have their own loan programs program, which is tremendous. But some people don’t realize when they can use it, how they can use it, and how much it can help them. But and also, Amber actually has a wonderful program for them too, that it’s it’s called a reverse mortgage. And it’s it’s got a bad rap in the past. But then they folded it under the FHA and it’s become a really solid program for certain seniors.

Stone Payton: Yeah, well, I was getting ready to wrap, but now I want to talk about this.

Julia Cox: That’s all right. I’m sorry.

Stone Payton: We’ll come back to your hobbies in a minute. But no, because I’ve seen the commercials and I’ve seen a couple people who play very trustworthy people on television. And because I have heard some of the bad rap around reverse mortgage, I’m like, shaking my head. I’m like, dude, you just cracked through your whole trustworthy image on TV. But maybe that’s my uninformed knee jerk reaction to the idea of a reverse mortgage. So yeah, with your permission, let’s can we dive into that a little bit and educate?

Julia Cox: Absolutely.

Amber de Marché: Yeah. We can. Um, yeah. So reverse mortgages do have a bad reputation. I think that it’s definitely a product that has to make sense for the person that’s doing it. Or you can get yourself in trouble or, you know, hurt someone. So essentially, a reverse mortgage is available to anyone that’s 62 years or older. If you have a couple, only one of them has to be 62. Um, so one can be 59 and the other can be 62, and they’re still eligible. Um, essentially what happens is you so if you had a loan, you let’s say you own a house that’s $400,000 and you owe $100,000 on it. Um, and you want to do a reverse mortgage? Maybe you have a senior, right? That’s struggling financially month to month. They can’t eat the foods they want to eat, you know, because they’re on a fixed income. They can’t take those trips, can’t fix up the house that they’ve lived in for the past 20 years because they just don’t have the funds. A reverse mortgage essentially takes pays off the mortgage that they have and puts it into a new mortgage. You don’t pay monthly payments on the mortgage. So, um, the interest that you would incur just keeps adding on. So that’s where you have to be careful, right? Has to make sense. And there’s a whole calculator that’s used with an algorithm that is kind of creepy. But it’s like we think they’ll live this much longer. So yes, it makes sense or no, it doesn’t make sense.

Amber de Marché: But instead of paying the mortgage, you can get the equity in your house up to a certain amount, depending on your circumstance. Um, you can get it in a lump sum. You can get it in a line of credit. You can get it in certain disbursements. A lot of people do a combination where like maybe you do, you know, a third of it up front, a lump sum at closing. So you get 50 grand at closing. And then after year two, day one, the line of credit opens up, and then they can take out the line of credit so they can get used the money. Um, you know, you can pay back at any time, but it’s not required. So, you know, if you have a senior whose monthly payment is $1,200 a month on their mortgage, I mean, and you’re and now you’re taking that away. Now they have $1,200 more. And that’s a whole lifestyle change for somebody that’s in the right position. I always say definitely talk to your financial adviser. Definitely, like have a meeting with a financial advisor or a CPA because sometimes there are tax implications. Have your heirs, whoever whoever’s inheriting this, whenever you pass away, you know, to have a meeting there. There are ways to get out of it. You can refinance out of it once the once the homeowner passes away, you can sell it and, you know, pay the loan back. But it is a good product if it makes.

Julia Cox: For you.

Julia Cox: You do? You do have to be very careful, because it’s only honestly good for about 10% of it. Is. It is. It is one item in the tool belt. Yeah. So and just talk to a loan officer. And if you go in and you ask them if they do reverse mortgages and they say no, that doesn’t mean they’re any less. That just means that they don’t want to do that because like she said, mortgages, they all do the same, but they do it differently. Mhm. So just find someone who does and you can always ask. Yes. Your trusty, you know real estate person. And we will have probably five loan officers. We can give you the names for fantastic.

Stone Payton: But it comes down to the math. You need somebody that understands that world, understands the math and your unique situation. And it might be, you know, you looked at my parents and absolutely not. It makes no sense. You look at somebody else’s parents and yeah, this is a good option based on their input and in the math.

Amber de Marché: Yeah. So it’s it’s really cool. You’re still liable for the property insurance and the taxes on the property. But I mean, other than that, if it makes sense, if, if your home is going to appreciate and it’s and it’s worth a lot, you know, and all of that like it, it definitely can make sense for someone. And uh, the one of the big questions that are always asked is like, well, what if there’s a housing crash? What happens then? Now they’re just out all of this money. But they since they’re under the FHA now, which is one of the reasons why it’s a better product, is now their insurance is in place that protect the homeowner in the event of like a housing crash that, you know, happens once every generation probably. But.

Stone Payton: Well, thank you. You may very well have restored my faith in this one particular celebrity actor that will go unnamed, because I don’t know if his product is as good as the one you’re talking about, but I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s a very trustworthy guy and his role on TV.

Julia Cox: There you go.

Stone Payton: Okay, now I get to ask my question what are you into? Do you nerd out about anything in your spare time? If there is such a thing as spare time for a realtor that’s doing as much as you are.

Julia Cox: Okay. Um, yeah, I’m. I love to garden my big thing. And nobody, nobody believes it when I tell them I love playing Zelda.

Julia Cox: Oh, okay.

Julia Cox: Tears of the Kingdom, man, I am rocking it right now. This is. This is like the third time I’ve played it. And I’m trying to go in different ways, and you do different things and you get different outfits and it’s just, it’s so much fun. But this is something I can play at 11:00 at night or 4:00 in the morning when I’m getting up or I’m having to do stuff. And it helped my it helps my mind wind down. I love that, but it’s I have a blast. That garden. My backyard is just beautiful right now.

Amber de Marché: It’s come to my house and help me because ours is like a little. It’s a lot of work.

Julia Cox: Yes it is. And it’s hot. Yeah, it’s very hot right now.

Stone Payton: You never know what you’re going to learn in this little room, right?

Julia Cox: It’s fantastic.

Amber de Marché: That is true. I feel like I need a cooler hobby now because Julia plays Zelda.

Julia Cox: Yeah. No kidding.

Stone Payton: All right, Amber, what’s the best way for our listeners to get in touch with you? Tap into your work, both at the community level and on all of these topics around around mortgage and financing for a for a home, whatever you think is appropriate. Just some good points of contact for them.

Julia Cox: Yeah.

Amber de Marché: So I am on social media. So Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok and Instagram, you can just search my name Amber Demarcay. Um, or I mean mortgage, right? Woodstock. If you Google that, our phone number will come up. You can reach me there if you want to call me directly. Can I say my phone number? Oh, please. On air? Sure. Uh, my direct phone number is (501) 368-8450. Still have my Arkansas number that I’ve had for too long to give it up.

Stone Payton: And, Julia, what’s the best way to connect with you?

Julia Cox: Uh, please call me (770) 722-6890. You can look me up and on Google. You can look me up in Facebook. Just close with Julia. And, um, the best way is just to call me and ask me, and there’s no stupid question. There really isn’t. And have fun. I just looking for a house has got to be. It’s stressful, but it’s really fun. So take your time. Make sure you’re picky, picky picky picky picky. Don’t get pushed and take your time. If you want to go see 40 houses, go see 40 houses.

Stone Payton: You and I and some other real estate folks I know are really good about that. It looks like an incredible time commitment to me to get out there and and run. But you want them to be then it’s right.

Julia Cox: Yeah. You can go to sleep at night because you know it’s right. It’s like when a senior looks at you and they really want to stay where they’re at, and all it’s going to do is take a couple, you know, some money. And, you know, that’s when we get them to talk to someone. But if they want to stay where they’re at, they need to stay where they’re at. And I want to be able to sleep at night. I’m not making any money, but I want to be able to sleep at night. And I’m I’m making my community stronger. So that’s why I do that.

Stone Payton: You certainly are. Okay, one more time. Those contact points for people.

Julia Cox: Just close with Julia and my broker is one look real estate Gen Jennifer Zielinski. And my phone number is 770722. 6890 and Google and Facebook. It’s just closed with Julia.

Stone Payton: Well, thank you both for coming in today. This has been a marvelous way to invest a Tuesday morning. Your insight, your perspective, your passion, uh, for the work. It just it really comes through. And we sincerely appreciate both of you coming in.

Julia Cox: Thank you.

Julia Cox: Thank you for having us. Yeah.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.

Neuroscience and Archetypal Leadership Communication – WBE Feature

June 4, 2024 by angishields

Women in Motion

Neuroscience and Archetypal Leadership Communication - WBE Feature

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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor interviews Dr. Robin Miller, founder of Articulate Real & Clear, a firm specializing in teaching and coaching leadership and teams with a focus on artistic communication. Dr. Miller discusses the importance of effective communication in building corporate culture, the signs of communication issues, and the coaching process her firm uses, including the concept of “feedforward.” She emphasizes the measurability of their work’s impact on employee engagement and retention. The episode also touches on the firm’s involvement with WBEC West to support women and supplier diversity.

Dr. Robin Miller is an Executive Coach grounded in neuroscience and archetypal leadership communication. She focuses on leadership and teams – how they communicate – how they work and how they resolve conflict to move forward.

Robin is a cofounder and COO of ARTiculate Real & Clear. She holds a PhD in Musicology from The University of North Texas, an MDiv from Iliff School of Theology, and is credentialed through the International Coach Federation (PCC).

Connect with Robin on Linkedin.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women in Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor. WBEC West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on the show, we have Dr. Robin Miller with Articulate Real & Clear. Welcome.

Dr. Robin Miller: Hi. Good morning everyone.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn about your firm. Tell us a little bit about it. How do you serve folks?

Dr. Robin Miller: We are actually product service company, meaning that we teach and coach leadership and teams. We’re service because we serve leadership and teams, and we have specific areas that we focus on which is product. So we have a combination of two. We’ve been in business over 13 years and we’re artists. So we bring the artistic energy to any kind of organization, mostly corporate and some associations to help leaders move forward faster and help teams get along better.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get into this line of work?

Dr. Robin Miller: Oh wow, Lee, that’s that’s what I call the Renaissance woman story. I got into this line of work by getting my education, moving into it as a customer relationship manager, moving into a service line of work with going to Iliff School of Theology here in Denver, and then meeting up with my business partner, and decided that we wanted to bring our artistic skill set to the corporate environment. So we started articulate, real and clear so that we could, as artists, go in and use all the tools and the skills that we’ve learned to go in and help others move forward in their business and move forward in their teens.

Lee Kantor: So you use the word art several times, and it’s obviously part of the word articulate. How do you kind of view art in the business world?

Dr. Robin Miller: It’s an art to communicate well and we focus only on communication. So whether it’s facilitation, whether it’s executive presence, whether it is team building, we are constantly focused on communication. And if you’re building a culture in an organization, you can’t do it without communication. And to do it well, you have to do it artistically, which means finding out what works, how to make it work better, and moving it forward. So as artists, we bring that to the world.

Lee Kantor: Now, how do people realize they have communication issues? Is there some symptoms or some clues that maybe they aren’t communicating as effectively as they think they are?

Dr. Robin Miller: Sometimes I spend a lot of my time with the team doing executive leadership coaching, and sometimes people are sent to me for coaching because in their three 60s, they’re getting information that says they could do some things better. So we go on a coaching journey together and we explore what those things are, and we work on things of so that they can communicate better. It sometimes people want to do a keynote at a conference for an organization, and they don’t feel comfortable getting up. In the past, a lot of people have used the word fear of public speaking to motivate people. And we say, you know what? If you don’t have nerves getting up on the stage, you should get off the stage because we also have nerves as artists. So a clue could be, I want to give keynotes. I want to give some public speaking. I don’t feel comfortable doing it. They would come to us. And then if you have teams that are having difficulty communicating with each other, maybe you were just promoted out of that team to be a leader, and you don’t understand the type of communication that’s needed now, and the role and the strategy that’s needed to be that leader. We also work with those individuals as well as well as the teams.

Lee Kantor: So when you work individually, can you share a little bit about what maybe those first conversations or sessions are like, what do you give them homework to begin? Or like how does it how does it start?

Dr. Robin Miller: We’ll do an intake with individuals and find out from them what they say their goal is, because we’re always driving toward their goal, not our goal as coaches. And as I’m listening to the intake, because I will do the intakes with individuals, I’m finding what else is showing up. And so we call it feedforward. We ask people if they would like the feedforward. They usually say yes, and I’ll say here’s what I’m also noticing as well. Then we will create a journey map for them, for their coaching experience, for the goal that they have and the additional things that showed up. And then they move toward accomplishing those things by the end of their coaching retainer.

Lee Kantor: Now you use the word feed forward instead of feed back. Can you explain?

Dr. Robin Miller: I do use feedforward. I believe that you can’t go back. You can only take information and move it forward. So we’re always feeding forward, feeding the individual forward rather than taking them back. And if I know what wasn’t working well in the past, then I have information that I can change the way that I’m doing something, the way that I’m saying something, and I feed it forward so that I can make a difference.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that a lot of your work is around, um, helping people speak is do you believe that anyone could be a good speaker or is this something you’re born with?

Dr. Robin Miller: I believe. Yes, we can all learn to communicate better. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a conference stage or if you’re one on one talking with your manager, or if you’re a CEO that has never had any kind of presentation executive presence. We can all learn to do things some better. And I will also say, are we all meant to be on the main stage? Probably not. Okay. There are individuals that are driven toward that, and if I have a passion to do that, we can actually help that individual with tools and techniques and coaching to get them on that stage. And then it’s up to them.

Lee Kantor: Is there any kind of low hanging fruit for individuals that maybe the listener right now that, um, has some anxiety around speaking or even leading? Is there some easy things that they can be doing, any actions they can be taking right now that can help them?

Dr. Robin Miller: Yes, I’m going to say, as a coach, we come into this world with breath and we go out of this world with breath. And the thing that that actually supports us to stay connected to our thoughts and the thing that actually gets our voice up and out of our body, and the thing that actually keeps us from. From allowing the cortisol spike to take us over is breath. So we have to pay attention to our breath. Are we holding our breath high and tight? And if we are, then we need to exhale. So many people tell you to inhale, and all that does is, is provide tension up in your shoulder area and gives you a shallow breath. We say it articulate. Exhale first. And then bring the air in and sit with that. It’s a good meditation technique and it’s also a good speaking technique. It all depends on the breath. So first notice what’s happening for you. Is your breath working for you or is your breath working against you?

Lee Kantor: Let’s switch gears a little and talk about maybe the beginning of your journey. Um. Uh, what was it like going after that first client? Um, when you’re an entrepreneur, you say, okay, I’m going to be an entrepreneur. I’m going to go down this path. Was it difficult to communicate that how you were doing things is different than maybe how they have done things in the past, like was that can you share a little bit about what that was like early on as you were kind of, um, crafting your messaging?

Dr. Robin Miller: Yeah, for us, because we had worked in the arts world prior to starting the company. And I say us, my co-owner and I, people knew about us. And so it was the first clients were people who already knew and wanted and knew that we were credible and that we, our team, we and our team were gifted and that we could give them what they were looking for. So they came easily. And I have to say that prior to the pandemic, we call it the dandelion effect. People love the work that we do, and people love the change that they actually experienced. And as they move from company to company, they would bring us into those companies. Now the dandelion effect is starting to show up again, and there were a few years, pandemic wise, where the dandelion effect didn’t work anymore. And you really do have to rely on marketing. So what I’m going to say to people is regardless of your your dandelion effect or your first initial clients getting a really strong marketing program underneath you and getting a really clear message is going to go a long way.

Lee Kantor: Now when it came to your message and your marketing of your message. So how do you go about, um, doing that? Do you lean on education? Do you lean on your own speaking?

Dr. Robin Miller: I’m not sure I so I’m going to practice what I would have my client do. I’m not sure what you’re asking with that question.

Lee Kantor: Well, when you’re transitioning from, uh, getting clients from reputation and referrals and other clients, and now you’re saying I’m going to lean on marketing, how do you, as a firm say, okay, now how do we begin this process to market? Are we going to do it by educating? Are we going to be doing this by going out and speaking more in general to kind of drum up business? So how do you how do you begin your marketing kind of journey?

Dr. Robin Miller: Yes, speaking. It’s what we do and it’s what we coach our clients to do. One on one we have Hillary, the co-owner, is a fantastic, fantastic keynote speaker and she loves to do breakouts and take the main stage. She was just on the ATD stage yesterday down in New Orleans. So we get the word out by actually practicing and doing what what it is that we do, which is speaking and networking, going out and continuing to meet new individuals and finding out what their needs are and building a relationship. Article is about relationship. So as a company, we always let our clients know we are not one and done. We are connected and we’re here to support them during the training, prior to the training and after the training. So for us, we really do walk the talk and believe what we say when we tell our clients. It’s all about relationship and it’s about connection. So keynote speaking, doing podcasts, going out and networking are things that we consider part of our marketing effort.

Lee Kantor: Was there a moment, uh, maybe early in your career that you had that. Aha. Like, this is what I’m meant to do. This is why I do what I do.

Dr. Robin Miller: Yes there was. I was just speaking with one of my teammates this morning, Courtney Cawthorne, and thinking about this podcast. My journey has been one between the balancing act of how do I care and serve others, and how do I learn more about business. And as I made that journey to being part of this company, I’ve realized that I can get bored easily. And the fact that I get to learn and continually learn about business to improve our business, and I get to coach and support other people. The Aha is I’m in the best of both worlds. Constant learning and continuing to take care of others and help them become the best that they, they can and want to be. So that feeds me. And that’s where I thrive.

Lee Kantor: Now is the kind of work that you do when you’re speaking somewhere, or you’re coaching someone to speak. Is this something that is measurable? Is there a way to go, okay, that we have an ROI that I can point to because of that?

Speaker4: You started. You’re starting to sound like my corporate clients.

Dr. Robin Miller: Lee. Yeah. There is. Everything can be measured. And if you have a starting point, if we take a video of you doing one on one coaching and you say, these are my goals, and at the end of the coaching, we take another video of you, then we can see the difference in what you got coached on and how you’re showing up. That can be measured. We just coached with a company here in town in Denver, and they wanted their leadership to understand more about how to deliver feedback in a way that it could be received better and it would improve employee engagement. So a measurement would be we went in and we trained, and we’re supporting them on finding the best way that they can deliver feedback to the individuals on their teams. And at the end of that, we can measure, hey, how have your employee engagements improved and how has the the ease for your managers improved in delivering feedback with the different tools that we offer to them?

Lee Kantor: Is part of the measurement like things. Such as, um, less turnover or, um, you know, more engagement with the employees. Like, what are some of the things that are you are able to measure.

Dr. Robin Miller: I think if someone does an employee engagement and they ask their employees. Do you feel that your leadership is being more transparent with what’s happening in the company, and do you feel that you’re getting the feedback that you need from your leader in a way that speaks to you? That is going to lead to more retention. And it is going to lead to a more engaged workforce. Because if I feel you’re being transparent. Then, and I feel like you’re delivering feedback, which we call feed forward to me, so that you care about me and I can improve more. Then I’m going to stay with that company. If your people are more. Especially in the last year, we’re finding that there are fewer people being driven by money and more are being driven by belonging. And so what are the ways that we can shift things in our communication as leadership and teams to help people feel like they do belong and that they matter and that you are listening.

Lee Kantor: And is an offering a service like yours to the team. A demonstration of the character and culture of the organization.

Dr. Robin Miller: Absolutely. Absolutely. I’m surprised by how many organizations. Find it difficult. To actually open up clearer lines of communication. And the ones that actually do step into it are the companies that I find that are thriving. Because they do care about their employees, and they’re not afraid about what their employees are going to say, because that’s all feed forward for me as an organization. And if I have truth for my employees, then I know what I can shift to make it matter.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I was always a believer that the culture is going to happen whether you’re proactive about it or not, so you might as well be proactive about it and build the culture you you know, you’re proud of and you want.

Dr. Robin Miller: Absolutely. Yeah. And finding out from people what’s going to matter to them that their working relationships have improved, because it’s not always about the leader. We hear a lot about the leaders in writing and in the media. It’s not always about the leader. Sometimes it’s about the people that you work with. And if those relationships improve for them, then that makes it more desirable for them to stay there as well, because they feel like they have a family or a community or a workforce that they click with. So we’re about that as well. How do you make your teams thrive so that people want to stay?

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for your firm, uh, to be involved with we back west?

Dr. Robin Miller: It’s important because early on, I realized that one of the ways to help businesses thrive is through diversification. That’s one of the first businesses principle business principles that I learned. And so by joining this organization, the first thing was I get to diversify my business. The second thing was it’s a women’s organization and it matters to be a part of it and to be credentialed through it. And I, I have a lot of friends and colleagues that are credentialed through this organization. So if I can support women moving forward, uh, supplier diversity moving forward, then I’m going to support that.

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

Speaker4: I need more people to know about.

Dr. Robin Miller: Us and to get the word out that articulate is a woman owned business. We’ve been in business for 13 plus years, that we are a diverse supplier, and we are here to help support them, communicate them, get them up on a main stage if they want to be on the main stage and help make them better or help work with their teams. So getting the word out about us and that we are a vendor that you can trust, and your we are a vendor that we stand behind our word. So. Reach out and we’ll reach back because we want to build relationships and connections that matter. We also want to build partnerships. So if you have a way that we can partner with you, we’re artists, we partner, we collaborate, we want to partner with you.

Lee Kantor: Is there a niche? You mentioned associations, but do you work in certain industries or is it across all sectors?

Dr. Robin Miller: We do work across all sectors. And I just got back from a program. The Tuck Executive Education Program, and I’m bringing all the learning I have from that. I was able to go to that because we’re a diverse supplier and we have that through WebEx. And so, um. Using that to move the business forward and and asking the team if we’re going to niche, what is that niche going to be? And we understand that we work with people really well that want to shift, want to make changes. They’re really bright. They’re usually engineers, they’re it folk. They’re uh. But entrepreneurs that have grown their business and want to take the next step with a new team. We’re part of small business organizations through Vistage, and so these are the individuals that haven’t grown so large that they’ve lost sight of the human being, uh, and need that extra support.

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

Dr. Robin Miller: Where w w w. Articulate. A r t I c u l a t e r c like rc cola. But it stands for real and clear. Articulate. Wrc.com. Go out to our website, find out what we do and how we can support you. And we would love to reach back and create a greater, stronger relationship.

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

Speaker4: Thank you. Lee.

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

BRX Pro Tip: 3 Common Ways to Measure Success of a B2B Podcast

May 16, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: 3 Common Ways to Measure Success of a B2B Podcast

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BRX Pro Tip: 3 Common Ways to Measure Success of a B2B Podcast

Stone Payton: [00:00:01] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, what’s your counsel on measuring the success of your B2B podcast?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:13] Well, there’s one way I like to do it. There’s three ways that most people do it. I’d like to address all three of those things. The first way some people like to measure the success of a B2B podcast is audience growth, like downloads and subscribers. A second way they like to measure is audience engagement, like number of reviews or social media shares. And to me, the most important one is number three, lead generation, like revenue or ROI, return on investment.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:44] There’s a reason that close to 90 percent of B2B podcasts fail, and it’s because the B2B podcaster spends far too much time and energy worried about the cost metrics of audience growth and listener engagement. And they’re not investing enough time on the one metric that matters, which is lead generation and a healthy ROI.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:09] Audience growth and listener engagement are nice to haves. Sure, you want that to happen. that’d be great if that happens. But if your podcast isn’t generating leads and building a healthy ROI, it’s not going to work. Lead generation and healthy ROI is a must have. That’s not a nice to have. Audience growth and listener engagement are nice to have. Sure, that’d be great if that happens, but if it’s not generating leads or money, then why are you doing this?

Lee Kantor: [00:01:37] You know, a B2B podcast is there to grow your business. If it’s not growing your business, it’s not a marketing tool. It’s just a hobby that you get emotional satisfaction from. And I’m not saying that you should stop doing it for that reason. But just understand, if that’s what the objective is, you’re not going to make money from it, you’ll be emotionally satisfied. There’s nothing wrong with that. But don’t consider it a marketing tactic. This is just something you enjoy doing.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:06] So, if you want to use a B2B podcast as a marketing vehicle, then focus in on the metric that matters, and that’s lead generation and having an ROI. And that’s something that we do at Business RadioX. That’s why our podcasts go on for a long time, our clients stay with us for a long time because we’re focused like a laser on growing their business, focusing on the metric that matters, which is lead generation and ROI. That’s how we want to be judged, not by audience or engagement. Those are nice to haves. So, when you’re ready to fix your broken B2B podcast, hang out with us at Business RadioX.

Attorney Howard Abrams

May 6, 2024 by angishields

Chicago Business Radio

Attorney Howard Abrams

00:00 /

In this episode of Chicago Business Radio, Stone Payton interviews Howard Abrams, a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney, about his journey in the legal profession and the mission of his law firm. Abrams shares insights into the complexities of personal injury cases, emphasizing the importance of building trust and establishing a personal relationship with clients. He discusses the evolving landscape of personal injury law, including changes in courtroom procedures and the challenges posed by insurance companies. Abrams also provides valuable advice for individuals involved in accidents, emphasizing the significance of seeking legal counsel and avoiding common pitfalls.

Howard S. Abrams is the founding partner, specializing in personal injury, at the Howard Abrams Law in Chicago, Illinois, where he handles and oversees a wide variety of plaintiffs’ personal injury and professional negligence matters, both pre-litigation and through trial.

Howard has been the lead trial attorney in over 50 jury and bench trials, successfully resolving numerous cases through mediation and arbitration. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and his law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago, Howard was a trial attorney at various Chicago-based law firms for nearly a decade before opening his own firm in 2016, where he has dedicated himself to serving all of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs with passionate legal representation.

Connect with Howard on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:05] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Chicago, Illinois, it’s time for Chicago Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:18] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Chicago Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Howard Abrams Law, the man himself, Mr. Howard Abrams. How are you, man?

Howard Abrams: [00:00:36] Good. Thanks for having me, Stone.

Stone Payton: [00:00:38] Oh, delighted to have you on the show, man. I got a ton of questions. I, I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I, I think maybe a good place to start is if you could give us just a little bit of an overview, mission, purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks, man.

Howard Abrams: [00:00:56] Well, I mean, I’ve been a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney since 2006. And, you know, I started my career like everyone else did in, uh, you know, law firm law clerking, learning how things go, and then realized there’s two worlds to, you know, being a lawyer. There’s the courtroom, uh, where I spent the first ten plus years of my career. And then there’s the claims side where you try to resolve cases outside the courtroom. And I took a sort of hybrid approach when I started my law firm in 2016 of handling both prelate and litigation files. And I found that, you know, the litigation skills don’t go away as long as you keep going to court. But there is a different area of the law and practice of handling these claims outside the court when the clients first got injured. So my focus has been since Covid, when things kind of came a little bit of a halt in the litigation arena on helping clients really at the beginning of the cases, which in turn helps them at the end of the case.

Stone Payton: [00:01:58] So what prompted you to go out on your own?

Howard Abrams: [00:02:03] Uh, it’s a good question. I didn’t it wasn’t one exact moment. It was sort of a domino effect of like. Things happening in my career and the law firms I was at while I had good relationships there. Didn’t really have anywhere for me to like, advance or be promoted. You know, there’s partners and. There could be an equity or non-equity or, you know, you can pay people more and all those types of things. But once you. Uh, develop a clientele or way to get cases. It’s hard to stay somewhere that doesn’t, you know, value that. And so the firms I was at at the time, while they valued my skills as an attorney, I didn’t think valued, you know, the business I was bringing in. And after talking to other colleagues who had went out on their own, it seemed like that was at least a no brainer approach to my next step. Instead of just trying to find another law firm that might value me that I had no relationship with besides, you know, knowing who each other were.

Stone Payton: [00:03:06] So after all those years of practicing and now particularly out on your own, what’s what’s the most rewarding man? What’s the most fun about the work for you?

Howard Abrams: [00:03:17] The fun part is, while it’s usually the hardest part on the clients is giving them, not always. It’s not necessarily legal advice where it’s about the law, like you get in a car accident. It’s not rocket science to figure out right and wrong, right? Like we know what the traffic laws are. We can kind of, you know, use common sense approaches to who was at fault or, you know, it’s the little games that the insurance companies like to play in the beginning. And it’s amazing. Even though people know the answers, they’re just not expecting that, like they’re being put to a test by the insurance companies. And when I give them this, you know, introductory or free consult, and then they become my client, you know, they’re like, oh, all that stuff you told me was true. And like, because it happens to them. Because even though insurance companies technically aren’t supposed to call clients, once they know they’re retained by attorneys, they still do. And, you know, it’s only, you know, for the benefit of the insurance company, not for the injured party.

Stone Payton: [00:04:17] So how does the whole, I guess, the whole sales and marketing thing worked for a law practice? Because you don’t really need a personal injury attorney until you need one, right?

Howard Abrams: [00:04:29] Oh, that is something that I’ve been trying to figure out, you know, especially since I’ve been out on my own and there’s sort of two schools of thought. There is, you know, the good old fashioned advertising. You used to see it, you still see it, but billboards, TV commercials, it used to be the good old Yellow Pages, which not many people even know what those are anymore. Um, then, you know, the internet era of Google is still the. Traditional way to advertise, which you know is only increasing. Um, but then there’s this good old fashioned marketing where there’s a lot of lawyers, there’s a lot of professionals that are lawyers that get in touch or people that get injured have contact with, and it’s knowing how to market to them or being able to be a leader or a presence. Um, so those people seek you out when they are recommending attorneys to somebody who was injured. So I take the latter approach.

Stone Payton: [00:05:33] Got it. So I bet there’s been a lot of changes in your in your tenure as an attorney. Has a lot changed over the years.

Howard Abrams: [00:05:44] Yes. Um. Too many to count or too many to talk about. But, you know, the biggest changes are that, you know, things used to be done, you know, the old fashioned way on typewriters and mail and, you know, you would go to court and come back and write up a whole summary where now with technology and apps, you know, I can communicate with my clients via text or, uh, email, obviously the court system. Until Covid, I would say didn’t go through a lot of changes. I mean, yes, they have increased the use of technology, but you still had to go to court in person. Um, zoom didn’t really come into play at all. I didn’t even know what it was until Covid hit. Mhm. Um, they knew what a video call was, but I don’t think I ever did one besides maybe Skype, you know, which I’m not even sure if that still exists. Uh, but what has happened now is the ability for remote proceedings has allowed one attorney’s to branch across multiple jurisdictions where you usually just practice where you, you know, your office is. And two, I’ve seen a lot of law firm growth in terms of these we could call mega firms. I don’t know how you would define it, but these firms that are starting to go nationwide. And while that’s not to discount that they are they have quality lawyers. You just don’t know unless you do your research as a client, if that attorney is even, you know, present in the state, which I think has some downside, if you are, you know, considering a court case.

Stone Payton: [00:07:22] Yeah. I’ll bet. All right. Let’s talk about the work a little bit. And, um, I guess the only way I know to attack this is from my perspective, if if I think I might have a claim or I’ve been in an accident or something, I reach out to you or I’ve been referred to you because I have another trusted advisor in some other capacity that says, oh, for that, you need to talk to Howard. Um, I come to your office, we sit down and chat. What? What is that? Especially the early stages of that engagement or process look like?

Howard Abrams: [00:07:54] Yeah. I mean, a lot of it is fact finding. I mean, usually if, you know, we’ll use automobiles because those are the bread and butter and personal injury. Although I do every type of personal injury case from, you know, slip and falls premises, uh, animal attacks. Uh, you know, medical malpractice, which is, you know, a very complicated field. There’s construction, I mean, but, you know, the the, the majority of cases do fall in the automobile, uh, arena. Um, in this day and age, I mean, people don’t even usually have the police report. I mean, they get, like a report number, which is then uploaded to a site like LexisNexis or some, depending on the the size of the county or town that you get the accident in. You have to do a FOIA request, but it’s getting the accident report that’s, you know, the starting point of any good consult. Mhm. Um, you know, obviously you’re going to get the version that the driver or a passenger that they have. And but a lot of times they come in and they don’t even necessarily, you know, know they just know they got hit like they don’t know where the person came from or what speed they were going. So you know, the police reports, the big part, I then, you know, still believe in good old fashioned investigative work where, you know, not on every case, but I will tend to take my client to the scene of the accident, because you will find that when you bring someone to the scene of any sort of trauma, no matter big or small, things come back to them. They remember certain things that you, you know, there’s just, you know, it’s one thing if you’re stopped at a red light and you get rear ended, it’s another thing if the driver’s coming from, you get T-boned.

Howard Abrams: [00:09:39] And you said you had a green light and the police report says, you know, both drivers said they had the green light. We both know that’s not possible, but somebody’s not telling the truth. Right. So I tend to, you know, sometimes I just meet them initially at the scene if it’s convenient because the sooner I can get there with them in time, as opposed to going out there six months later, you’d be amazed on the information that I can get from a client, and it’s a free consult in the beginning. Or even if they’re signed up, I’m not charging them an hourly rate or contingency fee, so we only get paid at the end of the case if we collect for them. So all these things we’re doing is for their benefit. And why would I do something that wasn’t, you know, the further the prospects of the case, you know, and I find that the clients that want to meet me in person or want to go to the scene, you know, they have a vested interest and are probably, you know, injured to the point where, you know, there’s things going on there. We don’t know the extent, but they have a real injury. They’re not just, oh, I got bumped and bruised and yes, you have a case, but do you really need a lawyer? You know, for some bumps and bruises you should probably handle, you know, talk to the insurance company on your own.

Stone Payton: [00:10:47] Uh, so these scenarios, um, any of them that you describe strike me as a, a good opportunity to shoot yourself in the foot if you don’t, um, if you don’t at least consult with someone like you first, or do you run into some of the same mistakes over and over, or or do you find yourself, you know, like very quickly saying, okay, do this, do this. Whatever you do, don’t do that till we talk, that kind of thing.

Howard Abrams: [00:11:13] Yeah. I mean, there’s some golden rules that any attorney who’s been, you know, actually does this type of practice and not just, you know, represents them. Because once you’re an attorney, you can, you know, there’s no like it’s not like medicine where you get, you know, you get a subspecialty in orthopedics or anesthesiology or, you know, ear, nose and throat. Any lawyer can do personal injury. Just like I could hold myself out as a criminal lawyer, you know, there’s nothing that all I need is a license. I don’t need anything else. What? You know what separates, I think, myself or others that have had the experience I have, and I have almost 20 years of plaintiffs personal injury work, having started off as a litigator in the courtroom doing jury trials. You see the end of the case, right? And the end of the case, good or bad? Mostly good in my world. Um, you’re prepared for anything then, right? You know, so talking to somebody now, 15 years later or 14 years later, when I went out on my own talking to people at the beginning of the case, I was already thinking about the end of the case, what jurors told me, what mistakes clients made and what the you know, all those things help, you know, separate. I think the attorneys that actually, you know, do more than just file an insurance claim for the plaintiff, uh, or potential plaintiff. And, um, you know, I think that shows when I meet with a client, right.

Howard Abrams: [00:12:37] Like, anyone can tell you anything over the phone, anybody can. You know, everyone can be a salesman for something. Um, but where I, where I remind people, is what those conversations they have at the beginning about. Hey, you’re going to get a call from the insurance company, you’re going to get a call from, you know, four other lawyers looking for your business. That’s fine. You know, that’s just the world we work in. You don’t just get, you know, one lawyer recommendation these days. Um, and if you go on Google, you can get a thousand. Um, it’s telling them the things up front that they’re going to experience or what they’re not going to experience. I can tell sometimes just from talking to a potential client, I guarantee you I had one the other day I signed up, uh, he’s out of state in Maryland, but he was here for work in a rental car. Right. Which nothing wrong with that. He gets rear ended, he returns the Hertz rental car, um, for property damage. He was going home three days later. He didn’t think he was seriously hurt. So he’s like, I’ll see how I feel. He went home. He wasn’t feeling well, so he went to the, you know, urgent care at home and his family doctor at home. And he got my name from a prior client. And when I talked to him, I go it had been almost a week, right. Which doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but in automobile world, that’s a lot can happen in a week.

Howard Abrams: [00:13:53] I go, well, have you heard from XYZ Insurance Company? You know, um, and he goes, no. And I go, well, you’re never going to hear from them. And he goes, why not? I’m like, because you’re in a Hertz rental car with no reported injury from Hertz, because they probably didn’t even ask you. And Hertz is only concerned about getting the car fixed. And, you know, I said, you know, he signed my paperwork, but I haven’t even sent out my letter rep to the insurance company because I wanted to get some medical records in. It’s been now two weeks, and he called me the other day. He’s like, yeah, I haven’t heard anything. I was like, you won’t. They’re gonna they’re gonna get a letter from me as their first knowledge because insurance companies aren’t. You know, actively looking for claims, right? You know, but they’re looking at this as a property damage only claim they’re not going to even ask for it if the other party was injured. They want to wait for you to make the claim. So you know that that gentleman, had he not had his friend who I represented successfully, might have waited a month. And that doesn’t necessarily mean he does he still have a claim? Yes. But had he not sought medical treatment, had he not taught, you know, then they’re denying the case just because they don’t believe he’s injured.

Stone Payton: [00:15:04] In the path to take can can vary. When you take all that into account, you do your investigation. You get the information. You may very well go. My whole frame of reference for this is watching stuff on TV. So forgive me, but you, you, you might go to a courtroom, or you might take a whole different path and settle and settle it out of a courtroom environment. Yes.

Howard Abrams: [00:15:28] Of course. And listen, I don’t avoid court. I mean, that’s. Silly, for lack of a better word. I’m not trying to think of a better word to put out. You know, uh, put on it. But port is long. It is exhausting. And the insurance companies know that, and they are built to withstand the time. Right. It’s not their you know, they are a business corporation. You know, they have X, you know, millions of dollars, you know, otherwise they’d be out of business. Um, they don’t care if a case lasts three, 4 or 5 years. But in Illinois, for example, it’s a two year statute of limitations for personal injury. So you have up to two years. You don’t have to wait that long. And most attorneys don’t. But you don’t also want to rush off and file a lawsuit, because in Cook County, where the city of Chicago is, where my office is, is, you know, the. You know, third largest media market. And I think it’s I think besides Los Angeles County, the highest volume of um, cases are filed. Wow. Statistics. So, yes. Does everybody get their day in court under our legal system? Of course. But it’s going to take longer than in a smaller town or where there’s only so many files or cases.

Howard Abrams: [00:16:52] Do we have more judges? Yeah, we do, but there’s always, you know, short judges or short staff or short jurors, and you wait and wait and wait. I tell any client from the beginning that if we can’t resolve their case outside of court, you plus and you have to file a lawsuit on average, you will wait. I tell them 2 to 3 years, and I can probably count on one hand the amount of cases. I got the jury trial in two years. Wow. It is much closer. Three and that was before Covid. Covid then had a backlog. Depending on who you ask, they will tell you that that backlog has cleaned up. I, I am skeptical of that belief, but you know it doesn’t. It is still 2 to 3 years minimum as opposed to 2 to 3 years in your case will be resolved. Um, and that’s in addition to the one, you know, six months, a year, 18 months, up to two years that you might try and resolve it outside of. So you’re talking 4 to 5 years to go to jury trial from when the accident actually happened.

Stone Payton: [00:17:55] Wow. This is a very sobering conversation. Okay, let’s go back to the one where the guy got rear ended or anything like that. What if I’m the guy that did the rear ending? Should I still also maybe be in touch with a with some legal counsel as well, just in anticipation of what might be coming down the pike?

Howard Abrams: [00:18:15] Uh, yeah. I mean, I tell every client or potential client, I should say, or any referral source, they’re like, oh, so and so I said, have them call me. I tell them, or call somebody, right. Like one. It’s free. I mean, like, I know that’s like silly and that’s like a line on every advertisement. Like, no, you know, it is literally a free consult. It doesn’t cost you anything but your time. And sometimes you don’t know what may or may not be coming down the pipeline. That’s what talking to an attorney does, is it gives you one free advice and help you. Sometimes I call clients and I tell them, yes, you have a case, yes, I can help you, but it’s really not worth your time and energy to hire a lawyer because you told me you went to the emergency room only you’re not going to seek follow up treatment. It’s been 45 days since the accident. Your car has been fixed by the insurance company. You just don’t know what to settle for.

Stone Payton: [00:19:13] Right.

Howard Abrams: [00:19:14] And you don’t want an attorney for that situation. But calling an attorney, someone like me and will still give him a five minute talk and I say, hey, what’s your er bill? And I’ll, I’ll be like, I would demand something like this. Do I get paid on it? No. Will that person ever call me again? No, no, but it doesn’t hurt. Um, you know, from a marketing standpoint, that person might know somebody or think of something like helping people out is, you know what I’m in the business of doing? I would always say, even if you don’t think it’s the case, or even if you’re not sure, you should always call an attorney, because even the ones that will charge you the initial consult or initial call isn’t going to cost you. They don’t charge you 500 bucks just to get on the phone. They do go running. Um, it can’t hurt. It can only help. So, you know, that’s my my, you know, long and winded answer to that is I would always call an attorney if you’re concerned whether from a defendant or a plaintiff side. Okay.

Stone Payton: [00:20:09] So from either side. Yeah that’s okay. So like even if I think or know that it’s pretty sure it’s my fault, then at least have a conversation.

Howard Abrams: [00:20:17] I’d have a conversation and you call your insurance company because that’s what you’re paying them for.

Stone Payton: [00:20:21] Gotcha. And then I guess I and maybe the maybe, you know, good counsel. I don’t have to worry about it too much, but I gotta I gotta say, I’m a little intimidated at this point. Like, I don’t even know what to ask or or what red flags are like. If if I were to hire a consultant, I came from that world. I know some things to look for, but I don’t know what to red flags, you know, yellow flags and or green flags. And talking to a potential engaging an attorney.

Howard Abrams: [00:20:50] Yeah. I think, you know, the good advice is that it sounds too good to be true. You know, it still rings true for anything in the sales world, right? If an attorney tells you he could do it quicker or cheaper. There’s a reason why. Because you’re not getting the same level of service. I mean, personal injury work has been, you know, around since the United States, you know, developed its legal system, right, like in some fashion. And personal injury contracts have more or less looked the same for well over 100 years. I don’t know how long exactly. I’d have to do some digging on that answer, but there’s no there’s nothing in a personal injury like retainer contract that shouldn’t tell you exactly what the fees are. You’re you’re paying that there’s no fee unless you recover. You know what costs are. You know that the attorney is fronting and can reimburse for. And then every state has like a right to in Illinois, it’s like up to five days after you sign a contract, you can null and void it for any reason with either side. Like if you don’t understand the document that you’re signing, then you know and the attorney doesn’t explain it to you. There’s your first red flag, right? You know, I always when I get on the phone and I explain what I do, I, you know, I give them a short version, the legal documents longer it’s one page because they’re not going to look at anything longer than that. And I always tell them, read it.

Howard Abrams: [00:22:15] Any questions, let me know you know, and we’ll go through it line by line if you want. But you know the attorneys or. People that you know are just looking to make a quick buck. As I like to say to clients, they’re the ones rushing in to sign the paperwork, rushing you to settle the case, doing everything just what seems like very quickly, which again, you know, I believe I know people get frustrated with the length of a case sometimes and like you are hearing me talk about and I’m not saying longer is better, but you have to take into account a timeline, right? If you get into an accident. And you’re hurt. At a minimum, it’s usually a 2 to 3 month acute injury phase where you’re getting treatment or therapy or seeing specialists. Right. And any good lawyer is going to. Even if you sign up the client from day one, I don’t evaluate a case for settlement until I see a discharge from therapy. The specialist, wherever, because that tells me that the client has healed right? And then I still wait another 30 days because people have setbacks. So you’re talking about at a minimum from date of accident, six months is what I tell clients before I’m even talking to the insurance company about a settlement, because I don’t know what your injury is. How can I evaluate or make a demand or make any sort of suggestion about what your case is worth if you’re still in treatment or you’re still hurting?

Stone Payton: [00:23:51] Sounds to me like rushing it is probably. There must be several mistakes and pitfalls, but like the biggest mistake you could possibly make and in trying to in filing a claim is just getting in a hurry.

Howard Abrams: [00:24:06] Correct. I always tell clients like the consult, and if you and the other benefit of what I’ve learned from the prelate phase, what I call outside accord is, you know, luckily I do get a lot of clients relatively soon to the accident, which isn’t an easy thing to do, is they get this free advice. And I said, listen, you can sign with me six months from now, right? But you’re still going to pay me the same attorney’s fee. I don’t reduce my attorney’s fees because I work for me less. It’s contingency by signing with me on, you know, day one or day seven, whatever day it is after the accident. Now you get to call. I mean, I don’t want you to call me every day, but you get to ask me whatever questions you want because you hired me as your attorney, and that’s my job. And I walk them through this, you know, step by step. And there’s a lot of, you know, a lot of attorneys just want to go to court. Um, and that’s okay. But there’s a lot to work to do before you go to court. And that’s where I’ve sort of specialized the last few years, is walking these clients through these steps in anticipation that if I can settle it with the insurance company. You don’t have these red flags or pitfalls in your case in the courtroom that, you know, the defense attorney is going to try and wave the wave, the flag about that, why you’re not as injured as bad as you say you are.

Stone Payton: [00:25:25] I’ll tell you something that’s coming to light for me during the course of this conversation, I guess I in my mind, I was thinking that your relationship with the attorney would be more transactional. But it seems to me like you’ve got to establish so much trust and that, I mean, your work is really pretty heavily grounded in relationship, everything from the sales and marketing aspect of it, but actually trying to work with and get the best set of results for a client. I mean, it’s really pretty heavily grounded in relationship, isn’t it?

Howard Abrams: [00:25:57] I think, you know, I think you nailed it right on the head. And that’s the service that I’m trying to offer my clients is there are a lot of good litigators out there. I would not pretend then to, you know, say that who’s the best? And there’s a lot of, you know, media or marketing or advertising that says that, you know, this attorney is the best here, this one. There’s a lot of us, you know, who can litigate. And yes, some, I guess, you know, it’s subjective, some objective. Who’s the best one. And, you know, I’m not even gonna, you know, pretend to say that that’s who that is or why that is. What I think is important is again. It’s not. We’re not talking a you know, there are complex personal injury cases. Okay. There’s product liability and things like that where, you know, people have developed specialties and that’s why it’s good to, you know, be in the industry for a while. You can refer cases to other attorneys if you think it’s something outside your wheelhouse. But for your standard personal injury case or for an auto case, um, I think the personal level of service is something that is missing, you know, and it’s not required. It’s not something that is, you know, you’re required to do to handle the case. But it’s personal injury. It’s personal. I’m like, I’m not trying to make a joke, but it is personal. So I mean, you got hurt like you lost time from work or all those different, you know, areas of damages.

Howard Abrams: [00:27:21] But, you know, those are the main ones. It’s very personal to the client. And yes, it’s a transactional, you know, relationship. But, you know, someone told me a long time ago, you almost like, you know, a therapist for the client to, you know, I would recommend they see, you know, factual help if they really need it. But they’re going through a lot. Their car needs to get fixed and they need it for work. They, you know, their job won’t give them time off to seek medical treatment. All these things that they have to deal with because someone else caused an accident or caused them an injury that they’re not, you know, necessarily going to get compensated for. Because at the end of the day, an insurance claim is a loss for the insurance, right? They’re in the business of writing underwriting policies and collecting premiums and investing that money for their business. The claims department is where they lose money. So their goal at the end of the day is not to just pay you off. Their goal is to pay you as little as they can or not at all, because it’s better for their business. Bottom line. So, you know, taking those two things into account if you don’t establish some sort of personal relationship, I don’t know how you can best represent a client in this business.

Stone Payton: [00:28:33] Well said. So what’s next for you? You’re going to try to grow the firm and expand what’s on the horizon for you.

Howard Abrams: [00:28:43] Um, expansion is definitely a consideration. I think I’d like to continue to focus on the early stages. I know how to litigate, and I can teach other attorneys how to do that. So I’m happy to sort of push some of that work onto, you know, other attorneys or, uh, as I grow my law firm and continue to focus on, like, the early stages, I can always go. I mean, I’m never going to stop going to court. Uh, it’s time consuming. And, you know, I find lately that I’m better service of my clients in the beginning. And as long as my law firm can offer every stage, whether it’s me, you know, the whole time or other people taking over, if we go to court, I’m comfortable with that. And, you know, I think I could do the best for my clients by being involved, um, early on and staying involved early on and not being like, oh, can I call you later? Because you can get stuck in court all day. And the client. Yes. You know, their question may might not have been urgent, but it was important to them.

Howard Abrams: [00:29:49] And it’s hard for me to be able to, you know, have a full conversation with them because the judge is, you know, yelling at me to get in the courtroom. So, yeah, I mean, that is the plan is to continue, you know, to expand so that I, you know, because when you’re in pre-suit there, besides the statute of limitations to file the claim, there’s no deadlines. You know, the insurance company might make you think there are or that you have to get them something or they’re not going to. That’s just, um, you know, trying to make you do things that you don’t want to do is I can take the time, whether it’s a five second conversation or a five hour conversation, I hope not with my clients, I can I can give that level of service because the other attorneys in my firm are handling the court calls and the court cases, and if I need to go to court, I will, but it won’t be. You know, I used to spend every day of my life in court, and it can be exhausting.

Stone Payton: [00:30:47] I’ll bet. All right, man, what’s the best way to contact you? Have a conversation with you or someone on the team. Whatever you feel like is appropriate website, email, LinkedIn, whatever.

Howard Abrams: [00:30:58] Yes, it’s all pretty easy. It’s Howard Abrams Law.com is the website, uh, phone number (312) 985-7368. And if you want to reach me by email Howard at Howard Abrams Law com.

Stone Payton: [00:31:13] Well, Howard, it has been a real delight having you on the program. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for your insight, your perspective. We sure appreciate it, man. You’re doing important work.

Howard Abrams: [00:31:26] I appreciate your time today. This was a lot of fun.

Stone Payton: [00:31:28] My pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Howard Abrams with Howard Abrams Law, and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you again on Chicago Business Radio.

Breaking Down the Complexities of Insurance: A Conversation with Snellings Walters

May 2, 2024 by angishields

SSBRX-Snellings-Walters-Insurance-feature

Sandy Springs Business Radio

Breaking Down the Complexities of Insurance: A Conversation with Snellings Walters

00:00 /

In this episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, Lee Kantor discusses Snellings Walters Insurance Agency with team members Chip Renno, Kurt Seiler, and David Roos. They delve into the agency’s services, history, and client-focused approach. Chip highlights the agency’s independence and ability to offer a wide range of insurance options. Kurt talks about providing employee benefits to help companies attract talent while ensuring compliance with regulations. David focuses on educating small business owners about the importance of comprehensive coverage. The team emphasizes their commitment to personalized service and building long-term client relationships in a challenging insurance market.

Chip Renno specializes in the design and placement of the most favorable Property and Casualty Insurance and Risk Management programs achievable in the marketplace. Chip has worked diligently to be an advocate and professional advisor for his wide variety of commercial clients for over 30 years.

Chip received his undergraduate degree in Risk Management from Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. He believes continuing education is essential in the Insurance Industry, so he continuously strives to learn and grow.

His passion for industry knowledge has led him to earning several sought-after professional designations including: CIC (CertifiedInsurance Counselor), CRM (Certified Risk Manager), ARM (Associate of RiskManagement), CPIA (Certified Professional Insurance Agent), and CWCP (Certified Workers’ Compensation Professional).

Outside of Snellings Walters, Chip and his wife Tammy enjoy spending time with their two sons. They also enjoy supporting their community via various charitable causes. Some of Chip’s hobbies include snowboarding, golfing, and wakeboarding.

A Georgia native from the Atlanta area, David Roos began his college career at Rhodes College where he was a member of their baseball program. After two years at Rhodes, David decided to transfer to the University of Georgia where he graduated from the Terry College of Business with a degree in Risk Management and Insurance.

David’s interest in insurance began during his first internship at Snellings Walters in the summer of 2021 and then continued the internship program during the following summer.

David’s experience playing college athletics taught him valuable relationship and time management skills that drive his success. In his free time, David can be found spending time with friends and family, enjoying the outdoors, and cheering on his favorite sports teams, the Atlanta Braves and all UGA Athletics.

Kurt Seiler began his insurance career on the carrier side working for State Farm during his college days at Kennesaw State University. He learned through early formative experiences that insurance wasn’t just about a policy or a piece of paper that says you’re covered – it’s about having the client’s back and fulfilling promises.

His favorite career moment to this day is riding along with that State Farm agent as he hand-delivered a loss-of-use check to a homeowner whose house had just burned to the ground the night before. “Without that immediate assistance from our office, he might not have been able to get a roof over their head or a rental car for his family that week.

In that moment he realized money was not just a means of keeping score, but rather to accomplish the necessary utilities of life. What really has meaning is being there for your family, your clients, and your community when they need it the most.

Fastforwarding to now with almost a decade of experience on the independent agency side, those early lessons still have a strong hold on Kurt. He will never lose sight of what matters – protecting families and employees through the conduit of insurance.

Kurt grew up in Atlanta and still resides in the heart of the city today. An avid fan of competition and challenging puzzles, he is a participant in combat sports and competitive swimming.
In his downtime, he enjoys touring Georgia’s vineyards with his girlfriend and scooter surfing Atlanta’s “beltline.”

Follow Snellings Walters on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: [00:00:24] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today we’re doing a special episode focusing in on Snellings Walters Insurance Agency. We have with us today a few folks from that agency, and we’re going to lead off with Chip Renno, one of the principals. Welcome, Chip.

Chip Renno: [00:00:45] Thank you, Lee, for having us.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] Well, I am so excited to learn what you are up to. Tell us a little bit about Snellings Walters. How are you serving folks?

Chip Renno: [00:00:54] We are privately owned insurance agency located here in Sandy Springs. I’ve been in business for over 70 years, started in 1952 by John Snellings, and we have about 85 employees and do insurance in a number of different areas commercial property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, personal lines, insurance, etc..

Lee Kantor: [00:01:24] So what was the genesis of the agency like? How did this come about?

Chip Renno: [00:01:29] So John Snelling started the agency as mainly a personal lines agency and a small business agency, and ran it with another partner, Nunley Walters, for probably about 20 years, and then eventually brought in their son, his son, Clay Snellings, who is still with the firm. Clay has been with the firm for about 35 years.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:54] And then, as it always been, based in Sandy Springs.

Chip Renno: [00:01:57] Always based in Sandy Springs.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:58] And what kind of what draws you to Sandy Springs? Why is that so important for you all to be based out of here?

Chip Renno: [00:02:05] Well, central Atlanta is a great place to be because we can we have clients all over metro Atlanta, and it’s very convenient for them and for us when we go to see the clients and when the clients come to see us.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:20] Now, is insurance still done kind of that face to face in person, or is that something that your agency strives to do?

Chip Renno: [00:02:26] We strive to see our clients in person. Uh, do as few zoom calls as I can, but we have obviously a lot of clients who prefer to do a zoom when things are busy, and it’s hard to get a lot of people together in the same place. And so we do. We do both.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:44] Now, when a business person is shopping for insurance, like, what are some of the do’s and don’ts in order to find the right agency for your firm?

Chip Renno: [00:02:54] They want to interview the multiple agents. And we always tell prospective clients, pick who you like best, who who you think is going to do the best job for you, somebody that you like and trust, and then let that person go to market for you, assuming that they represent a, you know, a tremendous amount of insurance companies like we do.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:16] And then that’s one of your niches is that you are independent, that you’re not representing one firm and kind of force fitting everybody into that one.

Chip Renno: [00:03:25] Correct? Correct. We represent about 60 different insurance companies directly, and then we have a lot of indirect representation as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:33] And that benefits the end user, because now they’re getting kind of the whole market to choose from rather than just being force fit into one solution.

Chip Renno: [00:03:41] That’s correct. So we represent all of the national insurance companies like the travelers and Hartfords of the world. And then we also represent about 95% of the regional insurance companies who do business primarily in the southeast.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:54] And then your insurance, at least. Um, in my personal, the insurance company is one thing and my insurance agent is another. How do you kind of help when something does go wrong? And I need to kind of lean on the insurance that I have been paying for. Like, how do you advocate for your clients?

Chip Renno: [00:04:13] Well, we we advocate both from a coverage standpoint, if we need to buy, you know, additional limits of umbrellas or we need to buy more property coverage, then we go with work with the underwriter on getting that negotiated. Um, and rates as well. Of course, we’re always negotiating rates, but.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:33] When something goes wrong is that do I call you or I’m calling that agent agency that I was that you helped us.

Chip Renno: [00:04:40] The insurance company know that typically you’re coming to us and then we’re advocating whether it’s a claim problem, a coverage problem, something like that. Then you’re coming directly to us and then we’re handling it where your.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:51] Advocate now is that kind of where the value comes in. Is that your secret sauce?

Chip Renno: [00:04:57] Absolutely. We are we dig into the details. We’re, um, very high on giving coverage, advice to clients, giving them options to look at. We have our own claims advocacy group, practice group that helps with specific claims, um, help. And, um, we have people that are doing specifically marketing for our accounts as well out to the insurance companies.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:23] Now, your firm, uh, has several focuses, right? I mean, you have a couple of folks here that are in charge, I guess, of each of those. Can you correct?

Chip Renno: [00:05:31] We have Kurt Seiler, who is in our employee benefits department and handles all sides of accounts. And we also have David Roos, who is with us, who works directly and indirectly with me on, um, the emerging market clients that are in this smaller space, um, typically those clients whose revenues are, you know, anywhere from zero up to a couple million dollars in revenue.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:59] All right. So let’s get into it with Kurt. Welcome, Kurt.

Kurt Seiler: [00:06:02] Thanks for having me, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:03] Well, uh, tell us about your specialty. How are you serving, folks?

Kurt Seiler: [00:06:07] Sure. So, uh, employee benefits is mainly designed for most companies to retain, retain and attract talent. But how we add value is to look out for compliance issues, to make sure that the government isn’t fining you or, uh, putting penalties on your company because you’re not doing something right. We all know about the Affordable Care Act, so that changed a lot of things. And the employee benefits and medical plan marketplace.

David Roos: [00:06:33] Um.

Kurt Seiler: [00:06:33] Uh, one of the common mistakes I see when I look at a company is say they have 100 or more enrolled, and they haven’t filed 5500 forms to report their benefit plans. Who’s in it, what the employees are getting for it, uh, how they’re covered. And those fines are pretty steep. Uh, the Department of Labor will find you $2,600 a day with no cap. The IRS can find you a few hundred dollars a day with $150,000 cap. So say you have a broker or agent who just hasn’t been paying attention to your health plan. They’ve just been giving you cookie cutter policies over the years and renewing you at increases. Uh, if they haven’t paid attention to the details and the compliance stuff, then your company could get, you know, serious penalty and fines and that’ll really affect your cash flow of your business. So what we do in employee benefits is keep an eye on that, provide you with coverage to keep your employees happy, help them get access to care. And also when claims come through on the back end, we make sure that they’re getting paid out correctly and promptly. So your doctor isn’t, you know, sending you bills in the mail over and over and maybe restricting your access to care.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:35] So, uh, is there a niche that you specialize in? Like, does a company have to be of a certain size to benefit from your service?

Kurt Seiler: [00:07:42] You know, that’s something we try to accommodate for because some of the larger firms like an Aon, you know, big publicly traded corporation, they don’t really pay attention to the to the small and medium sized business. Even a company with a few hundred employees to them is is not really a focus. We try to serve everybody, especially the people in our community, and we can at least give you advice if you’re a small company with five employees. But, uh, where we can help the most is probably companies between 25 to 300 employees. Mhm. Uh, that’s where we can get creative with the medical plans. We can put you in plans that give you an opportunity to earn profit back from your plan. Uh, for example, if you don’t have the amount of claims in a specific year that that they expect, you can actually get a surplus back, uh, from your medical insurance carrier. That’s something a lot of people don’t know about. You think you just pay premiums into the insurance marketplace and, uh, you know, it’s just sunk cost. But that’s not always the case. Uh, if you can get creative with the plan design, you can put in certain, uh, lost control, uh, tactics, like a pharmacy benefit manager. You can get them, you know, like I said, level funded, self-funded plans. Uh, you can also help them go to certain pharmacies where the cost of the prescriptions are lower. You can get them a better network of doctors and make sure that it’s they’re billing you the correct amount in comparison to the area’s claims. Uh, there’s a lot of things you can do to to bring value back into the business, and we can get most creative in that space.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:14] Now, are your clients, uh, is this the first time they’ve worked with an agency like yours, or are they moving to you from something? Or is this, uh, you know, are they leaving a competitor to come to you? Like, what’s kind of the the, uh, point of you getting involved with them?

Kurt Seiler: [00:09:32] Yeah, typically they’ve been on a plan with a with an agent or a broker for many years, and they just haven’t looked at it. They’re getting ten, 17% increases every year, and they’re just kind of paying the money and dealing with it. A lot of times those agents and brokers are lazy, uh, or they don’t care. We don’t really know sometimes. But when we look at it, it’s it’s like, why are your suggestions to just contribute less to your employees coverage? Uh, or make the plan worse, raise deductibles, lower coinsurance, and just put that cost back on your employees. And then they and then those companies will wonder why they have a problem retaining and attracting talent. Uh, what those companies really need is, is an agent who’s going to pay attention to the details and, and give, you know, care about their business enough to give them the ideas that will help them grow and, and take part in this.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:21] So is that one of the reasons that somebody should reach out to you is if their premiums just keep creeping higher, or the level of service is creeping lower, those are kind of symptoms of maybe you don’t have the optimal agent.

Kurt Seiler: [00:10:34] Exactly, exactly.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:35] Now, um, when you’re working with somebody, how does it like what’s the typical beginning? Like what does that look like. So they they’re frustrated with their certain situation. Then they come to you. What happens next? Like is there, uh, some way that you educate people, like what’s your kind of initial point of entry?

Kurt Seiler: [00:10:55] Sure. Uh, what we would typically do is do a review of their current plan and get a census of their employee population. That way we can figure out what market, what what doctor network and what area, uh, they should be covered in. And then you can find the right provider for them. For example, if someone is in northeast Georgia, um, you know, Northside Hospital is a is a great resource for doctors up there you don’t want to be with, like, a United Health care because they’re in a dispute with that hospital system. So that isn’t part of their network. So there are companies who are still with United up there, and then their employees go to the doctor and then they’re paying out of network, uh, prices on all of their, their claims, all of their medical care. And that’s just driving up the claim cost for the company. Then you’re going to get a high renewal every year. Uh, what you want to do is, is make sure that it’s tailored to the population of the company and the geographic area they’re located in.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:48] Now, is there a story you can share, maybe with one of your you don’t name the name of the client, but maybe the problem that they were having and how you were able to come in and maybe save them money or provide more services. Yeah.

Kurt Seiler: [00:12:00] And uh, yeah, definitely don’t want to name the client because this is actually an ongoing situation. But I mentioned this earlier. The 5500 forms, it’s required by the Department of Labor and the IRS. So so if you have over 100 or more enrolled on any one of the benefit plans. So, for example, most companies give out free life insurance to their employees. That’s pretty standard across any corporation or most jobs, right? You have more than 100 people who get that free life insurance coverage. You need to file a form. And it’s as simple as just filling out a one page document. Send it to the Department of Labor that shows who’s on the plan, what benefit they’re receiving, how much the company is paying for it, etc. if you don’t file that form, like I said, you can get fined $2,600 a day until you’re compliant. There are companies, and the company that I’m actually referring to is, uh, based in New York. They they haven’t filed in over. Five years, so we could be looking at a potential of millions of dollars of fines. I mean, that’ll cripple a company’s cash flow and operations, right? Or at least severely hurt it.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:03] So now the reason they wouldn’t have filed, they weren’t aware of it. Like what would be kind of the rationale their previous agency wasn’t kind of on top of the paperwork.

Kurt Seiler: [00:13:14] You hit the nail on the head that it’s all on the broker, the agent. That’s a simple form that we send out for the client. I mean, we’re doing the medical plans, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:13:23] So, you know, all the whatever they’re doing.

Kurt Seiler: [00:13:25] Exactly. We know we know what’s on that form because they’re paying us to know, right? They’re paying us to do it. Right. So it’s just as simple as filling it out and sending an email. And some of these agents, they don’t do it. They forget to do it. They don’t realize they have to do it. That company is self-insured or self-funded, which sounds like a very scary term, but all it means is that you put together a plan that pays for your claims. You purchase stop loss insurance, you purchase a doctor network and a pharmacy benefit manager, and it feels just like a fully insured health plan. It’s your employees wouldn’t notice a difference. You’re still going to have an ID card that says Aetna or Cigna or whoever, right? So when you’re self-funded, level funded, self-insured, you have to file those forms. If you’re fully insured, which means you just buy a cookie cutter plan with ACA Community ratings, which that means that you’re paying for your zip code, right? Everyone in that zip code has a certain claims rating you’re paying for, for the health of that area that you’re based in. When you’re self-funded or level funded, you’re just paying for the rating of your company’s population. So if you have a healthy company, uh, younger folks on the plan, you’re going to pay a lot less in premium, sometimes even half.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:40] Uh, but that’s part of the value you add. You kind of can assess what is the best solution for them, and then you can, uh, kind of make your recommendations based on what you see for them specifically, not just kind of generally.

Kurt Seiler: [00:14:54] Exactly. You want it. You want to get it as customizable as possible for the business and the population. They’re fully insured. Might be better for a company with a lot of older folks or a lot of sick folks. Right. But level funded, self-funded, you can get a surplus back and you’re paying a much lower rating for your actual company.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:11] Now, this level of service, um, does it are you meeting with your clients on a regular basis to see if there’s any changes or any, uh, new desires or needs from them? Like, how does that kind of once you once you’re working with a client, how often are you kind of communicating with them to understand how their business is changing and how you might better best serve them?

Kurt Seiler: [00:15:33] So the agent usually checks in 2 or 3 times a year at least, unless there’s an issue that comes up or they want to change something. But the we’re just the point of contact, right? We set it up, we check in, we always make sure renewal goes well. There’s a whole team behind us of hard working folks at Snellings that actually have a compliance calendar, where they’re checking in every few months on the company, making sure they’re compliant, making sure the health plan is running well, making sure that employees aren’t complaining about claims not being paid. So that’s a tough question to answer it, uh, I would say at least 2 to 3 times a year for the agent, maybe six or more times a year for the service team.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:13] Right. But one of your points of differentiation is this level of service. Because sometimes if you get one of these mega firms, um, you know, you’re just a line on a spreadsheet and you might be forgotten in the mix. It’s easy to kind of just be a number and not kind of have a this type of relationship where someone’s watching your back.

Kurt Seiler: [00:16:32] Absolutely. That’s a great point. Uh, those mega firms, it’s just it’s so impersonal. It’s just a number on the spreadsheet. You’re just a number to them. Uh, whereas to a firm like us, we’re privately held. Uh, our culture is everything. We’re not just about writing sales, right? We’re not just about growing numbers. We’re actually about growing personally. And the clients feel that, like we actually care about their business and who they are as a person, too. And we make sure a company aligns with us and our values. We don’t just work with anybody. I mean, we’ve got to be on the same page so that we can have that healthy working relationship.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:07] Now, David Roos, um, can you share a little bit about your role and how you’re serving the emerging markets?

David Roos: [00:17:14] Sure. Uh, Lee, thank you for having us. Um, so I’m in the small commercial space, typically working on accounts that pay $50,000 in premium and below. Um, so I’m actually not going out and seeking new business. Uh, most of the referrals that come in go to middle market and then come to me if it doesn’t fit their book, um, as well as current client referrals coming over. If someone’s starting a new business, um, well, where we add value is really just having a conversation and understanding what is their pain. Because if someone’s coming to us looking for a cheaper price, we may be able to get them a cheaper premium that first year or second year even. But the state of the market with it being so hard, um.

David Roos: [00:18:03] You know, we typically tell them we try to get you the best coverage for the best price, but you’re buying insurance for it to pay out in the event of a claim. And most of these new business, new business owners or new ventures, or if they’re starting a new company, don’t want to affect their cash flow as much. So they typically will go to a direct rider and get something that will satisfy their insurance requirements. Um, however, if there were to be a claim, um, you know, it’s unsure if that will be paid out. Um, so we typically try to get them the best coverage for the best price, but also making sure they understand what they’re buying. Um, because nobody wants to just, you know, put a big sum of money out there and not really understand what they’re buying. Um, so we try to do it educationally, but also, um, kind of change their process because these smaller businesses typically typically tend to be a little bit more transactional and not looking for a relationship at that point just because they’re trying to get their business started and hit the ground running.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:05] But one of the challenges in that that it might be transactional at the beginning, but a lot of those small businesses turned into midsize or large businesses down the road. So you you don’t know which one is going to be kind of the golden ticket, right? Like you don’t know which one is the one that’s going to make it and that you’ll be able to serve them. And it may be a deeper level later. So how do you kind of, um. Create that value on an ongoing basis so that you do stay in front of them so that you do kind of serve them in the way they need to be served, even though they don’t maybe have the resources of some of the larger firms.

David Roos: [00:19:39] Yeah, and I think that’s what separates Snellings. Um, there are a lot of agencies that say they have a small business unit. Um, but it’s kind of a catch all for those agencies, or it’s a dumping ground where, hey, they don’t want to put this book, this business on their individual books, so they’re going to send it to the small business unit. Um, it’s snellings there’s a large interaction between middle market and small market. I go into Chip’s office just about every day, talk to him about, hey, what what are the exposures here? What am I not seeing? Um, and so I think if you come to Snellings, especially with our small business unit, if you were to graduate and outgrow us, um, the middle market team, you know, we can transition an account from small business to middle market and can’t really outgrow our agency.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:27] So now, when you’re talking to the small business owner, um, what are those conversations looking like? What are their kind of chief concerns? Usually?

David Roos: [00:20:36] Typically they just want to get paid. So they’re trying to get a certificate of insurance that meets the insurance requirements that they’re having, uh, that they’re required. But. We, um. Sorry. I just lost my train of thought. Um, are you.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:52] Working with them to help create a benefits plan and, uh, for their employees? Or is it sometimes just them as individuals?

David Roos: [00:21:00] Um, I’m on the property and casualty side, so general liability property insurance, auto liability umbrella. Um, from a benefits side, that would be more on Kurt’s team. Um.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:11] So, Kurt, you’re working with small businesses also of that, you know, kind of these micro businesses or.

Kurt Seiler: [00:21:17] Yes. So when like I said, when there are about 5 to 10 employees, it’s there’s less you can do as far as getting creative with the health plan.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:25] Right. Because there’s just less choices. Right. Because there’s less money that they’re spending on premiums. Right.

Kurt Seiler: [00:21:30] And then another thing is it’s basically volunteer voluntary on the company’s behalf. They are just offering benefits to retain and attract talent. The IRS rules don’t kick in until you have about 50 employees. That’s when you’re required to provide benefits. So a lot of times with the smaller market, uh, smaller businesses, they like to reimburse their employees while they’re out getting their own coverage, which is actually not allowed. It’s not legal under ACA rules. Uh, and not to mention, when they kick out those reimbursements to the employees, they’re paying FICA payroll taxes on that reimbursement, whereas you could set up, um, an ICRA, which is an individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement, and then you identify who in your company is on that, and then you you don’t have to pay FICA taxes. You’re able to reimburse them legally, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:22:20] So the business owner doesn’t understand all the this minutia of this. This is what you live every day, right? You understand the ins and outs of it. And I think that’s where it’s important for business people to understand that it’s better sometimes to hire professional, that this is all they think about. 24 seven you’re trying to run your business. You don’t know all the ins and outs of the rules.

Kurt Seiler: [00:22:42] Exactly. Like if you if you had a problem with the the wiring in your building, you would hire an electrician, right? Someone who specialized in who’s licensed and who has experience doing this. We look at it the same way, right? We specialize in this and we have your back. We’ll make sure you get the solutions your business needs.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:59] And then this is something that is more complex than just, oh, I just buy this premium and then I’m done. Right. Like this is a it’s a moving target to in order to help your employees and your company kind of thrive when it comes to insurance.

Kurt Seiler: [00:23:14] Exactly.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:16] So, Chip. Um. What is kind of the future? What kind of trends are you seeing in the marketplace?

Speaker6: [00:23:23] Um.

Chip Renno: [00:23:24] Uh, the marketplace by and large, right now is is very difficult. Um, the most difficult that I’ve seen it probably in the last 30 years. So a lot of reasons for that. Um, the property insurance market is, is very difficult due to inflation. All the weather related events. Um, values of buildings, you know, it costing a lot to rebuild something. Um, there’s a lot of reasons for that. As you you may have seen all the tornadoes in Nebraska this weekend. You know, the, the crazy weather events are really, um, hampering the insurance companies ability to make money. So, um, on the property side, that’s what’s going on there. Um, in Georgia, specifically, the auto, um, liability arena is very difficult because of the nuclear verdicts. Georgia, unfortunately, is the number one worst state in the country for nuclear verdicts.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:32] What is a nuclear verdict?

Chip Renno: [00:24:34] That’s a verdict where, um, someone has gone to court and it’s an auto liability claim. And, uh, the jury awards an amount that’s substantially above what should be reasonably paid. So as a result of that, a lot of the insurance companies have continued to raise rates so that they can break even. And, um, that’s been going on for about the past three years steadily. And insurance companies are being extremely selective on the auto accounts they write. And then that flows into the liability umbrellas, um, because it goes right on top of the auto coverages. So, um, that’s what we’ve been dealing with. And uh, Georgia and I think most states are dealing with that with the same kind of issues. So, uh, plaintiff’s attorneys are taking quite advantage of that. And, um, they’re getting the insurance companies to settle claims way above, typically where they should be.

Lee Kantor: [00:25:38] Now, um. When it comes to issues like you mentioned, climate issues, is that something that you’re seeing as a reality in the marketplace, like in some states now? Aren’t insurance companies just kind of walking away like we’re not going to insure absolutely. This type of, uh, of a situation anymore because of what’s happening.

Chip Renno: [00:26:01] Absolutely. Lots of insurance companies have completely walked away. Um, California is a very difficult state for property. Texas is also a very difficult state for property. Um, anything that’s along or near the coast is very difficult to insure.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:16] So when that happens, what does an individual do? They just are rolling the dice. Like if something happens, it’s everything’s out of pocket.

Chip Renno: [00:26:24] Well, typically, uh, they’re required to have insurance. Obviously if they have a loan on their, their property. So they’re having to buy, you know, um, coverage with large deductibles, um, much larger than they have in the past just to bring the premium to some sort of relatively, you know, um, affordable, uh, amount.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:46] So that’s that’s really the only course of.

Chip Renno: [00:26:49] Action that’s really it shopping it have making sure they have an agent that shops it you know, um amongst all the carriers that will consider an account that’s um difficult to place.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:58] Or they have to just buy the property outright so they don’t kind of need insurance.

Chip Renno: [00:27:02] Well, they can they can do that if you’re, you can self-insure if you’re, you know, if you own it and don’t have a loan on it. Mhm.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:09] So it sounds like it’s, it’s becoming more and more difficult like if not impossible in some places. Yeah.

Chip Renno: [00:27:14] It’s it’s definitely difficult. And the coastal issues are, are, are quite uh extreme.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:22] So what are the kind of the ramifications of that if that continues and expands.

Chip Renno: [00:27:27] Um. Uh, that’s a good question. Um, I mean, I think the, the states, you know, like Florida has always had a hurricane, you know, option. Um, where, uh, they’ve got an emergency fund set up. And I think more and more of the states are having to do look at this, the same sort of thing.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:48] So then the state will have to step in.

Speaker6: [00:27:50] Correct.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:52] And then for your firm, what do you need more of and how can we help you?

Chip Renno: [00:27:57] Uh, what do we need more of? Well, we’re always looking to bring in new clients that look for long term relationships. Whether that’s on the personal side, the business side, property casualty, employee benefits. Um, we look for, for those long term relationships and, um, uh, and, and we want to work with companies that appreciate, uh, professionals, uh, and the advice we give. So that’s what we’re, we’re primarily looking for.

Lee Kantor: [00:28:25] What about talent? Are you hiring right now?

Chip Renno: [00:28:27] Always hiring. Um. We’ve grown. We’ve probably grown 30% in the last, uh, 2 to 3 years. And our targets are to continue to grow at, at a at a very hefty clip clip. So we’re always looking for, um, people that are accountable and engaged, um, and want to, um, have a better place to work.

Lee Kantor: [00:28:50] Now, are they typically, like, coming right out of college or are you getting more veteran?

Chip Renno: [00:28:56] Um, some of both. Um, we bring the people out of college, like Mr. Royce here, who recently graduated from the University of Georgia with a risk management degree. And, uh, and then we bring in a lot of, um, uh, service, uh, support staff that are, uh, very experienced, um, and are looking to make a change to a better firm.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:19] And if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team. What is the website coordinates?

Chip Renno: [00:29:26] Uh snellings. Walters.com. And then, um, easy to find us on LinkedIn as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:32] Good stuff. Well, thank you all for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Chip Renno: [00:29:37] Thank you. Thank you, Lee, very much.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:39] All right. This Lee Kantor we’ll see y’all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.

Charles Potts With Independent Community Bankers of America®

April 26, 2024 by Jacob Lapera

Atlanta Business Radio

Charles Potts With Independent Community Bankers of America®

00:00 /

Charles E. Potts is Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer for the Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA).

In this role, he drives ICBA’s innovation initiatives, and financial technology strategies, working with ICBA leadership to develop impactful, value-added solutions that help community banks seize new market opportunities to meet customers’ evolving financial services’ needs.

His extensive experience in banking and financial service firms provided the background he needed to start, co-found or lead various fintech start-ups including digital banking, mobile engagement, financial management and payments providers. Many had successful exits via IPO’s or acquisition via strategic acquirers. A frequent speaker at national trade shows and conferences, he previously served as executive managing director at First Performance Global, where he led international business and corporate development activities for its card-control and fraud alert platform.

Before that he served as CEO for NetClarity, a start-up in the University of Florida’s Business Incubation Hub. Prior to ICBA, he worked at the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), leading the fintech practice where he mentored startups as part of the Georgia Tech-based incubator. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, did his graduate studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta and attended the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

Charles, an avid masters runner, cyclist and soccer fan, lives with his wife in Atlanta, GA. They have a daughter who recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a nationally ranked pole vaulter on the Track and Field team.

Connect with Charles on LinkedIn and follow ICBA on Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

Why community banks are so critical, and what unique advantages they offer to their customers and the local communities they serve
What innovation looks like for community banks
How the banking industry has evolved over his career
The strategies for achieving growth in today’s digital landscape
What is top of mind for community bankers right now and how they compete and succeed in today’s market

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by On pay. Atlanta’s new standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:25] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Charles Potts, EVP and Chief Innovation Officer with the Independent Community Bankers of America. Welcome.

Charles Potts: [00:00:47] Thank you. Lee. Thanks for having me today.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:50] Well, before we get too far into things, can you tell us about Icba? How you serving folks?

Charles Potts: [00:00:56] Yeah. So Icba Independent Community Bankers is the national trade association, um, and advocacy organizations solely focused on community banks. Um, our primary mission based around that advocacy. So, as you can imagine, given our, you know, nearly 95 years of history, we spend a lot of time lobbying on Capitol Hill, based in DC. Our legislative outreach and regulatory engagement is is a key part of our history. We’ve also built an education arm that does hundreds of training courses every year, with thousands of bankers keeping them up to speed on all the regulatory matters, all the compliance, polishing their skills and certification from marketing to risk management to lending. And then the third part of our organization, the third pillar is really our innovation arm. And and I have the pleasure of, of running an important part of our innovation initiatives where where we really look to find ways to help our community banks continue to to flourish and have the kinds of tools and services and innovative approaches they need to better serve their customers and communities.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:13] Now, for the layperson who maybe doesn’t know the difference between a bank and a community bank, can you explain? Like how does a I call them a stadium bank? A bank that would appear on a stadium be different than a community bank?

Charles Potts: [00:02:29] Well, uh, look, let me let me just say that community banks, the, you know, the the thousands of them around the United States have been here for hundreds of years and are really deeply entrenched in their local communities. Um, these have a, a very local community presence. A lot of the deposits that they gather are, are, are loaned back into these communities. Community banks are where almost two thirds of all small business lending takes place. Over 80% of agricultural lending comes out of community banks. Um, they tend to be in the in the more, um, uh, you know, uh, rural, um, uh, suburban areas, uh, where there is, you know, a strong community presence and a strong demand for the kinds of personalized, uh, products and services that, uh, that these bankers, uh, can provide. Um, you you, uh, you would be, um, amazed to see the economic development engine that is, uh, that is really driven by community banks around the country. Have you think back to the PGP program? Um, an overwhelming majority of small businesses were served by community banks. I think the numbers are, you know, they they, um, they did more, more loans, um, in general, uh, to small business America. And that is, uh, that is where they play now.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:59] Is their target primarily the small business owner? Is it the people that live in the community, like, who is an ideal customer for a community bank?

Charles Potts: [00:04:08] Well, oftentimes that is that is one and the same. So if you think about the small business owner and then their employees, they are all a part of that community. And so the, the community bank, uh, is there to, to really meet the needs, um, of, of all of those, um, all of those constituencies in that community. So it’s not only the commercial lending to the business, um, the, the business loans itself, but it’s then servicing the, the individuals as consumers with their own retail banking needs as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:40] Now, when you talk about those retail banking needs, is a customer going to get kind of a similar experience in terms of all the amenities that are out there in terms of an app, and I can make deposits easy. I don’t have to physically go into the bank. Am I getting all of those things? And I’m just that.

Charles Potts: [00:05:00] Is that Lee is exactly why we have this innovation arm, and that is to ensure that we have solution providers out there who are able to deliver those kinds of products and technology needs to the community banks to ensure that their customers, whether it’s a consumer or a small business or a commercial, um, enterprise, have at. Their disposal the same capabilities as any large international global bank or fintech provider. And and we believe in this day and time and it really is fundamental to the work that we do. Uh, we believe we know we have seen in action that those solutions exist. And, and community banks are able to, to deliver, uh, similar services from a technology standpoint. And then the huge differentiator is really the personal relationship. We like to call it high tech meets high touch. Um, because, you know, frankly, you’re going to, you know, if you’re in a if you’re in a local community, you’re going to know who runs, owns and operates that bank. And so you not only have the advantage of the modern technology, but you have the force multiplier of of actually knowing who you’re banking with.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:18] And then for a small business owner, having that kind of personal relationship with a banker could make or break that business where I don’t. I think a lot of, uh, small business owners, I don’t think they’re appreciating the importance of that type of a relationship where the person knows who you are as opposed to you’re just a line on a spreadsheet in some of these mega banks.

Charles Potts: [00:06:42] Well, look again, the the numbers. The numbers don’t lie from from PGP, the heroic work that community banks did all over this country. Um, still should be applauded by everybody. And the the soundbite I heard from, uh, from a number of business owners, uh, some are close personal friends of mine, and, uh, and I was one of them, uh, in a previous life as well, an entrepreneur who built my own businesses. The the thing that that stood out was this quote, I learned that I needed to do it. I learned that I needed to be doing business with a banker, not just a bank.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:27] Yeah, that’s a big difference differentiator. Yeah, I just don’t think people understand the level of I don’t even want to call it customer service. It’s a level of relationship that you can have.

Charles Potts: [00:07:42] These these bankers, these banks are the centerpiece of many of these communities. And so all, all of all of these people in these communities, they’re their kids are going to school together. They’re at Friday night football games. They’re going to the PTA and the rotary. Uh, they’re seeing people, you know, on Sunday or Saturdays at their their places of worship. Um, they’re buying and shopping from one another. I mean, they, they, they are personally connected at a, at a very deep level. And, and that is a very empowering thing, uh, when you’re, when you’re considering your financial service needs and knowing where your money’s going, who’s taking care of it and, and how it’s being used to strengthen that community.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:36] So what is kind of the health of the industry? Is it something that is growing? Is it you hear a lot about consolidation in banking, like what is kind of the the landscape for the community banks?

Charles Potts: [00:08:51] You look into those numbers, the the the the trends are still showing a very healthy, strong and resilient community bank marketplace. And where some of the quote unquote consolidation is happening tends to be, um, at your larger regional, super regional banks out there, um, in general. But it is, uh, it is a very healthy industry. There are there are some 4500 community banks plus or minus out there. And um, and that is, uh, that is still a very, uh, very strong and resilient, uh, reflection of the strength of our small business economy and where job growth, uh, you know, really takes place. And you know this as well, given what you do. I mean, small business America is the economic engine that creates jobs, and community banks are the ones fueling that growth with Small Business America.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:50] Now as part of your role in the association? Maybe not yours individually, but the association as a whole is sharing best practices among the bankers so they can quickly iterate and learn from what’s happening. Well, elsewhere.

Charles Potts: [00:10:05] Yeah, yeah. And, you know, kind of going back, if you think about the three pillars of our organization advocacy, which is the core, you know, kind of lobbying stuff. But between education and innovation, we spend a lot of time we have a lot of our activities oriented to really help educate, coach, mentor, nurture, um, our bankers in best practices, whether it’s purely educational in terms of lending and compliance, um, or marketing, um, or even, um, uh, running, uh, the bank directors, um, uh, education as well. Or on the innovation side, how how digital transformation works, how this journey takes place. Um, the best way to handle, uh, third party risk management and vendor due diligence. We we have a lot of our focus around making sure that we elevate, um, the game, if you will elevate the, the experiences and knowledge and expertise of all of our bankers.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:12] Now, what advice would you give an entrepreneur to, um, take advantage and build a better relationship with their community banker?

Charles Potts: [00:11:21] The the the number one thing for an entrepreneur when dealing with a community bank is to, um, listen. Ask good questions and listen. Uh, you’re going to find community bankers will give you time. They will give you their insights. They will give you their experiences and knowledge. Um, to help your business, help your product, solution, service, whatever it may be. Uh, be better. And and the discovery side of of entrepreneurism and innovation of of of starting, uh, you know, a new business, um, is critically important. You got to go out there and talk to bankers, you got to ask them questions, and you got to be a really good listener because they will tell you. They will tell you what they need. They will tell you what their problems and issues and concerns are. Uh, they will tell you how products and services need to work properly, um, to work inside the framework of the typical community bank. Uh, they will tell you exactly how things need to work in order to satisfy the kind of small business operation that is typically a community bank.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:33] Now, what’s on your roadmap in terms of innovation for the community banks? Um, or is there any emerging technologies that we should be aware of?

Charles Potts: [00:12:41] Well, um, I, I would say that, um, our innovation initiatives and the programs that we, we run, um, the, the crown jewel of which is, is something we call the Icba think Tech accelerator are designed to help find solutions, solution companies, really early stage companies that are addressing very specific problems to your question. And, and our bankers, um, really drive that process for us. They help inform us of what are those concerns. And, and look, cybersecurity continues to be at the top of that list. It’s it it only gets bigger and more complex. Um, and it is a it is a constant investment that banks are making, uh, to address those needs. Um, risk and compliance management in general is always top of mind with bankers and uh, irrespective of what’s going on, either technologically or economically, uh, those are very important practices that banks are looking to always, um, uh, always improve upon, uh, make more efficient and more effective. And, uh, and right now, uh, I have to say laughingly, in the year 2024, who thought check fraud would be a a hot topic again? But here it is. We’re seeing a resurgence of check fraud. And, uh, and so the banks are paying very much, uh, close attention to it and looking to find new solutions to help, you know, mitigate some of the risks associated with with that and, and address, um, this, uh, this growing volume and then in general and we try to, we try to avoid, you know, dragging a bunch of shiny objects in front of the bankers.

Charles Potts: [00:14:39] We tend to focus more on, on very, uh, targeted solutions to very targeted problems. But the whole field of artificial intelligence in general, um, has a lot of promise in terms of the types of tools that are that are in that bucket of things that we call artificial intelligence, um, that can actually help with a number of things we talked about, whether it’s risk and compliance, whether it’s check fraud or it’s how do I make my bank more efficient? How do I how do I automate more of those redundant, repetitive, labor intensive tasks to make my people more efficient and effective and more valuable in what they’re doing? Those are the things that are very much top of mind. Uh, probably laying over the top of, of this subject, um, is really the data and analytics side of, of, of, uh, of banking and, and how do I, how do I, um, um, acquire, access, manage, manipulate, um, and then analyze and and deploy, um, sound and prudent, um, uh, activities with the data I have available to me. How do I make my bank better? How do I provide better services to my customers leveraging data and analytics? Um, and and things such as, uh, again, fraud, uh, detection and risk and compliance management.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:19] Now, is there any strategies or tips you can share, uh, for the community bankers right now in order for them to be successful in growing, um, in today’s digital landscape?

Charles Potts: [00:16:31] Yeah. Look, we we spend a lot of time, um, with this topic and talking to bankers on a national level or grassroots through some of our state association partners, um, or through our educational webinars and so forth. And, and really, the, the the short answer is get started. There are a wealth of resources that we’ve made available inside Icba that help the banks start to navigate, um, this landscape wherever they’re at on that journey. We have some very, uh, sharp, very progressive banks. At one end of the spectrum, we have a lot of banks that are still, um, you know, still following and learning and dipping their toe into the water, so to speak. And we try to make available to them a continuum of, of resources to help them on this journey. Um, come participate in our Icba think Tech accelerator programs. Um, this is a way for them to see the way these companies think and work and how they are working to solve problems that that community banks have. And then. You know, and then work through your state association and the innovation initiatives that that they’re offering. And taking on this ecosystem that we’re continuing to foster is very collaborative in nature. And so we know that there are a wealth of resources that can help banks of all shapes and sizes really navigate what oftentimes can be a daunting landscape.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:09] Now, where can people go if they want to learn more about Icba or your innovation efforts, uh, connect with you or connect with the association?

Charles Potts: [00:18:19] Yep. Start on our website icba. Org forward slash innovation that’ll give you access to all of our programs, all of our resources. It’ll help you get started on how to find us, um, how to find our calendar of activities and events that are going on. Uh, we’re getting ready here in, uh, in a few weeks to launch our seventh accelerator program. Uh, which is very exciting. We’ve got another cohort of six companies that we will be taking through our ten week program. Um, and, and banks can participate in this program, and they can find a way to sign up through our, our website. And we’d love for them to come, uh, come see what we’re doing, see what these companies are doing, and, frankly, give us the the feedback and guidance that we know is critically important to make sure we’re addressing their needs.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:14] Well, Charles, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Charles Potts: [00:19:19] Lee, I appreciate the time to talk to your audience and and thank you for doing this.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:24] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

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