Search Results for: marketing matters

BRX Pro Tip: The Metrics That Matter for Branded Content

March 4, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: The Metrics That Matter for Branded Content

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BRX Pro Tip: The Metrics That Matter for Branded Content

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor Stone and Payton here with you. Lee, what are your thoughts on measuring the effectiveness of branded content?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:11] I think it’s super important. Metrics are important in every business. But you have to understand what the metrics that matter are for your clients.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:21] So for example, if you have an enterprise-size client, the metrics that matter to them might be reach and engagement. So for them, you might be better off helping them get their content in front of as many people as possible and hope that a good number of those people are liking and sharing that content and engaging with it. Because clients at the enterprise level are doing so many different marketing initiatives, they’re going to have a hard time connecting any type of any individual effort into an actual sale. So the things that they’re going to focus in are on things that are easier to measure, like reach and engagement, even though they can’t connect any of that to a sale. But you have to understand that going in.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:04] If your clients are more entrepreneurial or solopreneurs or small firms, the metric that matters to them on branded content is going to be conversions. They need more sales because they only work with a handful of clients, and each one is super important to them. So they care less about reach and engagement as long as they’re converting some of the leads that you’re helping them generate into actual sales.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:28] So, you have to understand who you’re dealing with and what the metrics that matter to each of them because they’re going to have different metrics that matter because they have different objectives. And you can’t just force fit the same objective into the client because they’re not – that’s not what they’re asking for. So be clear upfront the metric that matters and then help them achieve those goals.

Kimberly Civins, Office Managing Partner with Harrison LLP

March 1, 2024 by Garrett Ervin

Celebrating Powerhouse Women

Kimberly Civins, Office Managing Partner with Harrison LLP

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Amanda Pearch Marmolejo and Kimberly Civins

Celebrating Powerhouse Women salutes and recognizes women who are making an impact, whether it’s in business, philanthropy, public service, or elsewhere.

Kimberly Civins/Harrison LLP

Kimberly Civins has worked with wealthy individuals, families, executors, and trustees for over 20 years. She uses her extensive experience to help clients accomplish their wealth structuring and transfer goals. Kim concentrates her practice in estate planning, estate administration, trusts, charitable giving, and business succession planning matters. She frequently advises clients on transfer tax issues, including federal estate, gift, and generation skipping transfer taxes, and IRS transfer tax audits. Additionally, Kim advises tax-exempt entities, public charities, and private foundations. She also works with trust companies and bank trust departments regarding trusts and estates matters and federal and state regulatory compliance. In collaboration with litigation colleagues, she also represents clients involved in estate and trust litigation and dispute resolution.

Kim is a frequent speaker at professional education events for attorneys and accountants. In 2016, Kim received the honor of being elected by her peers as a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).

Before joining Harrison LLP, Kim was a trusts and estates partner at one of the world’s largest international law firms. She began her career in sports marketing before attending law school, primarily working in the professional tennis and beach volleyball worlds. She serves on the Board of Directors and is President of the Atlanta Estate Planning Council. She is also a board member of Neighborhood Cooperative Ministries.

Celebrating Powerhouse Women is presented by

Anita R. Henderson, Author of Becoming the Minimalist Entrepreneur: Lessons from My Journey to Work Less, Earn More, and Play More

March 1, 2024 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

Anita R. Henderson, Author of Becoming the Minimalist Entrepreneur: Lessons from My Journey to Work Less, Earn More, and Play More

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Anita R. Henderson, Author of Becoming the Minimalist Entrepreneur: Lessons from My Journey to Work Less, Earn More, and Play More (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 747)

Host John Ray welcomed Anita Henderson, an author coach and bestseller author in her own right, to discuss her newly released book, Becoming the Minimalist Entrepreneur. The book focuses on Anita’s journey through entrepreneurship and provides lessons on working less, earning more, and enjoying life more. Besides sharing her experiences, Anita also shed light on her business and discussed the evolving publishing industry. Additionally, Anita emphasized the importance of defining measures of success, understanding your “why” in business, and the power of choice. Finally, she discussed her preference for working with clients that align with her values and enjoying what she does as an entrepreneur.

John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is recorded and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Becoming the Minimalist Entrepreneur: Lessons from My Journey to Work Less, Earn More, and Play More

Every solopreneur has a story worth sharing, you included.

This is not a how-to book. Instead, it is one solopreneur’s journey presented as a model for the flexibility and individuality of twenty-first-century entrepreneurship.

Becoming the minimalist entrepreneur is a journey to escape the burdens of what “they” say is the right way to be in business, and to boldly accept the freedom and audacity to define it for yourself and not feel like you’re doing it wrong.

There are innumerable lessons from the minimalist entrepreneur journey. You have to figure it out with every step you take. Each lesson along the way makes up your journey and makes you better, if you allow it to. Those lessons create your story. And your story matters.

So what does it mean to become the minimalist entrepreneur? It’s not what you think. Read Anita’s story to find out.

For more on the book and to order, follow this link.

Anita R. Henderson, Author and Author Coach

Anita Henderson, the founder and CEO of The Write Image Consulting, LLC and the creator of the Write Your Life Author Coaching Program, is popularly known as The Author’s Midwife.

She is a bestselling and award-winning author and ghostwriter, copy editor, and book publishing strategist. As an author coach for professionals and entrepreneurs, Anita has transformed dozens of her clients into proud published authors. Her strategic support and guidance with authors has resulted in multiple award-winning and bestselling titles, helping her clients grow their media and online visibility, speaker platforms, and industry credibility.

A successful freelance writer with published articles in more than twenty-five trade publications in the U.S. and Canada, Anita is a writer at heart. She helps authors create compelling prose, weave engaging stories, and explain their processes and insights in a way that serves readers and draws them to want to work more closely with the author. As Anita says, “It’s bigger than the book!” Leverage is the key to success.

With two decades in corporate America as a marketing communications and public relations professional, Anita knows the ins and outs of marketing brands, people, companies, and causes. She brings that insight to her work with authors to help them use book publishing as a marketing strategy that gets results.

An eight-times published author, Anita shares her knowledge about using book publishing as a marketing strategy as a speaker at conferences, workshops, and association events both in person and virtually.

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

01:22 Meet Anita Henderson: The Minimalist Entrepreneur

02:09 The Journey of Writing a Memoir

04:18 The Evolution of Anita’s Business

05:45 The Birth of Write Your Life

10:20 The Struggles and Triumphs of Entrepreneurship

13:36 The Art of Self-Promotion

26:03 Redefining Success in Business

29:04 The Power of Choice in Business

32:04 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

With over 740 shows and having featured over 1,100 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!

The show welcomes a wide variety of business, non-profit, and community leaders to get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, their community, and their profession. There’s no discrimination based on company size, and there’s never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates business by sharing positive business stories that traditional media ignore. Some media leans left. Some media leans right. We lean business.

John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is recorded and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.

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

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

John is the bestselling author of The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Jeremy Shapiro With Bay Area Mastermind

February 29, 2024 by Jacob Lapera

Bay Area Business Radio

Jeremy Shapiro With Bay Area Mastermind

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In his role as a mentor and coach to entrepreneurs at Bay Area Mastermind, serial-entrepreneur Jeremy B. Shapiro helps small business owners make the transition from “solopreneur” to “business owner” – an important distinction that many entrepreneurs can easily miss when working “in” their business instead of “on” their business.

Since 1998, through structured masterminding, one-on-one coaching, and consulting work, he has been helping entrepreneurs discover the core strengths in themselves and their business, and realize their true potential combining passion and expertise to grow their businesses and attain the freedom they deserve.

Connect with Jeremy on LinkedIn and follow Bay Area Mastermind on Facebook.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Self employed vs. a true business owner
Most common mistakes founders make when trying to scale their business
How entrepreneurs can prevent the all too common “burn out”
The difference between working IN your business and working ON your business

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in the Bay area. It’s time for Bay Area Business Radio. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:18] Lee Kantor. Here, another episode of Bay Area Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Jeremy Shapiro with Bay Area Mastermind. Welcome.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:00:29] Thanks so much for having me. This is great.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Bay Area Mastermind. How you serving folks?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:00:36] Yeah, what we’re doing is we’re helping out our local Bay area entrepreneurs, business owners and founders really connect and get together for a full day of working on their business, as opposed to the day to day work in their business. And that lets our members connect, scale and really grow together.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:51] So what’s the genesis of the idea? How did this come about?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:00:55] Well, I’ve been part of mastermind groups myself for decades. Some groups are remote. You hop on a plane and fly somewhere exotic for a few days, you know, a few times a year, other times more casual, sort of weekly, like accountability calls or get togethers. And those haven’t really served the needs that I was looking for in my businesses and the structure we put together for the Bay Area Mastermind of meeting once a month for a full day right here in downtown San Jose, lets us get into what’s really going on in our own businesses and uncover the blind spots for each other, and provide that expertise and peer advisory that comes from hanging around with like minded, growth focused, lifelong learners.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:31] Now, for folks who aren’t familiar with the concept of mastermind, do you mind sharing a little bit of a primer on what it is and how it kind of came about?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:01:41] Yeah, the topic or the idea of a mastermind really came from author Napoleon Hill when he published this Think and Grow Rich book back in 1938. One of the titles he had there, chapter ten, is called The Power of the Mastermind, The Driving Force, and this really is where he exposes this idea of titans of industry getting together and helping each other out. And this structure lets individuals uncover the blind spots for each other and provide that real peer advisory. As an entrepreneur can get lonely at the top, you don’t really have that kind of honest, candid feedback you need from customers, from vendors, from family, friends and so on. So when you’re with other folks who are also in that same boat on that same journey, you can get that unbiased, real feedback. People who don’t mind asking the tough questions and don’t mind lending their superpowers and deep areas of expertise to help you get unblocked and move forward in life and in business.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:37] Now, it sounds like you’ve been kind of experiencing several different iterations or variations of a mastermind. Tell me about how you were able to kind of pick your favorite parts, or maybe the most effective that you found, and then build this into kind of your unique spin on a mastermind, like for the person who doesn’t understand or really maybe of experienced the variety, you know, like you mentioned, there are some that are kind of leads clubs. Some are just about, you know, support and accountability. Some are really, you know, noncompetitive people trying to grow their business. There’s there’s a lot of flavors to this. And talk about how you were able to kind of cherry pick your favorite parts or best parts that you find most effective into your the one that you’re doing.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:03:23] Business owners have long had groups available to them, just like the ones you’re describing. From leads, groups and networking groups to referral groups to just networking groups and social events and everything in between. A mastermind is really special and different from that, and when we look at what the best parts are from the sort of various formats and styles of mastermind groups out there, what I’ve found really matters is one that you’ve got the right people in the room with you, right? You don’t want to be the biggest fish in the pond, as it were, and so far ahead of everyone else that you can’t get much value from the group and the experience they have to share. And on the flip side, you don’t want to be the smallest guy in the room where you don’t have much to contribute or share with the group. So you’re looking for that like minded group of folks at a similar stage of business as to where you’re at, and we are really intentional about how we curate that and how we attract the right kinds of members to our group. Second, it’s important to us that within those members we have, like I shared, lifelong learners and people who are focused on self improvement, business improvement, and want to grow and scale and be the best version of themselves with the best version of their business that they can have. So within that, when we look at sort of the weekly cadence that typically is too frequent and those meetings are usually too short to really get a chance to deep dive into the heart of what’s going on in an individual’s business. On the flip side, the larger destination groups where you’re getting away for, you know, a week, once or twice a year, maybe three times the entire business can change.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:04:47] So by the time you show up, people have sold their business, launched a new business. Things are drastically different over the course of, say, six months. So one of the best practices we found was that meeting cadence of once a month for a full day that gives us time to implement and execute on our accountability items, where we hold each other accountable. And it lets you actually make real change in the business, much more that you can make in a one week period and less than you do in a six month period. So that cadence, I found, is one of the best practices for how often to meet. And lastly, when you look at like the free groups or coffee accountability groups that maybe meet for 30 up to at the most 90 minutes once a week. Those typically have a higher turnover because they’re usually free to very low cost. And as a busy business owner, if you’ve got something recurring on the calendar showing up to talk to a few friends that you do every single week, sometimes the fires of the day become more important and so members don’t really show up. There’s not much skin in the game. It’s a very low barrier to entry. So by having an actual financial investment as well as the time investment, you’re able to find folks who find value in the group and each other and are willing to invest the time, as well as the money in being part of the right kind of group of folks just like them, who also want to grow and scale.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:02] So how many groups are you running?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:06:06] Um, so it depends how we look at that. We have, um, we have our core groups that are for our scaling business owners. Um, this past year, we actually just kicked off a founders group as well for a much earlier stage businesses. And we also have folks we work with virtually, as well as folks that we, you know, we coach and consult in terms of an actual group size. What we found is you can’t let a group get too big. That’s the point where we actually want to split off and have a new group that’s not just an oversubscribed group like you’d find in sort of one of those destination groups, like we were talking about before, those you can have more members in.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:40] So now when you’re building the group or curating the group, what are some of the at least red flags for you? Like, you know, I’m sure you don’t want people that are transactional, that are, you know, kind of jerks, like you’re trying to create a group of similarly valued people that appreciate this experience and not, you know, one to dominate it.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:07:06] Yeah, that’s spot on. Qualifying for the right people is really important. Everyone has their industry or trade groups they can go to to find more people who are just like themselves doing the same thing the same way. By consciously curating a diverse group, we get what I call the cross pollination of ideas, and this is where you get members sharing best practices in their industry with other individuals in a different industry, where they can really pivot and do something different than everybody else. So I’ll share an example I love in this space, you have an e-commerce company who’s selling purely online. They then hear about an offline retail business who’s doing direct mail. Right now you have one business who’s doing one style of marketing and a different business doing an almost opposite style of marketing. The two of them are then able to see what the other one is doing, ask questions about that, get access to resources, best practices, do’s, don’ts, and so on. So we’re looking for that range of businesses and range of superpowers and areas of expertise. In terms of characteristics, we want to make sure that our members are well read. They enjoy reading. They’re actively reading. We’re all lifelong learners. We’re all voracious readers, right? We are individuals who invest in ourselves, who go to conferences, who take courses, who are always learning and trying to be that better version.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:08:20] So we screen for that. We’re also looking for folks who won’t just get value from the group, but who are able to contribute value as well. So part of our screening process we have for our test drives is we’re looking for what are those areas of genius, or what are those areas where a business owner is seeing success that they be able to lend some expertise in the group? It’s not just about there being, you know, a linear one person is ahead of somebody else overall and able to help others up. It’s a matter that everyone has different areas of expertise and superpowers. So when it comes to marketing, you’ll have some members who have deep expertise. Others have deep expertise in sales, others in hiring and retention, and others in finance and so on. So depending on what a member needs, we’re looking for that range of skill sets and that range of superpowers that can really help to have that that lively peer advisory. And we want folks who are open to being lovingly and respectfully challenged around their blind spots and are open to seeing the opportunities others see within themselves and within their businesses.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:19] So walk me through. Um. Say, I raised my hand and I’m like, Jeremy, I’m curious. Um, how do I get involved with this mastermind group? How do I, you know, throw my hat into the ring? What do I have to do?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:09:32] What we found experientially. And this goes back to one of your questions earlier about best practices, is it doesn’t make sense for someone to join a group blind they’ve never been part of before, or had a chance to experience. On that same note, it’s unfair to a group to just tell them, hey, here’s somebody new who’s just in the group. So what we put together is our test drive process. So when someone heads over to Bay Area mastermind.com, you can start an application. And that application, even the questions that we asked during that, those questions themselves can be eye opening and can help you see some opportunities in your business for where you are and where you’re going. Once that application is in, we hop on the phone, we go over that application and better understand what you’re looking for in a mastermind group and see if there’s an opportunity to serve or to point you in a direction where someone can help you out. And if it looks like there’s there’s a good fit, we invite you to our test drive. So for a reduced fee, it lets you join us one time for a full day and really experience what it’s like to have a hot seat to to feel that joy and thrill that comes from providing insight and advisory to others and really experience that full day with us. And at the conclusion of that, if we feel that you’d be a good fit for the group, and if the group feels the same and you feel the group would be a good fit for you, then we extend the offer to join us and become a member with us longer.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:47] Tum now what is that day agenda typically, uh, how does it flow?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:10:54] The biggest thing we do throughout the day, and where most of our time is focused, is on our member hot seats. Within each hot seat, there are four main things that everyone’s going to be covering for you. If it’s your first time test driving with us, it’ll be a little bit about who you are, what you do, and all that. For the rest of our members who are returning, they’ll be going over accountability items and what’s been accomplished over the past month. And then what everyone’s really sharing, and it’s in varying formats, but there’s three major points beyond that. One is what’s working, two is what’s not, and three is where you need help. So this is where, you know, we’ve had members share, for example, challenges that they’ve had with a marketing campaign that didn’t go the way they wanted it to, and they would love some feedback on why. Or they’ll share the lessons learned from that. You might find someone else who is sharing about a new hiring process they put into place that’s working really well, and walk the group through what that looks like. And what I think is really interesting is everyone who comes into the room usually has some big question, some big ask, some big block, and they’re looking for insight on that. And they go in with the idea of success is getting an answer to that question. But where I see the biggest aha moments, I see the pens scribbling the most. I see people’s eyes go wide and the smile creep across their face. That always happens during everybody else’s hot seat. It’s when other members are sharing what’s going on in their business, what’s working, where they need help and so on that you see those sparks really ignite, and entrepreneurs take note and ask those questions of digging a little deeper. See, these hot seats aren’t just a one way presentation. They’re facilitated conversations. And so it’s a chance for members to ask questions and get that guidance they need in their own business based on the experience of others who’ve been there and done that.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:31] Now, when you started this concept, how did you get kind of that initial group together? Was it just your peers or people you’ve just met over the years? How did you kind of build this from scratch?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:12:43] Yeah, we were sort of in like the shadows for quite a while. It was people we know, people we connected with who shared this is really what they were looking for. And they’ve been they’ve been looking for a mastermind group to help them out. Generally, people who found us or knew about this had already read Napoleon Hill’s books, knew this idea of looking for a mastermind, or they heard about that concept somewhere else, and they then wanted to find a local to the Bay area mastermind group that they could join. And the Bay Area Mastermind is exactly that. So we filled a pretty unique gap that’s in the marketplace. There’s plenty of networking groups and founders groups and things like that to meet other people. But again, the focus there is usually networking. It’s not so much on the true mastermind concept of sharing what’s really going on in your business, both the wins and the failures. As an entrepreneur, it’s lonely at the top. There’s not a lot of folks you can celebrate your big successes and wins with. And the flip side, there’s not a lot of people you can share your real challenges and blocks with, and the mastermind group provides that safe environment to be vulnerable and share what’s really going on and have people celebrate your successes and help you out with your challenges.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:48] Now, having been involved with these type of entrepreneurs over the years, have you kind of learned some maybe do’s and don’ts for an entrepreneur to maybe prevent them from making some mistakes when they’re beginning to scale their business? Have you gotten any advice for those entrepreneurs?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:14:08] A lot of entrepreneurs get started because they were a technician doing something at a different business, and they decide they want to go do it on their own. Right. This could be you’re a chef at a restaurant and decide you want to open your own restaurant. You could be a plumber and decide you want to open your own plumbing company. You could be an SEO expert working at an agency and decide to open your own company and so on. Right? That’s a common path that entrepreneurs take of hanging their own shingle. What they don’t realize, though, is that at some point you think you have a business, but you’re actually self-employed, and if you step away from the business, it would fall apart and the business is too dependent on you. So one of the first areas of growth that we focus on with folks, with their earlier stage, is this idea of moving beyond just a few team members they have and actually scaling up the systems and the people so that as the founder, as the entrepreneur, as the business owner, you can really step back from the business and have it continue to grow.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:14:58] This lets you work on the bigger picture, bigger picture, vision, leadership, and the areas of life that you want to spend your time that the business should support. So to your question about some of the common, uh, things that come up, it’s often entrepreneurs being their own block, thinking nobody can do it better than they can, and not wanting to hire people to do the jobs they’re doing in the business. Um, and the second is not having the right systems in place to scale. And then the third big piece, I would say, is not having that peer advisory and that feedback to provide shortcuts and uncover those blind spots when you’re in a great peer group of other business owners, founders and entrepreneurs who’ve been there and done that, they can show you those pathways to get to where you want to get to sooner, because they found ten ways that don’t work and can share with you the one way that does. And you don’t have to go through all that yourself. You can really learn and leverage the knowledge of others.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:52] Um, do you find that people who don’t have mastermind groups or boards of advisors or anything like that, what’s the kind of the fear that’s holding them back in that area? Or are they just do they have some imposter syndrome? Do they think that they don’t have anything to share? Like, what is kind of the psychological rationale for not participating in something like the Bay Area Mastermind?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:16:16] It’s fascinating to me how many entrepreneurs truly suffer from imposter syndrome. You know, the classic example is everyone sees the duck floating effortlessly across the surface of the water, not realizing all the turbulent craziness going on underneath the water, with the feet paddling in the water swirling and everything going on, they just see the duck effortlessly floating across the water. It’s the same thing often with Entrepreneurships. The outside view from the world is that a business owner is successful and doing well, and they’re living on Easy Street, and they have no idea what’s really going on behind the scenes and just how challenging it can be to be a founder and entrepreneur. And for many founders and entrepreneurs, they know just how difficult it is, and they lose sleep over the decisions they have made or need to make and the challenges that come from running your own business. But the outside world doesn’t see that. So there is an element for sure, of imposter syndrome and thinking there’s nothing to contribute yet when we actually look at a business and look at all that a business owner has done right, there’s usually a lot of deep expertise that an entrepreneur has that they have blinders on to. As entrepreneurs, we see the mountain in front of us, of all the things we need to do and all the things we need to get done, and it’s easy to lose sight of all that’s actually been accomplished. And so in a mastermind setting, we celebrate those accomplishments, and we start each meeting off by going over one really big win from this past month.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:17:40] And when we take a look in the rear view, we can see just how much has been done. So in terms of what stops folk, stops folks from seeking out or joining a group, yes, for sure there’s a bit of imposter syndrome. And to that I’d say complete an application. Let’s talk about your business. I know there’s some wins there and some really important lessons learned, even in big challenges. And trust me, as an entrepreneur, you have a wealth of knowledge to share if you’ve made it. As far as calling yourself an entrepreneur, that’s really big. On the flip side of that, there can also sometimes be a bit of, um, believing you know it all and can do it all yourself. And this is usually the founder who thinks they can’t find the right people, who can do the job as well as they can, let alone better. And trust me, you always want to be hiring people who are smarter than you and better at you in each area of your business, and so if you think you know it all, then that generally means you’re not as open to hearing feedback from others. It also means you’re not generally open to asking the vulnerable questions about what can really help you out and getting unblocked, and that can prove challenging. So those kinds of folks don’t typically seek out that kind of peer advisory input. And they generally, if they do, um, can dominate in providing feedback and not being open to receiving any of it. And so again, that’s kind of what we screened for in that application process.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:58] Now, is there a story you can share of maybe somebody who came to the group as a skeptic or just said, oh, I’ll just try it. And but we’re not really 100%. It sold and then was able to get maybe some achievement or got to a new level, you know, as I don’t want to say a surprise, but maybe it it kind of did surprise them on the power of this kind of a group.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:19:22] Yet thematically, I find these surprises always people are coming in looking to get unblocked in one area, and the delightful surprise is that they found their their their business family. They found others like themselves they didn’t even realize were out there. And they got insight into areas they didn’t know were even challenges within the business. We all have an idea of the things that we know. We sometimes think we know. Some of the spots where we could improve in areas of things we don’t know. But the biggest opportunities I’ve found time and time again are in the areas that we didn’t know, we didn’t know anything about. And that’s really where that period advisory can help out. So yeah, to your question about like individual stories, I can think back to one of our members who joined us and, you know, was on that fence of like, hey, let’s see what this mastermind group is all about. You know, they looked at, for example, coaching, they talked to coaches, they talked to consultants. They’d, uh, talk to some online communities. And they were curious sort of where a mastermind group fit within that. And their question sort of came down to afterwards of like really seeing the difference between group coaching and a mastermind group. But the value they found was not just in the facilitation, but in the openness and willingness of other members to to challenge some of those basic mindsets. So sometimes we’ll come up. The biggest limiting factor is an individual’s mindset in terms of how much they charge or what they’re worth, or what the value is of their customers. See, so we had we had one member who joined us who had his his billable rates relatively low, but thought for himself. He was pretty high. And that sort of he priced himself mentally based on what he thought he was worth.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:21:06] And so the group lovingly challenged that and said, your prices should actually be quite a bit higher. And the response to that was along the lines of, well, when I get to X number of customers, then that will justify raising the price. And we said, well, that’ll justify it to you, but to your prospects, they don’t need you to have a certain number of customers. That’s just you getting comfortable with the idea. And so we were able to help as a group unblock that mental. Uh, limit and limitation of what his time was worth until he was able to go out there and raise the prices and like, right off the bat, that increases profitability in the business and not just top line revenue, just simply that little change we provided, you know, um, product feedback to businesses that are looking to launch a new product line. We had a member in our group who, uh, you know, when he came in, had one business model, which was successful. It was also kind of dated. And so as a group, we were lovingly prodding this, bringing the business model into a modern style, SAS, a software as a service platform, as opposed to the business model that was there before. Um, and that idea was met with some resistance. But when that member came around to the idea, a whole new business was launched. That business went on to double revenue every single year, and that became that next big business in the older business was suddenly the side business. And that’s just one of many, many stories we have of wins folks get from, you know, being part of the group and being open to the feedback and advisory from others.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:36] So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team or get Ahold of that application, what’s the website? What’s the coordinates?

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:22:45] Yeah. Head over to Bay Area mastermind.com. You can find out more about our group, what the meetings are like, upcoming events. You can submit that test drive application. And even if you’re not sure if the group is a fit for you, the application process itself will be eye opening in terms of the questions we ask, and that’ll give you an idea of what we’re looking for. And then from there, we hop on a call and go over that. And if there’s an opportunity that, you know, looks like it’s a fit for you, we’d welcome you to join us for a test drive. And if not, that’s great. We’ve got a ton of great resources that we can share with you to help you on that journey of entrepreneurship. We’ve been there before. We’ve been running the groups for quite a long time. We’re not going anywhere anytime soon. And you’re not alone on the journey. We’re here with you.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:24] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Jeremy Shapiro: [00:23:29] Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:30] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Bay Area Business Radio.

Chuck Burge with Airaoke

February 17, 2024 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Chuck Burge with Airaoke

00:00 /

Chuck Burge has been in the marketing industry for over 30 years. He became one of the hosts/emcees for the Diet Pepsi “You Got The Right One, Baby” Uh-Huh Girls…. transitioned into a corporate DJ.

He was invited back into the marketing world to create marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies…GM, Dunkin Donuts, Pepsi and many others. After the downfall in economy in ’08, he started doing everything locally that he was doing nationally… helping companies with branding and sales.

Today, he still creates events for non-profits selling sponsorship for and producing them. Airaoke.org is the website for his biggest event. He hosts two sports podcasts to raise money for a cancer support group and NIL money for the 2nd largest college in GA, Kennesaw State University.

He is very involved in his community through Chamber of Commerce, business associations and volunteering for MUST Ministries.

Connect with Chuck on LinkedIn and follow Airaoke on Facebook

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX Studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:19] Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline. And today in the studio, I have a gentleman who has spent over 30 years in the entertainment and marketing business. He has been a host and emcee for the Diet Pepsi Uh.huh girls, which has been a minute since they’ve been around, but still amazing credit. And he’s created grassroot fortune 500 companies like GM, Dunkin Donuts and Pepsi. His. Today he creates events for nonprofits and his biggest nonprofit is airaoke.org/, which is why he is in the studio today. We’re going to talk about that today. So please welcome Chuck Burge. Hello.

Chuck Burge: [00:01:00] Hey, Sharon. How are you? Good. How are you? Good to see you. Good to be out with you.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:05] Thank you. On a nice, somewhat warm Thursday afternoon, which is so crazy. Crazy.

Chuck Burge: [00:01:10] It’s beautiful, I love it.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:11] I know, me too. Thank you so much for coming in today. Oh, you bet. We, um, had previously spoken. At some point we would talk about the Airaoke competition that happened in October and September, September 30th. And then life gets in the way.

Chuck Burge: [00:01:27] And then my life, not yours.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:29] Yeah, no, but I appreciate you reaching out and reminding me that we were going to do this. So thank you. I’m very happy to, um, to go over the the other side of getting ready or talking about what you’ve done in terms of success with Arioch, because we talk about getting ready and getting sponsors and, and trying to promote this event, but it’s not often I get to talk to someone about the after afterwards and how you felt about it and how successful you felt. It was not just for sponsors, but like for the the nine over 11 Fallen Heroes project, which is who benefits from the karaoke competition?

Chuck Burge: [00:02:06] That is correct. Uh, Susan and Mike. Course, Mike is, uh, was actually spent three months at ground zero after nine over 11 recovering bodies and stuff. And Mike and his wife Susan run the nine over 11 Fallen Hero project here in Atlanta. And Mike is actually contracted cancer from being on site at nine over 11. So he’s the first person to contract it from being on site. They’re just fabulous. Guy. I can’t speak as well as he used to, but he used to be a very good speaker around town and used to do, uh, keynote speaking. And now he leads to talking to others and he just comes to the event, which is great. Uh, Susan and I now have a four year partnership. We had our first meeting of the year last Friday. Went very well. Uh, we’re going to make some changes, which is kind of interesting. Um, yeah. So, uh, yeah. So looking forward to getting keyed up about, uh, September 28th this year of 2024. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:59] So this will be the fourth karaoke. That’s correct. That you’ve had. So I know you’ve spoken about Arioch on other shows, but I’m wondering if you could give the listeners an idea of what Arioch really is.

Chuck Burge: [00:03:10] Arioch is just a fundraiser for the 9/11 Fallen Hero Project. Uh, all all nonprofits do golf tournaments and five K’s. And I wanted to do something different. Um, and having been a karaoke host, probably one of the first 10 or 20 karaoke hosts in the country when it came here in the early 90s, I’ve always had a passion for karaoke, even though I hadn’t sang karaoke since 2000 until about three weeks ago. I did it at a birthday party.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:38] Oh, what did you sing?

Chuck Burge: [00:03:39] Uh, me and, uh, Sandra Glenn sang. Uh, I got you, babe. Oh, I got down on my knees so she would be taller than me. So we’d be like Sonny and Cher. And it was a blast.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:48] Oh, it’s fun right?

Chuck Burge: [00:03:49] A lot of memories rushed back. It was fun. It was a long time since I’ve been on a mic to sing, but, uh, we had a good time, and that’s all that matters. That’s anything I do. If I have fun, I’ll assume everybody else is having a good time.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:01] That’s awesome. So you had created Arioch is a combination of, like, an airport and karaoke. So let’s talk about how you came up with that. Yeah, the whole concept.

Chuck Burge: [00:04:10] I was on the board for the Marietta Aviation Museum for a while, and they had this big C-130 out at the Aviation Museum, and I was just standing there one day in the parking lot. And it’s a very unique place to have an event, and it’s kind of slopes down towards the plane. And I said, well, great for viewing and all that stuff. And I said, how cool would it be to wrap a stage around the nose of that C-130 and have people sing karaoke in front of the plane? And everybody loved the idea. But the more we looked at it, there was a railroad track across the street and, uh, 72 trains a day come through there and you never know when it’s going to happen. So we just decided that that wasn’t the place. And I went to Jim Cook that owns, uh oh. I can’t even think of the name of his company. I’ll think of it here before we leave. Uh, he owns a hangar up at, uh, Cobb International or McCallum airport, and we decided to have have it in there. And he had a smaller plane than the C-130, but we still wrapped a stage around the nose of the plane and karaoke, and the view was beautiful. You could see Kennesaw Mountain behind the planes and planes were taking off and landing behind the stage. And it was really an awesome venue. Uh, it was so good that we. We almost doubled our capacity or doubled our crowd size in the second year, and we ran out of room. So there’s just not enough parking at the airport. Um, it became a nightmare for the airport people. The elevations restaurant, I think, who I love, Diane Bowman and Mike Bowen, so no issues with them, but, uh, we took over all their parking spaces, so they were a little concerned. So we moved it to the Strand Theater on the square in Marietta, and we’re even considering changing it to Square Aoki since we’re on the square.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:49] Oh, gosh.

Chuck Burge: [00:05:49] We don’t know. But we’re thinking about it. But we don’t want to lose the branding. Um, so. And we obviously did not want to lose the karaoke portion of it. So we had to do something with air, and as you well know, because you sang in it and you came in third place, um, we made the stage look like a runway, so it looked like the performers were coming out on a runway and singing like they were the airplane. So we still had the karaoke tie in. Uh, the one thing that we lacked, we we could have used a bigger crowd. And the reason being, when we did it at the airport, we had, uh, we had over 25 sponsors, and each sponsor brought ten people, and we had table rounds of ten for them. There’s no place for rounds of ten at the strand. So we did a little, uh, adjusting this year. So we’re going to give the sponsors more tickets so they can come, and we’re going to do a couple of other things differently. Uh, but that’s how I came up with Arioch just. When you get as old as me, you lay in bed and you think and you think and you think. And just one night karaoke, maybe kind of fun.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:49] Divine inspiration is what we’re going to call that.

Chuck Burge: [00:06:51] You never know.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:52] Yeah.

Chuck Burge: [00:06:52] How did definitely up in the air. Oh, yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:56] Another dad joke that happens in this. We have dads in here all the time, so I’m sure dads who are listening are like, oh, cute. Uh, all right. So how did you get associated with the nine over 11 Fallen Heroes Project?

Chuck Burge: [00:07:06] I called, uh, Randy Kreider, who at the time was the fire marshal and then became Cobb County Public Safety director, and I had known him since he was 4 or 5 years old from church and McEachern High School. And I said I really wanted to do something because nine over 11 meant a lot to me. Two of my best friends were supposed to be in the towers that day, and through God’s grace, neither one of them wound up there. And, um, and when it happened, I ran off to a church and sit there and prayed, and I knew the 20th anniversary was coming up, and somebody said, you know, everybody’s starting to forget. And I said, well, let’s do something about that. And I called Randy and didn’t want to do a. Didn’t want to, uh, couldn’t give it straight to the firefighters. So he directed me to this organization to talk to them directly. And that’s how we had to give to the firefighters through there. And now it’s to all first responders, not just firefighters.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:00] Well, there were so many, right? So many different ways that people were being rescued and helped during that time.

Chuck Burge: [00:08:06] Just look at what happened in Kansas City yesterday and 800 900 firefighters and policemen there. It’s crazy. Crazy stuff. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:14] Have you been to New York since this has happened?

Chuck Burge: [00:08:16] Have you? No, I don’t think I have. I think I think I flew by there like a couple of days after, actually. I flew out of Boston on nine, nine. Oh, wow. Two days before. And I, you know, I may have been up there, I can’t remember, but. And I remember seeing the hole where the tower was, but I, I’ve never visited the site.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:34] I’d love to I haven’t either. I would love to as well, I’ve heard. All right, let’s go. Yeah. I’ve heard it’s really sacred, you know. Road trip. Yeah. And they have the museum there as well, which I’ve wanted to see. I mean, I don’t know, there’s just something, um, so solemn and sacred about what happened, you know, in these people’s lives. And when you think about the fact that your friends could have been part of that, it just hits closer to home, you know, than someone. Like where? I didn’t know.

Chuck Burge: [00:08:58] Anyone. Like I said, one of them called, um, she had had her fiance died like, the week before, and his funeral was the day before, uh, 911. And she called that morning and said, I just need one more day. And everybody in her firm was killed except for her that day, two hours later. And then my best friend was supposed to be at a meeting there, and he missed his flight the night before in Atlanta. So that stuff just gets to you. It’s personal. Yeah. And it became very personal to me because of those two people. And of course, the more I learned about Mike and everything he did, I mean, he just tears my heart up when I talk to him, so. Susan two I mean, it’s an amazing thing what they did.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:40] I think it’s a wonderful thing to. To turn something that’s tragic and, you know, horrible and beyond what we can really even comprehend to make something positive out of it. And I think that’s one of the challenges that I find for my life, is the things that I can blame as negative and difficult. You know, if I reframe it, it can be something that is beneficial to my spirit or someone else’s spirit or journey. Um, and I can get down about things. So it’s it’s not easy, but I love the notion of being able to say, here’s something awful that happened, here’s how we can make it better.

Chuck Burge: [00:10:14] And absolutely, I.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:15] Know what is it? I want to say? It was Mister Rogers who said, always look for the helpers. Have you ever heard that?

Chuck Burge: [00:10:24] You know, I don’t think I ever watched Mister Rogers, other than seeing the farce gets done by Johnny Carson on his show, but. Well, I know it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, and that’s about it.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:35] That’s funny. That’s good. Um, I think he was the one who said that, you know, children would sometimes say, how do I or actually, no. He went to his mother and said, when bad things happen, what do we do? How do we look? How how do we think positively about the world when you see bad things happen? And his mother told him, look for the helpers, look for the people that help. Um, and then that gives you hope, I guess. So it’s like choosing to look at the positive, which is what you’re doing.

Chuck Burge: [00:10:59] I try. I try, yeah, it’s a great event. It’s a fun event. Uh, the last two years we have had, uh, one of our clients, American Signature Family Furniture, uh, had WSB come out and cover it. So that was great that we’ve got two years of exposure on WSB on their people to people show the week after. It shows on Sundays at noon. And if you go to karaoke Org, you can watch those videos of past events. They were very good. I think you’re in one of them. I think I called you and said, hey, do you see yourself on TV?

Sharon Cline: [00:11:30] Yeah, I was really surprised. Yeah. Uh Sharon.

Chuck Burge: [00:11:34] Cline. Seeing people.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:35] She nothing like the woman who won Hillary McDermott. My goodness, I just my mouth was just open the whole time. I’m like, why is she not have a record deal and is like on videos and, you know, the most famous person.

Chuck Burge: [00:11:47] Any of any of the three of you were just as good.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:49] Oh that’s awesome.

Chuck Burge: [00:11:50] Well, I can’t even remember who the second place girl was. I know she was blond, I can’t remember her name.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:54] And I can’t think of her name off the top of my head either.

Chuck Burge: [00:11:56] We had a hard time getting her, uh, jukebox into her car after the event, I remember that.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:01] So what’s so cool is you get these gifts to give to some of the finalists, and it’s just, you know, what a what an honor to feel like. I’ve got this company that’s helping me to honor the people that have done.

Chuck Burge: [00:12:13] And that’s American signature family furniture that gives us the gifts every year.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:16] Yeah. I mean, how special is that? And is it is it any challenge at all to find sponsors? I mean, what is that like for you? Well, there’s.

Chuck Burge: [00:12:22] Always a challenge when you’re looking for sponsors and it’s a sales game no matter who it is. There are so many good charities out there. I mean, most ministries out there, there’s tons of good charities, people that help with, uh, homeless kids and, and, you know, hungry kids and just police. And every company has their own passion and somebody’s gonna say, nah, I support other charities and that’s and that’s fine, but you just have to talk to enough that first responders mean a lot to them. And to me, 911 was the deal clincher, you know, and for some people that we talk to it is you know, that’s I want to give to these people, um, Uncle Andy for plumbing. Now, uh, talk to him about returning this year. But he was on board last year, and he sat and talked with Mike Kors for about a half hour at the event so much I didn’t even get to meet him. We’ve talked some on Facebook and stuff, but I didn’t even get to meet him while he was at the event. But, you know, it meant something to him, and it meant a lot to Mike for Randy to sit there and talk to him. So, um, sponsorships range from 250 to 5000. If you want to go look at archive.org, that’s a I r a o k e.org, and you can see all the sponsorships available on there.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:33] So you’ve also got some postcards that you’ll hand out occasionally over time to help people to understand that they have an opportunity potentially, if they want to be part of it. This is where you go and what you do. So I’m glad that you brought some today. I’ll be back. Yeah.

Chuck Burge: [00:13:47] Let me show it here on the radio. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:49] I hope you can see it. But they’re not on right now, which is the way I like it. No.

Chuck Burge: [00:13:54] So, yeah, we’ll leave these with Sharon. We’ve got her some, uh, basically to save the date. September 28th, 2024, the only date the strand had available that month. Oh, wow. So we have to work around their schedule and getting to that. And I’ll talk a little bit about some of the changes we’ve made. Uh. It’s it’s very difficult to find a place to do this. The benefits of being at the strand are number one, the acoustics, number two, the acoustics, and number three, the acoustics. I mean, it sounded so much better in the strand than it does in a hollow airport with all this ambient noise going on. But it was, from a technical perspective how long it lasted. It lasted right at three hours, which is what we were shooting for. The first singer came on at seven and we announced the finalists at like 945, and then they performed and and then left. Now we’re going to do something a little bit different this year. Uh, I know we had 25 singers and then three finalists, and I don’t know if you noticed it or not, but when the three finalists were announced, everybody else left.

Chuck Burge: [00:14:54] So we’re not going to have finalists this year. We’re just going to have 25 singers, and then we’re going to do a raffle instead of silent auction. So if you’ve got a raffle item, please contact me at Chuck karaoke org. And and then we’re just going to announce the raffle winners and then we’ll name the three winners and then it will be over. So so that way we’ll hope to keep the crowd there longer. And we also are going to do a better effort of trying to get schools involved. We are dropping the age participation down to high school. Excellent. So any high school that wants to participate, they can have a student there. And our thinking behind that is that will bring people. So if you have a daughter that’s in the course, everybody in the course will come. If you have a son that’s sings, all his friends and stuff will come. So that’s kind of our thinking behind that. But it’s still karaoke. It’s still the coolest nonprofit event going in town because it’s not like anything else you’ve seen.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:47] It’s not. It’s the most unique, for sure. But what I love that you’re having for you’re having younger people, um, there’s so many talented people out there who just haven’t had a chance to really shine. So it’s wonderful that you’re giving them this opportunity.

Chuck Burge: [00:16:02] Yeah. And Hillary is scheduled to be a judge, so I hope she’s still going to be a judge. Um, the previous winner always becomes a judge because we’re not going to let the same person win two years in a row. Gotcha. Uh, which I think is a good marketing idea because we want everybody to have a chance to win as long as we have the event. So, uh, and then, uh, Madeline Montgomery, who was one of the judges last year, instead of just getting community leaders, we’re going to get four other people that know music and they know what they’re looking for because, like, I had a friend, I wanted to name his name John Keller, but, uh, but he was just I don’t know what I’m voting for. I’m just voting because I think they sound good. So. So we’re going to get people that know what they’re doing. So I guess in a way we’re going to step up the judging a little bit. So Madison’s going to take over that. And again, that’s one little thing off my plate. And I got a lot of good committee that everybody does a little. And I like to say, you know if everybody does a little nobody has to do a lot.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:57] Perfect. Yeah.

Chuck Burge: [00:16:57] Right.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:58] So so what other, uh, how was it at the end of karaoke? Did you feel like the money that you raised felt significant? Did it feel worth it? Um, I guess I have no idea what that side is like for you.

Chuck Burge: [00:17:11] Yeah. Um, as long as Susan’s happy, I’m happy. And, you know, we have a great relationship, and, uh, she keeps coming back, so she must not be unhappy with what we’re doing.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:21] That’s amazing. Perfect.

Chuck Burge: [00:17:23] Yeah. And, you know, we’ve raised we we grew, uh, we doubled in size from year one to year two. Uh, year two to year three. It wasn’t quite that, but we did have an increase in the money that we gave to Susan. So, uh, you know, it’s not it’s not that hard if you’re going out trying to sell sponsorships, as long as you tell enough people. I’ve been in the sales business long enough to know that if you tell your story to enough people, you won’t fail. And that’s my bottom line. I will tell everybody I know until I get where I want to be. So that’s kind of my mantra, I guess.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:58] Have you always had a heart for nonprofit?

Chuck Burge: [00:18:01] You know, uh, for 17 years I refereed and coached basketball at the upward organization at my church. And, um. Sometimes I was trying, but I did it for 17 years, every Saturday. You know, during basketball season, I did it. And I also volunteer at Gobbledok every year for Mus ministries. Um, and also, I don’t know if you want to mention this, but I also do two sports podcasts.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:30] I did want to ask you.

Chuck Burge: [00:18:30] About them, so I do one called Three Guys Who Love Sports. Uh, at 5:00 at Wednesday’s at Miller’s Ale House on Chastain Road in Kennesaw. So, uh.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:39] Across the street from Kennesaw State University.

Chuck Burge: [00:18:40] Across the street from KSU. So we do that because I’ve been playing poker once a month for close to 40 years with a bunch of guys, and two years ago, one of them contracted prostate cancer, and me and one of my other friends took him out to dinner one night. And all they wanted to do was talk about prostate cancer. And I said, Steve, you got you got to stop, buddy. You’re going to kill yourself worried about it. And so we got him talking about when he played baseball at Murray State and when he and I used to play church basketball against each other, and his whole demeanor changed, his face lit up. It’s he started smiling and laughing again. And I said, you know what? We’re going to start a sports podcast show just for you. I said, we’re going to do it once a week, and it might only be an hour, but, you know, I’ve helped somebody an hour, and somebody else helps somebody for an hour. This world will be a better place. So we started that and two weeks ago we had our 100th show. Oh, congratulations. Two year anniversary. Yeah. So it was awesome. And about six months into that I had a friend of mine, Carrick Martin Carrick is the co-owner of Dogwood Golf Club out in West Cobb, and I knew he was a sponsor and donor in the Hall of Fame of Kennesaw State sports, and I wanted to have him on the show to see what was going on at KSU, because I went to Kennesaw Junior College when there were five buildings on campus, and so I had Carrick on the show and he pulled me and Robert.

Chuck Burge: [00:19:52] I said, you guys are great. This is a lot of fun. He said, would you be interested in coming out and broadcasting at, uh, Dogwood Golf Club next week for the US open? I think it was in June. And we said, yeah, we’ll come out there and do a road trip. So we did. And again, he pulled us all aside and said, you guys are just fantastic. Would you be interested in doing a show all about Kennesaw State sports? And Robert had looked at and said, well, we don’t know anything about them now, but we’ll learn. And so now we’ve been doing that show 18 months. So at Miller’s Ale House on Chasteen Road, Kennesaw, we right across from Kennesaw State University. We do, uh, three guys who love sports. At 5:00, we always have a guest on and we mail them agenda a couple of days ahead of time and so they’ll know what they’re going to be talking about. And then at 7:00, well, Miller’s feeds us at six, which is a terrific thing because their food is delicious. And then at 7:00 we do the owls who live sports all about Kennesaw State sports, and we have fans and guests and coaches and players and on it’s a lot, a lot of fun. And like I said, we’ve been doing that show since August 17th of 2022. So about 18 months now.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:54] Can you even believe it?

Chuck Burge: [00:20:55] No.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:56] Like, who would have thought you would be doing a show about Kennesaw State University? You know, every Wednesday and it’s just the way life unfolds sometimes just cracks me.

Chuck Burge: [00:21:03] It’s just crazy. I mean, uh, and in my opinion, it’s God’s hand and he’ll he’ll lead you where you need to be. And we just we have so much fun. We have so much fun. Um, we had a little trouble yesterday because it was Valentine’s Day. We had a couple that was supposed to be on, and they begged out because she was sick. So. So they said. And, uh, we didn’t have a guest yesterday for the first time. So we brought Larry the engineer on, and he was the third guy who loved sports. But that’s the first time we’ve had to do that. But, uh, we’re back on schedule next week, and I think it’s called it’s not Valentine’s Day, and everybody wants to come back on and be on. So it was tough. But, uh, yeah, two years. We just got a new sponsor, uh, Brain Train. Do you know them? I don’t, um, yeah, train, brain train incorporated. So they look at your mind and tell you what’s going on in your brain. Oh, boy. Very cool people. Melissa Hergert and Meg Thompson. Hey, if you’re listening, that’s awesome.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:54] I can only imagine what they would find in mine. Yeah.

Chuck Burge: [00:21:57] They could look in mine and look in one ear and see through the other one, so that’s okay.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:02] No, they’d be like, would you just relax? I’d be like, what do you mean?

Chuck Burge: [00:22:05] So they’re going to be a sponsor starting March 1st. But now we have like Kennesaw Express lube, uh, American Accents with Dan Fisher, uh, Brian Bristow on the Kennesaw Express lube. And then Alvin Jameson has his own mortgage company. And so they’ve been sponsors for 7 or 8 months now. So, yeah, it’s funny.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:23] You’re talking about Kennesaw Junior College, and now it’s the second largest university in the state.

Chuck Burge: [00:22:28] 13th in the country.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:29] 13th in the country. I did not know that.

Chuck Burge: [00:22:31] Yeah, 40 over 43,000 students.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:34] Wow. Yeah, amazing I know, but, you know, I was thinking how wonderful it is that you’ve got these friendships that you’ve had for 40 years or however long it was. But how nice is it to be able to draw from some of the people that you’ve gone through life with, to be able to help promote things that you’re passionate about now?

Chuck Burge: [00:22:53] Oh, yeah. I mean, that’s, uh, I’ll tell you a little. I’ve never used an ATM. I’ve never used a debit card. I go in the bank and I build a relationship with somebody, so if I have a problem, I can go in and say, hey, something’s here. Can you fix it for me? And that? Works. I mean, I try to impart that to my kid. I’ve never ordered one thing on Amazon in my life. I want to touch it. I want to feel it. I want to see what it looks like before I buy it. And I know that’s not today’s world, but that’s my world. It’s so funny. Robert and I, Robert Kinney, my co-host on the On the Owl Show, and the three guys who love sports. We got in the biggest argument yesterday on the show. The first time we ever been in an argument I think about, he told me that I told him that I had never heard a Taylor Swift song. He said, oh yes you have. I said, no, I’m telling you right now, I cannot name one. I have not heard one. He said on the radio. I said, don’t listen to the radio. I listen to my CDs. He said in the store, I said, I think I know it. I know a song that I didn’t know if I heard it, but everything I hear in Publix, I know I sing along with it. So. And then we went to commercial. We came back, I said, you know what, Robert? We’re doing this two years and the only time we’ve ever had a disagreement about whether or not I heard a Taylor Swift film. So that was fun. Yeah. And and people even texted in that exchange was hilarious.

Speaker3: [00:24:09] I know. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:11] Taylor Swift I know has been causing a little bit of a stir, a little bit of a stir. Yes. In the sports world these days. Did you watch the Super Bowl?

Speaker3: [00:24:18] Oh yeah. Yeah.

Chuck Burge: [00:24:20] Gotcha. We got to talk about it. So we, uh, of course you’re right.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:23] Sports related. I don’t know why I even asked that. That makes sense. Yeah.

Chuck Burge: [00:24:27] Yeah, but I it was a good football game.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:30] Is there anything that you’ve learned that surprised you about Kennesaw or the sports program there?

Chuck Burge: [00:24:35] Uh. The best thing that I’ve learned is there are some really loyal fans, and there are some that aren’t because there are. They’ve got 43,000 students and they can’t fill up a 10,000 seat stadium. And that has got to change. They’re moving to conference USA July 1st, which means they’re stepping up in grade and in everything, the schedule. We’re looking at the schedule last night and they go to San Jose State. They go to Sam Houston. They go to uh, UTEp in western Texas, and they make some long trips now to where it used to be, Jacksonville State and Furman and Jacksonville, Florida and all that. But now they’re they’re stepping up. But the purpose of our show there is to help raise the Nil money to keep the athletes there. Uh, one little girl, Kylie, uh, she probably hates me calling her a little girl. Carly Turza is, uh, she’s the hammer thrower at KSU, one of the hammer throwers, and sets a record every time she throws the hammer for KSU. She fabulous. She got an nil deal with WWE. So now when she graduated from KSU, she’s going to WWE. And she has just. About five, four five, five. Beautiful as can be and, uh, and hard as a rock. She has. She has, like 250,000 followers on TikTok or Instagram or something. And when she was on the show the first time, she took our intern and put him on her shoulders and did squats.

Speaker3: [00:25:58] Oh my God.

Chuck Burge: [00:25:58] And that’s that’s what she does online. She’s hilarious. So, uh, yeah. And it’s funny, you know, that, uh, the people you meet, I’ve made so many good friends now from, uh, from them now coming to the show, you know, almost every week to spend time with us and listen to what we have to say about KSU sports and coaches. And the track team has been great. Uh, basketball team’s been good. We had a couple of coaches on and the players and stuff. It’s been really, really cool, uh, to get involved and, you know, that’s me. I want to be involved with what I’m doing. So, you know, we’re hoping to raise money for, uh, prostate cancer awareness for the first show. And I owe money for the KSU athletes in the second show. But karaoke is still my biggest passion. Just because what it meant to me and, uh, and we, uh, we want sponsors, we want singers, and we want people to donate, uh, raffle items. And we want we want people there.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:50] So what’s been the most satisfying part of being part of karaoke, of creating karaoke and being part of what’s been the most satisfying part of it?

Chuck Burge: [00:27:01] The relationships I built with Susan and Mike. And, uh, all my committee members that have given so much, you know, of course, to me, uh, that’s what I’ve done for 30 years now, is create stuff. And when you create something and then you run it to, it’s a lot different than creating it and handing it off to General Motors or Dunkin Donuts or whatever. But, uh, when it’s your baby, um, I get pretty passionate about it. So I love just the fact that. I’ve kind of left a legacy. If we keep doing it, you know, it’s something that I created and that my sons can look back and say, hey, dad, that was pretty cool, you know?

Sharon Cline: [00:27:40] Maybe he’ll run. Run it.

Speaker3: [00:27:41] Someday.

Chuck Burge: [00:27:42] Um, I doubt that.

Speaker3: [00:27:44] I doubt they’ll.

Chuck Burge: [00:27:45] Live here, but, uh. But I’m already in the search for somebody to kind of take it over when I’m ready to hand it off. The plus side of that is, I believe it’s. It’s worthy of sticking around for a while. So as long as we can get doesn’t take that much to put on this event, I won’t. I don’t want to give you the amount, but it’s not a huge number. It’s the beginning of the strand and the prize money, and that’s basically about it. And, uh, we can do a lot of great things for the 9/11 Fallen Hero Project. If we can get more people to come out and participate, I think we’ll I don’t think we’ll have an issue this year filling out the 530 at the strand.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:21] I was thinking about how as as you were speaking, about how what you’ve done has so much heart to it in so many different ways. Um, not just Arioch, but with the the KSU show and the fact that you have this. Passion for helping and creating an event that has in its own merit is worthy to watch. But then the benefit of it being for something good as well. It always feels like there’s such a positive momentum and positive result that goes when your heart is involved in something that you know is for something good.

Chuck Burge: [00:28:57] Yeah, I mean, it’s great if we raise 5000 for them, it would be just as great as we 50,000 for them, you know. It’s it’s the process and doing it and being consistent. I made a promise to the committee last Friday. I said every day, every day between now and then, I’ll ask somebody to sponsor karaoke. Except on Sundays. Sundays I take off. But, uh, but every day I will send an email. I will talk to somebody about being a sponsor of karaoke, and I hope you will, too. And if we all do a little, like I said, if we all do a little, nobody has to do a lot.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:32] So what’s the best way that I could help you or anyone that’s listening can help you?

Chuck Burge: [00:29:39] You’re talking about personally or with.

Speaker3: [00:29:40] This.

Chuck Burge: [00:29:42] God? Personally, I need a lot of help.

Speaker3: [00:29:47] No.

Chuck Burge: [00:29:48] You know, it’s funny, I tell the committee members because some of them are very hard workers and they love to be at the event and they love to do the event, but they’re not salespeople. And I said, all you have to do is say, hey, can Chuck come talk to you? Can Chuck come talk to you? And I’m there. I mean, that’s all it takes. Phone number and an email and I’ll talk to anybody about Oryoki. So that’s that’s how Sharon Cline can help me from a professional standpoint.

Sharon Cline: [00:30:13] I can help get people to know that you have this opportunity for them. Yeah, I don’t know what it is, but I’m not a sales person either. Yeah. So I find.

Chuck Burge: [00:30:22] I find that hard.

Speaker3: [00:30:22] To believe.

Sharon Cline: [00:30:23] No, I can talk about things, but I’d like to ask someone to do something for me. That’s a challenge. So. But I love the idea of being able to have a postcard that I could give to someone and say, hey, this is coming up in the fall. You may want to consider and get in touch with you. Who is this natural sales person? So you’d be able to tell the story way better than I could, I’m sure.

Chuck Burge: [00:30:41] And believe it or not, that’s what salespeople do. And salespeople, uh, when I used to sell life insurance and health insurance for mass mutual insurance company back in the early 90s, I always told people, I said salespeople aren’t the best talkers. They’re the best listeners. If you don’t listen and know what somebody wants to buy, you can’t sell them anything. So sit there, ask a question and sit and listen. And if this is their passion, then tell them the story. If not, say, hey, I suppose, well, you know, that’d be great. Let me tell you a little bit about this event and then move on. But if that’s their passion, they’ll become a part of it. People buy from people they like, and that’s something that I’ve learned over the years, that people like you, they’ll buy from you as long as you’ve got something they they want or need. And if you don’t. There’s no reason why you can’t still be friends. And you know that’s. Don’t burn your bridges. I’ve done that once, but don’t burn your bridges. And, uh. And everybody will be just fine. Just get along with everybody. Um, and that’s that’s kind of my story. I like I like helping these guys. I love helping Susan and Mike. Uh, great people, Wes, their family and Ren and all of them, uh, they do so much for the community, just like the firefighters do, and just like the first responders do. And those are the people that I support. Every time I see one of them on the street, I thank them for what they do, and that means a lot to them. Um, I’m sure some other people do it, but I wouldn’t say the majority of people do it.

Speaker3: [00:32:08] That’s true.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:09] I would imagine that’s true. Yeah.

Chuck Burge: [00:32:11] So take care of these first responders. They’re they’re here for a reason, and they’re and they’re here for you. And that’s why they’re here. Because they care about you.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:21] You almost hope that you don’t need them.

Speaker3: [00:32:22] Absolutely. You know, unless.

Chuck Burge: [00:32:24] You have a flat tire or something, that.

Speaker3: [00:32:25] Would be good.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:27] Well, I mean, I hope, I hope I don’t, but if I ever do, you know, I’m grateful that they’re there. Um, not just for me, but obviously sometimes I’ll see fire trucks going on, you know, the road, and I just. Where are they going? Where are they going? You know, I’m usually frustrated being stuck in traffic. But the truth is, I’m grateful I’m not the one that’s needing the help that created the issue with the traffic.

Chuck Burge: [00:32:47] So that’s why great people like you care. Because a lot of people don’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:51] Oh that’s nice. Well thank you. No.

Speaker3: [00:32:53] Thank you.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:54] Well, I wanted to ask you briefly about marketing. When you watched the Super Bowl commercials, were there any that just stood out to you as you thought they were just amazing, given that you were in the industry for for many years?

Speaker3: [00:33:04] You know.

Chuck Burge: [00:33:05] I got up in eight during most of the commercials. I didn’t watch a lot. I don’t watch the halftime show because that’s just not me. I did watch some of the dunking commercial was okay. I watched it because their former client, um, uh uh, all the people that were washing feet, I didn’t know what that was about till the end of it, but that was pretty cool.

Speaker3: [00:33:22] Um.

Chuck Burge: [00:33:23] There were some that were okay, but nothing that really stuck out to me. Great. Of course, I’ve been watching these for 30, 40 years, however long they’ve been paying $7 million to be on the Super Bowl. Yeah, my favorite commercial. And I’ll tell you this, it wasn’t Super Bowl, but over the holidays, John Travolta being Santa Claus, that was the coolest commercial I’d seen in.

Speaker3: [00:33:44] 30 or 40 years. Walking.

Sharon Cline: [00:33:45] Yeah, on the street.

Speaker3: [00:33:46] And he’s dancing.

Chuck Burge: [00:33:47] On the Saturday Night Fever floor. And the girl that’s actually behind the counter was actually in Saturday Night Fever two.

Speaker3: [00:33:52] So did that crack you up? To me.

Chuck Burge: [00:33:54] That was the most clever commercial I’ve seen in a long, long time. So more John Travolta, more ties into the 70s and I’m happy. Camper.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:03] Well, Chuck, I can’t thank you enough for coming in and talking to me about Arioch. I know we were talking about this for a while, and I appreciate your reminding me because life just happens. I mean, it’s already almost March, April, May, June. It just comes and goes. So thank you for reaching out and, um, and for being having such a generous heart and a caring heart for people in the community. And your friendships obviously matter to you as well. So having like a relationships like you’re building and knowing that you are giving people an opportunity to benefit not just in an entertainment way, but in a way that supports what’s important to them, it’s invaluable. So thank you.

Chuck Burge: [00:34:41] Well, what you put into a relationship is the best thing in life, because if you put something into it, you’ll get something back. That’s why I look at it. And I think you’re saying that just because you came in third, but I don’t know.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:51] I didn’t think I’d come in anything.

Speaker3: [00:34:54] If you haven’t heard Sharon saying, find her and make.

Chuck Burge: [00:34:57] Her sing to you.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:57] That’s that’s very generous of you. But I would say you need to go to visit Hillary McDermott and her band, alibi, which apparently is amazing. I’ve been wanting to see them live, but, uh, yeah, I really appreciate that you gave me a shout out, but I’m telling you that these there’s there are some amazingly talented people right here in our community, and I can’t wait to see more of them. And we’ll find.

Chuck Burge: [00:35:16] Them between now and September.

Speaker3: [00:35:18] Heck, yeah. Thank you Sharon.

Sharon Cline: [00:35:19] Thank you Chuck, and thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.

Devika Rao with 23 East Group

January 11, 2024 by angishields

Sandy Springs Business Radio

Devika Rao with 23 East Group

00:00 /

Devika Rao is the President and CEO of 23 East Group, a purpose driven mar/comm agency that is focused on telling a brand’s whole story.

Connect with Devika on LinkedIn.

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 with Rachel Simon. Another episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Connect the Dots. So this episode is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to Connect the Dots dot digital. Rachel, Happy New year. Welcome back.

Rachel Simon: [00:00:48] Happy new year. Can you believe it’s 2024?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:51] Man the years just keep ticking by.

Rachel Simon: [00:00:53] Unreal.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:55] Um, well I’m so excited about this show. Who do you got today?

Rachel Simon: [00:00:58] We have a great guest today, Devika Rao of 23 East Group. Very excited to have you. Welcome to the show.

Devika Rao: [00:01:07] Thank you for having me.

Rachel Simon: [00:01:08] And happy New Year.

Devika Rao: [00:01:09] Happy new year.

Rachel Simon: [00:01:10] Holidays.

Devika Rao: [00:01:11] Yes. Uh, nice and quiet and calm, but with good family and friends. How about you?

Rachel Simon: [00:01:16] It was the same. Kind of quiet, but, um. And I think this is like the first week. The real first week back. Yeah. That everybody’s like, I think.

Devika Rao: [00:01:23] We’re out of the back.

Rachel Simon: [00:01:26] It’s time to get back to work, everybody. Um, well, we’re really excited to welcome you to the show. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Devika Rao: [00:01:36] Sure. Um, that’s a very loaded question. I would probably say go. Um, right. So I’m Devika. I’ve been in Atlanta since 1993. My family and I moved here. Um, so been, I guess, how local, if you will, if that counts. And just been working here in the marketing field. And I used to kind of have a hodgepodge of experience, but I started working at an agency about ten years ago, and, um, the agency wound up, I wound up buying the agency from the previous owners as they were wanting to exit, and so was born 23 East Group. And so actually, today is actually our one year birthday, if you will. Happy birthday. Thank you. But, um, yeah. So it’s been a cool journey. And, uh, so I joined the old agency about, like I said, ten years ago and started working with them, learning from them. And then when the opportunity arose to exit and they wanted to, you know, hand over the reins, I decided to take that jump. And I said, why not? What could be? What’s so difficult about this? But it’s lovely and it’s fun, so, well, that’s exciting.

Rachel Simon: [00:02:42] And, um, it’s extra exciting to be able to kind of have you on, on your, your company’s birthday. So happy anniversary. It’s a great milestone. You have a great story around the name of the company. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about that?

Devika Rao: [00:02:55] Oh thank you. The name is very special. 23 East is the name is the address of the home I grew up in when I when we used to live in India. So it is a nod to our roots. And I do feel that marketing has to have really good roots. You kind of have to know who you are. You kind of have to know where you come from, what you stand for as you try to tell your story. And so 23 East signifies kind of part of that address. And as any good storyteller would start kind of going into the weeds. So East, I kind of associated it with, you know, sunrise, you kind of start your day with the sun rising in the east, fresh ideas, fresh new energy, new beginnings. And then group was really important to me because I don’t think we do it alone. I think we are a collective. And so it takes a lot of people and a lot of colleagues and partners and friends to kind of make a vision come along. And whether it’s a client or whether it’s just your personal vision. So 23 East Group kind of has that personal touch to it.

Rachel Simon: [00:03:56] That’s great. And I love that there’s such a like distinct story to the name of the company, because I think sometimes there’s some company names out there and you’re like, what exactly does that mean? Um, so that’s a great story. Thank you. On that topic, you know, storytelling is a core component of what you do. So why is storytelling so powerful when it comes to marketing?

Devika Rao: [00:04:21] Sure. Um, I think it kind of goes down to the roots of storytelling. I think as humans, we like to tell stories. That’s how we communicate. That’s how information used to be passed around. Um, it was never just bullet points. And so I think it kind of goes back to the original way of what actually sells. So how you got convinced by some traditions or you got convinced by what you were supposed to do was because there was always some kind of anecdote, some kind of personal touch to it. So I think storytelling excitingly is coming back, um, into marketing. I mean, it is back, but it’s coming back a little bit more, tenfold. And so I think when it comes to connecting to an audience, when it comes to telling people why your brand is important or why your message is important, or why your mission is important, um, it goes back to, um, well, my my favorite thing is the why I think everything has to have a why. You have to know why you’re doing something, but it’s also about making it. Personal and making it important to them. So it’s not always about us. It’s not always about, um, what we want to do or we want to say. It’s about what will matter to that person that we want, um, who we want them to, what we want them to do and what we have to make it relevant to them. So I think stories are the way to do it. Um, because people innately want to know why it matters to them.

Rachel Simon: [00:05:47] Do you think storytelling kind of went away for a while in marketing, and now it’s coming back?

Devika Rao: [00:05:53] Um, like, I think it got, um, I don’t think it went away. I think it kind of got lost a little bit. Um, just because I think we got. So, um, and again, this is my personal opinion, but, um, this I think we got so enamored by digital, and I think we got so enamored by behavior changes by digital. You know, we are now quick to do things. We are, um, instantaneous as opposed to more thought process. Um, you know, you click a button, something shows up at your door. And so I think we met the moment in that, you know, marketing kind of met that space like, oh, people want quick information. We hear it all the time, right. Attention spans are shorter. Attention spans are you got to get it across in 30s 10s eight seconds. Um, but I think somehow people are also starting to figure out like, well, why am I doing this again? Or why do I like this brand? Because we hear it all the time, is that there’s just so much out there, right? We’ve. You talk about, you know, TV shows with your friends. They’re like, well, there’s just so much TV. I spend more time scrolling than I do actually watching. Um, that’s just an example. So I think it goes back to I think it’s going back to that old roots of, well, what matters to me and how. And then now in a crowded space as a marketing and marketing and branding, how do we make it matter? So you kind of rise up to the top. And I think that happens through stories. I think you have to start connecting back to people using these same mediums. But how do you use them in a creative, more approachable way?

Rachel Simon: [00:07:29] I completely agree. I definitely see a lot of successful and I’m going to use in my world, you know, on LinkedIn content creators that are utilizing storytelling techniques in their content as opposed to being like, here’s my service, buy it, blah blah, blah. Like it’s the why. It’s like, what is the value? What is my, uh, what’s a personal story that I can connect in to give a lesson, teach a lesson, do x, y, z. So I think that storytelling, I hope now will merge with those digital tools and tactics that will be successful overall.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:04] Yeah. Now, do you have any advice for that business owner that’s listening that enable them to incorporate maybe storytelling into their marketing right now? Like are there some easy things that people can do either to their website, maybe to LinkedIn posts or anything, um, that you advise your clients?

Devika Rao: [00:08:23] Yeah, I think low hanging fruit is always what’s working. Right. So if you you’re a business, you have clients or however your business model is. The story is in those success stories. So try to find the success stories that if you um, I’ll of course, I’m a marketing agency, so I’ll use a marketing, uh, success story. So if we have a client and we, uh, were able to do something creative and get to their goal, um, it’s not necessarily about the client in that moment, but how we got there. And their goal was used to got there by through through telling stories. And it’s not about that kind of direct focus. It’s more about, well, you know, who we can use as a testimonial who. And we have those words like great testimonial case studies, kind of, uh, very sales style kind of words, but they’re really just stories. And so I think for any business owner, any, any marketing professional who is trying to make a, you know, a way through into their brand, it’s really what’s sitting in front of you. I think we’re always looking for something a little bit bigger. Um, but if you’re like I said, if you’re in marketing or you’re a business owner, like, you know, who’s your advocate, who is who’s already with you in your services, ask them stories as why did you you know, what has been a great success for you to work with us? Um, what was, um, why did you decide to do something? So try to make it relatable. But the people, the stories are right in front of you. Um, I’m a big fan of data. Data tells gorgeous stories. If you take the time to read it. It’s not just numbers. Um, and you can kind of create stories out of that. So if something worked, why did it work? What resonated? Let’s go find that moment and let’s humanize it. So I think a lot of people are just really after the human stories now. And I think that’s kind of a great place to be.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:20] And then a lot of times people, like you said, are looking outside of themselves first, like for some magic solution, when a lot, a lot of times you should just be paying attention to what’s in front of you and, and kind of dig deep and, and just ask your clients, you know? Yeah. What was the pain you had? Why did you choose us? How were we able to help? And, you know, you document a few of those and then that’s great content and that’s a great story.

Devika Rao: [00:10:43] And you can go deeper, you know, you can go if the client’s open to it or the person who’s you’ve been supporting is open to it, you know, what did that work help them achieve. So beyond them is, you know, get the story of their success.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:58] So one client’s client, the client’s.

Devika Rao: [00:11:00] Client and and, you know, I’m I’m big on making sure that we treat our client’s client as our client. Because if that extra step, that extra relationship is built and that extra form of trust is built for our client, it’s inherently going to become yours too. And so I think it’s not just that you can definitely just go right there, but even go a little deeper and say, like, you know, tell that story of how did whatever you were working on help your client’s client and inherently does tie back to good storytelling and, um, being relevant? And I think that’s a big the big word is relevant always.

Rachel Simon: [00:11:41] Yeah, it seems like a couple of thoughts that came up. One is I think sometimes there’s a fear factor that goes along with it of, um, you know, it’s safe. It’s comfortable. Maybe to do a case study in a white paper. It might be a little intimidating to take that same kind of content and results and, and make it a little bit more of a personable, human story, but it’s so effective. Um, and the other piece is that it it does require patience.

Devika Rao: [00:12:11] Yes. The big P, yes.

Rachel Simon: [00:12:14] Which sometimes in marketing people don’t have so much patience, they want quick, instant results. And most good things in life require investment and patience.

Devika Rao: [00:12:23] Oh, that’s, uh, that’s definitely a quote of the day for sure. Yeah. And I think and I agree with you there, that one. I think it’s personally because of the world we like live in right now. We were just talking about instantaneous, you know, we want instant results or we send a post, we want instant likes. And those don’t happen all the time. And um, and you have to figure out what resonates and what doesn’t. Um, but it is a lot of, uh, it’s a long game. And I think if we kind of remind ourselves long game with short tum goals, then it sort of becomes achievable and it becomes more tangible. Because I do think in where we live in marketing now or even communications, um, we are overwhelmed. And I think any brand or any company that wants to start marketing, they kind of, um, they kind of look at everything and they think they have to do everything to be successful. And um, hopefully this it kind of they can scale back and say, what do we do? What do we need to do right now? And usually that tempers down that anxious, that anxiety because it is a it is very like, okay, we need social we need this, we need that.

Devika Rao: [00:13:36] You’re like and if you know, you have good advisors around you, you’re like, you don’t need all of that right now. You need to just start the engine and it’s just start on the consistent and frequent basis and then grow into that. So going sort of answering both is um, going back to your question, like what can business owners do right away? It’s just kind of think about what can be achieved at the moment. Um, because it is kind of overwhelming. And many conversations we’ve had or I’ve had with, uh, brands, you know, they kind of the whole thing is available. Like, you don’t really need to do all of that right now. And I think that helps when they kind of scale, sit back, scale back, and they’re like, oh, and like just start here, let’s just start building. And I think that’s also missed sometimes in marketing that it’s a building process. It’s not a.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:25] It’s not a flip, a switch. And then you’re not on ten platforms posting, you know, six times a day, like because that’s where it gets overwhelming. They see other people doing certain things and they’re like, well, I should be doing this. I’m falling behind. And then it creates a lot of pressure.

Devika Rao: [00:14:41] Yeah, it does. And just like Rachel said, it’s a patient process. And, um, it it’s not a fun process. It’s sometimes sit as a marketer being like, yes, we have to be patient, but it pays off. But you’re right. Like when you see either your competition or your colleagues or, you know, people in the same space as you doing way more, you’re just going, I need to do all of that. But I think that’s a gut check for yourself. You’re like, do I need to do all of that? Um, reminding yourself, is that even relevant for my business? Because it might not be. So it’s very easy to sort of kind of feel like, you know, kid not invited to the cool table sometimes, but, um, having that little gut check for yourself also saying, you know, that might not be something that’s right for my business. So not going to engage, maybe later, maybe not now, but it’s more about just kind of having that, um, filter for yourself to.

Rachel Simon: [00:15:34] Or maybe not ever. Maybe not.

Devika Rao: [00:15:36] Ever. Yeah, right.

Rachel Simon: [00:15:37] For sure. It’s that question of where is your audience. Right. So it’s like that, you know, what is it that, you know, shiny new toy. Oh new platform. I better go there. I there’s a story I love to share. Somebody had um, it’s like a business coach I had was listening to a podcast or some masterclass she was doing, and she shared how she, um, she had felt pressure to get really active on TikTok. Um, so she invested a lot of money, like 15, $20,000 on a whole TikTok strategy. She got, you know, she was putting all these videos out. She was getting good engagement because you get good engagement. It it converted to zero business. And she was like, why am I doing this? And she left it behind. So, you know, so many lessons. There is your audience there. Is it the right platform based on what you’re talking about? Is it worth the investment?

Devika Rao: [00:16:32] You know, and I think it’s also why are you doing it on that platform. So if she’s there for brand awareness and she’s getting engagement, that might have worked right. But if. That’s the place you’re going for business. Um, like you said, there was zero kind of lead generation or whatever. So I think it’s also about goal setting, like, why are you going on this platform? Is it just because it’s new or is your, like you said, is your audience there? And I think that’s also kind of a big point in when you’re looking at what platforms work best for you. And um, and what do you want out of them? Because I think that drives that storytelling also because if we’re trying to get lead generation or if you’re just trying to do some brand awareness or you’re just trying to, um, kind of, you know, just showcase what your skills are. Just sometimes it’s a portfolio. It’s a portfolio in of itself. Um, that drives your outreach strategy, that drives what you are planning to do on these platforms because, um, you work in mostly in LinkedIn. Um, a LinkedIn strategy is totally different than an Instagram strategy, totally different than an email strategy. And so it is not one size fits all. And, um, the end goals are not one size fits all. And I think that has to be again, going back to the why, um, that has to be clear. Um, and that helps you filter out your story to know.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:54] I’d imagine that when you’re having these conversations with your clients or prospective clients, that is critical, right? To get clarity around what outcome they desire, because a lot of times they’re like, hey, this person’s on TikTok, so should I like it’s like, well, what do you want out of this? What what? You know, how do you want? When we look back at the results in a year, what’s going to be the thing that we’re high fiving? Not the thing. That’s what. Why do we do that? You know, because you might go up, uh, you know, down a path that may not be relevant to what you’re really trying to, uh, achieve.

Devika Rao: [00:18:25] Yeah. And I think that’s a super important question. Um, whether you do it in discovery, whether you do it in prospecting, um, you know, it’s really helping the person either if they’re a client or prospective client, really have that conversation and say, well, what do you want? Like and my favorite question really is to ask, like, I come to you in one year and I say, you know, I’d love for you to resign. What do you want to make sure I tell you that we have achieved. Right. And that because I think there’s power in working backwards, I think there is power like, well, what do we want? Okay. We want, um, 20 leads. I know that’s a very low number, but it depends on who you are as a client. But we want 20 XYZ. Um, then okay, how are we going to get there? And I think that is a really it’s a fun process actually, to watch people kind of figure that out, make it more granular because usually everybody is like, well, I just want brand awareness. I want everybody to know about me. I want everybody like, but why and where and who. And that goes to kind of my favorite formula, which is the five W’s and the how. And just those are the core things to drive home any, um, clarity that you might need to what you want to accomplish.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:42] Right. And you want to get layers deep because on the surface they can come to you and go, oh, I want a PR strategy. And it’s like, oh, you do like, why do you want that? You got to ask them that five times, you know, to get to the really what they’re trying to accomplish, not because they had a friend that had a PR strategy that was successful, you know, which could be the reason they called initially, which might not be really what they need or want.

Devika Rao: [00:20:06] Exactly. And again, it goes back to is it for you? And it could be and but it might not be the same as your friend or the brand next to you. It might be the same industry, same brand or competitive brand, but totally different goals. So, um, yeah, I think that getting deeper with our clients and even prospective clients, um, is the core strategy there is just and helping them. I think for me, I get very excited when I see the light bulbs kind of start, you know, flickering and coming on. And, um, they know their business. They know what they want. It’s just, um, helping them kind of figure out that kind of path and saying, like, you could be a lot more creative. We don’t have to be very, um, straightforward about it. You can do this. You can do that. So helping them dig through this intellectual property that they come with, um, is, I would say, probably one of my favorite things to do with, uh, clients and prospective clients is like, tell me more. Even though I’ve been with them for years, it’s like, tell me more like what’s going on and what’s driving that? Like how, you know, and sometimes you have as a marketer, you should be asking like, well, why are why is this goal suddenly important? Because they and and hopefully there is that relationship of trust where they can tell you why they suddenly need a huge PR strategy or they need a huge, um, you know, online presence all of a sudden or something like that, or we need to do we need to pivot.

Devika Rao: [00:21:34] So hopefully there is that great, um, symbiotic relationship that can happen with a good marketing. A good marketing team and the client or the business to say, well, why is this suddenly and what do you want out of it? And not just from a business sales point of view, but more of a what is the company goal here? Because then the more you can explain, the more you can explain internally to your marketing team, the more we can accomplish. It’s, um, it’s a lot harder to go backwards than, um, you know, than just start from the front end and just hit all those goals.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:11] Is there a niche that your agency, um, kind of a sweet spot for you?

Devika Rao: [00:22:15] Yeah, we have three good sweet spots, and I think we, we really shine there. Um, one, we’ve we’ve really found a great place to live with, um, organizations and state agencies that work with people with developmental disabilities. So with that, we’ve been working with a few different state agencies, nonprofits and other organizations that kind of work on, um, whether it’s, um, advocacy or just information, education and information on things that matter to the developmental disability community. And, um, we’ve just really found our little space. We, we have using modern ways to communicate. But how do we use those spaces like podcasts, like videos, etc.? Lots of storytelling, um, around those individuals, um, going back to or around that community, really, and um, going the next one is, uh, nonprofits as well. We just, um, you know, nonprofits are a type of business. So I love to make sure that nonprofits know that they are actually a business and they treat themselves like one. And, um, so supporting them in, uh, capacity of full marketing. And then we really found our good spot of being like a fractional marketing department for companies that are in that growth stage, um, who are kind of ready for a marketing person. So whether it’s a director or whether it’s a vice president, um, usually can come in and say, like, you know, for that growth stage, we can come in as your full marketing department, because even if you hire one person, you’re going to need the rest of the team. So you’re going to need a graphic designer, you’re going to need a writer, etc.. Um, so the team outfits as a kind of a fractional marketing department and can help companies grow to a stage and then, um, you know, get their strategies right.

Rachel Simon: [00:24:09] Are you working mostly here locally in Atlanta or nationally?

Devika Rao: [00:24:14] Nationally. So we have clients here in Atlanta, and then we have a few national clients, and we just keep hoping to grow that footprint out. And as you know, as long as they kind of fit our mold and we fit theirs, we’re love. We have a home for them in in our in 23 group.

Rachel Simon: [00:24:29] Awesome. Yeah. And you know, there’s so much I come from my old in my old world I worked in nonprofit. So there’s just you know, I do believe nonprofits get the storytelling more inherently than maybe some corporate, uh, organizations only because that’s the way you build that connection with your stakeholders. Um, but and there’s so much opportunity for storytelling there. I mean, yeah, it’s it’s great, great, great content overall because generally it’s heartwarming and people can find a point of connection. But those same strategies, it’s so easy to adapt them to multiple different kinds of companies, right.

Devika Rao: [00:25:11] Multiple different companies. And again, goal setting. Right. So nonprofit goals are similar to corporate goals. I think they’re just like I said that, um, at the brass tacks of it sometimes is just the way they approach sales, if you will, is just a little different. And but stories sell and um, because people kind of want to know what’s happening with whatever you’re investing in. And so, yeah, like nonprofits, I think the stories do write themselves because there are a lot human centered space, but so is corporate, private and public. And it’s just about finding those human interest stories. And you write the nonprofits kind of have it sort of packaged in that way. But how do we how do we kind of, um, capitalize on it and make sure that we are, you know, letting people there’s so many wonderful nonprofits out here and good companies that, you know, sometimes I’ll meet them and I’m like, you’re doing all this and no one knows about this. And, um, you know, so the inner story, inner journalist in me, I’m just like, oh my God. Like, we just want to dig right in and hopefully they’ll like, just call me, okay? Like.

Rachel Simon: [00:26:21] It’s so often a bandwidth challenge.

Devika Rao: [00:26:23] Oh yeah. Bandwidth is real. Yeah for.

Rachel Simon: [00:26:25] Sure. So we’ve talked about this I think with every guest we’ve had since it’s such a hot topic. But where do you see you know with I where is how is I going to impact storytelling.

Devika Rao: [00:26:36] Oh that’s a good story. That’s a good question. Um, it’s a good question. I wish I could tell you I have an expert answer on that. Um, I think I is interesting. I won’t say it’s finished. I think we’re just scratching the surface. Um, the the thing with storytelling is that, um, you still need humans. You still need, um, no matter how much artificial intelligence can be programed and trained into telling, you know, that that’s the thing about it. You have to teach it to speak in your brand voice, and you kind of have to train it. Um, I think that it will probably be a support. Again, I don’t know too much about it in the sense of where it’s going to go in and from a technology space. Um, where, like I said, we’re just scratching the surface and how it’s coming into marketing at least, um, where it is. And there are people who are using it in a much more advanced manner. Um, so I do think it’ll probably become the norm much faster than it’s already is, but I do hope that it becomes more of a. I hope the human touch, I think, will still be needed because, um, I just feel that people still want to have that human connection. We are wired for human connection. Um, and that’s my hope and dream. I will just say that is my absolute naivety and, uh, love for community.

Devika Rao: [00:28:07] But I hope that it stays. I hope it becomes more of a I don’t know the right word here, but, um, I guess I would help me find the right word on this one. But amuse. Amuse or a support or a pill, I don’t know, but, um, you know, just kind of being like, okay, I’m stuck on something and help me write a paragraph. But if we don’t have the people behind it to make it human centric because it is just going to it has its limitations. Obviously it won’t after a while, but I think it’s as long as we know how to temper it. Um, and like I said, I say that with complete, um, no knowledge on the actual building of I, I don’t know anything about it technology wise from how it’s built, how it’s done. But from what I’m seeing, from how we’ve been trying to play with it, um, you know, it’s you kind of have to lean into it a little bit. But also don’t forget to it’s I just don’t want it to be like, don’t. That’s not the only thing we’re going to be using. I think marketing is still going to need people. And um, like I said, human connection is back. People have been missing that. And I think we connect better. Um, so hopefully it just becomes sort of a tool to use. I say that with a lot of hope.

Rachel Simon: [00:29:22] I agree, I have a feeling we’re going to see, uh, well, I think it’s the old, you know, adage the cream rises to the top. I think we’re going to see the good, the good storytelling, the good content will always be very easy to to spot. And the really bad eye content is, yeah, pretty obvious too.

Devika Rao: [00:29:42] Yeah, I think so. I think, um, anything, anything in extreme can kind of, um, you know, like, I think that’s kind of where we were talking about earlier in the conversation, like when digital sort of became sort of creeping into marketing with everything. We all sort of flocked to it, and we kind of got really excited about it. And now we’re sort of seeing a pullback a little bit on how to use it better, how to make it work with what we actually need it to work with, as opposed to just relying on it solely. So, um, it’s my hope. I like I said, I say with a lot of hope without a lot of, uh, like fun facts behind it. But it’s just my personal experience.

Lee Kantor: [00:30:20] Now, if somebody wants to learn more and connect with you or somebody on the team, what’s the best way to do that?

Devika Rao: [00:30:26] Oh, you can totally find us. Um, our website is still, uh, we’re wrapping it up. That’s probably what you can find us a little bit. Um, but so the. And then you can always reach out to us. Hello. At 23 East Co. Um, not.com. Um, but yeah. Reach out to us. You can reach out to me personally. It’s Devika at 23 East Co dev ica um at two three east.co. And we’d love to connect. And if there’s any way I can help or just chat we’d love to do that. But, um, yeah, I think it’s going to be a fun year for marketing and stories and and anything else that comes along the way, I think.

Lee Kantor: [00:31:05] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Devika Rao: [00:31:10] Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me. This was so much fun to have a conversation and, uh, wish you all the best this year. It’s going to be fun.

Lee Kantor: [00:31:17] All right. This is Lee Kantor for Rachel Simon. We will see you all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.

About Your Host

Rachel Simon is the CEO & Founder of Connect the Dots Digital. She helps companies ensure that LinkedIn is working for them as an asset, not a liability.

Rachel works with teams and individuals to position their brand narrative on LinkedIn so they can connect organically with ideal clients, attract the best talent, and stand out as a leader in their industry.

Rachel co-hosted LinkedIn Local Atlanta this week along with Phil Davis & Adam Marx – a networking event focused on bringing your online connections into the real world.

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.

Elizabeth Ji, The Ji Law Firm, and Dr. Remmya Nair, Our Family Doc

December 14, 2023 by John Ray

Family Business Radio

Elizabeth Ji, The Ji Law Firm, and Dr. Remmya Nair, Our Family Doc

00:00 /

Elizabeth Ji, The Ji Law Firm, and Dr. Remmya Nair, Our Family Doc (Family Business Radio, Episode 51)

On this episode of Family Business Radio, host Anthony Chen welcomed professional services firm owners, attorney Elizabeth Ji, and primary care physician Dr. Remmya Nair. Elizabeth shared her journey into law, the challenges and opportunities of being a corporate immigration attorney, and the importance of understanding the myriad roles within this field. Dr. Nair discussed her inspiration to enter medicine, the concept of direct primary care, and the flexibility provided by this healthcare model. Both guests highlighted their dedication to their clients and patients, as well as the personal fulfillment gained from their individual entrepreneurial journeys.

Host Anthony Chen closed the show with thoughts on thinking outside the box when it comes to planning retirement.

Family Business Radio is underwritten and brought to you by Anthony Chen with Lighthouse Financial Network.

Elizabeth Ji is the founding attorney of The Ji Law Firm, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The focus of the firm is corporate and family immigration. Elizabeth earned her Juris Doctorate from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School while working full-time at a US subsidiary of a foreign company.

Elizabeth has extensive experience and knowledge in the field of immigration law and has been recognized as a 2023 Georgia Super Lawyer, Rising Star. Prior to practicing law, Elizabeth earned her Bachelor of Arts with dual majors in Political Science and International Studies from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Because of her tenacity, commitment to excellence, and hard work, she was the recipient of several prestigious academic scholarships.

Her passion is focused on providing corporations, individuals, and families with well-planned and well-executed immigration plans because they deserve it. Having navigated the immigration system by designing hundreds of immigration strategies, Elizabeth understands how to approach each case with a keen eye for the most direct route to the client’s desired outcome. The team at The Ji Law Firm serves clients across the United States with professionalism and compassion.

The Ji Law Firm specializes in business immigration law because they believe that employers deserve access to the highest quality talent, and sometimes that talent is outside of the US. Business immigration law is their business.

Their team is passionate about helping business owners, investors, entrepreneurs, human resources professionals, individuals, and families with immigration law matters. They serve clients in the United States and beyond.

Access the world’s highest-quality talent. With their professional guidance and support, companies can draw from a global pool of skilled professionals to create a vibrant workforce that transcends boundaries. No matter where they come from, individuals with remarkable skill sets are empowered to take their talents into virtually any business environment, thanks in part to The Ji Law Firm’s immigration services.

Unlock your business’s potential for success by discovering how you, too, can benefit from hiring talented workers across borders—and maybe even oceans—with their experienced business immigration team.

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

Dr. Remmya Nair, Founder, Our Family Doc

Dr. Remmya Nair is a board-certified family physician who has been practicing since 2015.

Throughout my years in private practice and in large hospital systems, it became evident that patients, just like physicians, felt frustrated with the crippled healthcare system and the arduous management of insurance companies. Personalized care took a backseat, and patients began to feel like numbers instead of individuals. Additionally, Dr. Nair was discouraged that she was not able to spend enough time with my patients and that she was being required to complete countless administrative tasks in an effort to keep the insurance companies happy rather than my patients.

Her disappointment led her to explore alternative options to provide better care. The obstacles her patients had to face, along with her drive as to why she became a physician in the first place, motivated her to open Our Family Doc.

By offering a membership model, she can devote more time to her patients and their families, gaining a greater understanding of them as individuals. This means she is no longer forced to fit patients into limited time slots, and surprise billings and insurance paperwork is no longer an issue. Think of it as bringing back old-fashioned medicine with a modern touch.

As a physician, she values the relationship she develops with her patients and the time they spend together. Dr. Nair believes a strong relationship with the patient is fundamental to providing exceptional care.

Dr. Nair’s philosophy of taking care of her patients has always been the same as the way she would want to be taken care of for herself and her family. She looks forward to building a practice that puts her patients and their health as top priority. With everyday life getting more stressful and busy, taking care of our health should be stress free.

Our Family Doc

Our Family Doc’s goal is to provide compassionate, personalized care that has been a hallmark of general practice since the beginning of time, while integrating the newest medical technology available today.

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Anthony Chen, Host of Family Business Radio

**Anthony Chen, Lighthouse Financial, and Host of “Family Business Radio”**

This show is sponsored and brought to you by Anthony Chen with Lighthouse Financial Network. Securities and advisory services are offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. (RAA), member FINRA/SIPC. RAA is separately owned, and other entities and/or marketing names, products, or services referenced here are independent of RAA. The main office address is 575 Broadhollow Rd. Melville, NY 11747. You can reach Anthony at 631-465-9090, ext. 5075, or by email at anthonychen@lfnllc.com.

Anthony Chen started his career in financial services with MetLife in Buffalo, NY, in 2008. Born and raised in Elmhurst, Queens, he considers himself a full-blooded New Yorker while now enjoying his Atlanta, GA, home. Specializing in family businesses and their owners, Anthony works to protect what is most important to them. From preserving to creating wealth, Anthony partners with CPAs and attorneys to help address all of the concerns and help clients achieve their goals. By using a combination of financial products ranging from life, disability, and long-term care insurance to many investment options through Royal Alliance, Anthony looks to be the eyes and ears for his client’s financial foundation. In his spare time, Anthony is an avid long-distance runner.

The complete show archive of Family Business Radio can be found at familybusinessradioshow.com.

Kat Marran With Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta

December 11, 2023 by Jacob Lapera

GWBC Radio

Kat Marran With Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta

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Kat Marran is currently the Interim Chief Executive Officer for the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta.

She started her new role officially on July 12 and brings a wealth of corporate experience from a successful 29-year career at United Parcel Service (UPS.)

She recently retired from her UPS role as Vice President of Marketing where she led large marketing and supply chain programs, budgets, projects and teams both across the US and Internationally.

She has a positive reputation for bringing forth the best in her teams through competent and energetic leadership and creativity.

Connect with Kat on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

About Kat’s experience as a board member
Leadership moments
Her vision for GWBC’s future and what’s next for her

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open For Business. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:19] Lee Kantor here. Another episode of GWBC Open For Business, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Kat Marran. She is the Interim CEO with Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta and is rolling off the board at GWBC. Welcome, Kat.

Kat Marran: [00:00:35] Hi, how are you?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:36] I am doing well. Well, before we get too far into things, let’s talk about the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. How did that opportunity kind of bubble up for you? That seems like an exciting adventure.

Kat Marran: [00:00:48] It has been an exciting few months. It’s relatively new, but yet old for me. I’ve been on the board of Girl Scouts for about five years. And in June of this year, as things happened to have the tendency to happen, I was actually leaving UPS, which was my 30 year long career, to go do something else. And Girl Scouts popped onto the radar and I stepped in to fill a position as interim here since July.

Kat Marran: [00:01:15] And it’s been an amazing transition from a for-profit to a nonprofit. Lots of learnings here. Lots of things I get to put to use from my old career. But it’s a different dynamic and it’s definitely a different color. I’ve switched from lots of brown in my wardrobe at UPS to lots of green and blue at Girl Scouts, so it’s kind of fun in many ways.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:34] But you are attracted to those earthy colors, so it’s kind of on brand.

Kat Marran: [00:01:39] I am. I am. I’m a fall colored analysis, those who got to do that in the 80s and 90s, that’s for sure.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:45] Now, your background at UPS was in marketing, is that a big change from going to the C-suite from kind of a marketing lens?

Kat Marran: [00:01:54] It’s an interesting swing. But even at UPS and marketing, there’s so many different capacities that I got a chance to be a part of for 30 years. And it all comes down at the end of the day, I think, to leadership in the first place. So, I’m still leading a large team here at Girl Scouts like I did at UPS. It’s about the dynamics of how you see the bigger pictures. The best part about it, though, is I get to make more of the decisions directly.

Kat Marran: [00:02:18] When you’re in a big bureaucracy, as good as it is, there’s still a bigger boss. When you’re the the CEO or the acting CEO in an organization, you get both the fun and the responsibility of those decisions. So, that’s been the biggest difference. But marketing had created an environment at UPS for me to learn a lot about how the world works and how it plays out in different ways at UPS and around the globe and through operations, et cetera, that holds true here at Girl Scouts as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:45] Now, you mentioned you were there for 30 years at UPS, a large enterprise. In your career, at what point did you go, “You know what? I have to start getting involved with organizations like GWBC, like Girl Scouts. I have to take leadership roles”? At what point did that kind of click and say, “Okay. I have to kind of lean into this if I want to achieve my goals of moving up this kind of corporate ladder”?

Kat Marran: [00:03:12] It’s a really good question, Lee. And I thought about if I could do something differently, what would I do or how do I tell people. I will tell you, though, at UPS we always had a foundation of volunteerism and philanthropy. So, even from early days in my careers at UPS, I was always a volunteer. And within that context, I kind of always would build over time.

Kat Marran: [00:03:31] But specifically, it was probably in my back end of the year, so probably about seven years before I left UPS, seven to maybe eight years, I really thought about taking greater leadership positions out in the community. And I was encouraged by both bosses at the time, as well as colleagues who had been involved in some of these type of organizations, inviting me in to learn some of those things. And at that point, I enjoyed it so much that I maybe overindulged here and there by saying yes to too many, but that was a good thing because I get to learn where my line was. but it also made me reflect on why I didn’t do it earlier.

Kat Marran: [00:04:09] And so, that’s my message out to a lot of my mentees, or to a lot of younger people or women is even in those middle stages of your career, when you feel exhausted because you’ve got everything going on, you got family, you’ve got work, you’ve got everything, you got your head down doing everything, don’t forget about the areas around you and the communities who, number one, can use your expertise at whatever levels, and two, that you could develop faster when you put those things to use with those groups too. There’s lots of learnings out there.

Kat Marran: [00:04:37] So, had I to do it over again, I would have done it earlier. But seven years or so gave me enough experience and connections and networking to create my next journey as it stands right now with Girl Scouts as a matter of fact.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:50] Now, how did you kind of choose which organizations to lean into? Like, I’m sure somebody in your role at that organization could have chosen any organization, and they’d be happy to have you. How did you, yourself, kind of narrow down the list in order to choose the ones you did?

Kat Marran: [00:05:12] Lee, another good question. To me, it came down to a few things. One, the practical side of me looked at it and said, are there organizations out there that – this sounds maybe strange – I will not feel guilty about taking time away from work to go do them? And what I mean by that is I needed to see for myself that there was some overlap of activity to the day job as well as this volunteer piece or to this other leadership capacity.

Kat Marran: [00:05:40] So, a lot of times I fell into spaces like GWBC, quite honestly, because I was working at that time in a part of UPS where we were developing our marketing programs for diverse customer groups. And in that, there was a lot of intensity and a lot of time spent on women-owned businesses, et cetera. And so, my day job was that, and I intersected in some capacity outside of that with women organizations. It became a natural fit to me to see efficiencies, if you will, as well as a passion and a learning possibility.

Kat Marran: [00:06:16] So, my first decision on when and where was around practicality with a little passion. As I got into some of these and got more coming through, it became how do these other areas make me happy as well to be a part of? And can I make a big enough impact on it? So, that’s when the Girl Scouts came in. That’s when I got involved in a women’s angel venture group called Golden Seeds as well, because I started to think about how my expertise could push those even forward, and at the same time I could get something out of them that wasn’t in my day job in that sense.

Kat Marran: [00:06:55] So, financial learnings from the investment organization, working with girls, which was not my foray nor my experience. I don’t happen to have children, so this was another way to think about giving to the community, but giving to myself at the same time. That’s how it expanded over time.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:11] Now, when you first joined your first board, can you talk about how that went? What was your onboarding like? How were you kind of going to make your mark? Did you go in there kind of just, “Hey, let me just listen first and just kind of get the lay of the land” or did you come in saying, “Okay. These are the things I think we can do. There’s opportunity here.” Like, how did you kind of ramp up?

Kat Marran: [00:07:38] Oh, it’s funny, if you ask people who sat with me on that first board meeting, they would definitely not say I was quiet. But I will say that my first onboarding of the first board happened because I had a specific area of marketing, as a matter of fact, that was seen as valuable to that board, whereas the rest of the board came from different other experiences and different backgrounds. So, they were really seeking somebody with my background.

Kat Marran: [00:08:03] So, I didn’t go in immediately quiet. I did listen for sure. I tried to read as much as I could about the organization and get better affiliated with it and the other members of the board before the first board meeting. But I did feel like I was thrown into the deep end a little bit, but I’m okay, I can swim. And I knew that they had wanted me there to be vocal, to be questioning the traditional, because I was going to come from a different experience.

Kat Marran: [00:08:28] So, I think the onboarding could differ for each person depending on what the board chair and what the CEO talk to you about as well as to your purpose on there. Why you? What do they hope you bring to it? And then, if you know what that is, then you’re onboarding kind of comes in the right context and you’re not just floundering in that deep water, if you will.

Kat Marran: [00:08:52] And then, I think having a good board mentor assigned to a new mentee, if you will, of a new board member is really helpful to help, one, get that new person involved pretty quickly. But two, it actually keeps the efficiency of the board meetings running because, oftentimes, new people, by no fault of their own, they’re just trying to ask the logical questions that are coming up in their head, but they’re almost too basic sometimes. So, if you have a mentor who can really help them get through some of those pieces to the details of how the organization works, then you can really get to the governance factors that you need to do on a board meeting and be efficient about it, rather than getting into places that everybody else knows the answers to, but the new person doesn’t. So, it’s a fine line when you come on and you onboard a person. But I’ve learned a lot each time that I’ve gone on to a board as to how to get better at it.

Kat Marran: [00:09:42] There’s also third party organizations out there. I have not necessarily had lots of interactions with them, but there’s organizations like on board and some other women board associations who will help train women and people how to be on boards effectively and be most useful as quickly as possible. So, there’s different things to learn. My experience was kind of grassroots.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:03] And let’s talk specifically about GWBC, is there any memory or any thing that you did or the board did or the organization did that kind of left a mark that’s impactful or rewarding?

Kat Marran: [00:10:19] Many. I think the camaraderie of the boards that I worked on with GWBC was really unique in that it was a combination of corporate people as well as WBEs or women enterprises, women-owned businesses. And it was nice to see the interaction and the learnings from both sides, because we all come at things with our own expectations and history and experiences. But to be able to professionally think about it from another angle, I always value that in sitting in those board meetings or having those other side meetings or the committee involvements.

Kat Marran: [00:10:53] I will say the fun part was always our galas. We also are people who love to dance and get out there and have a good time. And that’s kind of nice to let your hair down. So, I always enjoy GWBC for bringing the fun out as well. I think Roz takes that very seriously. She’s got a good team that does that.

Kat Marran: [00:11:10] But I’d say the final piece, one of my favorite takeaways, is meeting with so many of the members of GWBC and the women-owned businesses themselves, and finding the spark that makes them excited and makes me excited. So, there were several of them that I’m still actually friends with today, and still helping in some ways for them to continue their business journey and where I can be of advantage for them. It’s kind of nice to kind of be that consultant when they need it.

Kat Marran: [00:11:40] But it comes back the other way, so some of them are now becoming more and more successful. And I’ve got one company that I’ve worked with for several years that came through GWBC, I helped them get settled in what they needed to do, and now they’re reciprocating. They’ve got some good things happening, so they’re offering some help to me at Girl Scouts. So, it created a continuous community, and that, I will value for a long time.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:03] Now at GWBC, I think one of the main benefits for the members are that kind of bridge to enterprise organizations. Is there any advice you would give maybe on both sides of the table there? Any advice for the enterprise level executives and companies to be partners with GWBC and also the WBEs to kind of make themselves attractive to those enterprise level organizations. Can you share maybe some advice on both sides of the table?

Kat Marran: [00:12:37] Oh, that’s good. From the partners perspective, again having come from a large organization but not necessarily being in the procurement side, I will say I’ve watched in the last six or seven years since I’ve been a part of GWBC a great advance on the corporate side, on the partner side, to really push their own organizations to be open to these diverse companies in all different kinds of ways, and to shake things up not just for cost reasons, but for quality reasons, and not just solely to fill a diversification checkmark. And that’s been great. The companies have been advancing and seeing that, and they’re able to play it back to themselves and to their constituents or their stakeholders.

Kat Marran: [00:13:19] With ESG being such a bigger and bigger conversation these days, I think it matters to corporates in a deeper way than it did 20 years ago. Supplier diversity is not just checking the box anymore. So, number one, I hope that all companies are thinking about that. And even if we start with that concept of a big company, now play it to the mediums, and even to the WBEs at some point, everybody should be thinking about their part to play and lifting the rest of the boats. And you’re never too small to have that ESG in your DNA.

Kat Marran: [00:13:52] So, I think I would position that most partners out there, regardless of size, should be thinking about how do they make sure that their procurement is fair, equitable, which may not necessarily mean that everybody gets the same shot, some people might need a little bit more help. Mentoring is a good way that a lot of the corporates do that. I know UPS has been doing that for a while as well. So, I love to see the partners become more than just a platform for application that they really actually reach out and help the WBEs to figure out what’s going to make a difference in their organization.

Kat Marran: [00:14:28] For the WBEs, outside of what I already said, which is they, too, can be a part to play in their own ESG component. I think the greatest thing that I saw really start to get off the ground is when WBEs are helping each other. The corporate timeline for procurement is almost so long and can be really grueling, and a lot of the smaller businesses put so much weight on them, they spend so much time and they end up either being disappointed after all that investment of time and energy and/or they get the deal and that’s scary in its own right. They get the deal and then they don’t get paid really quickly sometimes. So, all of that is a real burden on them until they get enough magnitude.

Kat Marran: [00:15:11] What’s the low hanging fruit is working amongst the WBEs directly. And so, my best suggestion to the WBEs is don’t miss the trees in front of you by looking for the big huge forest out there. Sometimes it’s better to take off the small trees and figure out how you’re going to work your way to that forest by working with other people who get you and to understand what you’re going through.

Kat Marran: [00:15:34] And I think that’s one of the most powerful observations I’ve started to see of late, that the WBEs actually are recognizing their network in mass can be stronger to some degree than that one big deal they might get from a big organization. And that they spend a lot of time working on it. So, it’s a balancing act, of course. Those would be the two key things I think I would bring forward.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:55] Now, any advice for a person out there that maybe was in your shoes seven years ago when you’re deciding, “Okay. I’m going to join a board,” why should they pick GWBC? What would be the best fit for somebody? Is it that they have, like you mentioned, the alignment of goals for the corporate and the alignment of goals personally. So, how would you kind of pitch the GWBC board opportunity to somebody?

Kat Marran: [00:16:25] So, if I get two hats, so if I happen to be a WBE, I think the benefit of coming to GWBC once you’ve got a little bit of grounding in those things I just talked about, how you work the network with other WBEs, how you understand the procurement process of big companies, being onboard like GWBC helps get those experiences magnified. And hopefully, if you’re ready to give back in some way or you’re wanting to lead a little bit more, then being on a board of GWBC is going to change the direction for the good and help bring those experiences to the programs that GWBC offers, the type of development that it creates, the intersection points that it has to have.

Kat Marran: [00:17:09] It needs to evolve in some degree, I think, beyond certification. And I think a WBE who sees that in a bigger picture will be highly influential and can make a bigger mark. I hope that it’s not solely they want to join the board to open up those corporate relationships, that some of that can help, but really it should be beyond that. It should be what else are they really ready to do to define how women organizations out there can thrive at faster and stronger levels. So, that would be the pitch to the WBE is ready to give to the bigger network.

Kat Marran: [00:17:40] For the corporates, if I was a person thinking out there, again, to me, it depends on your discipline area that you’re really interested in or what you’re trying to pursue. Any one of them, whether it’s marketing or finance or procurement or HR, et cetera, legal, all of them have to have a part to play in being on a board. And so, for your own edification of what your discipline means in a different context, outside of your day job and outside of your own company and industry, I think, is a compelling reason to go learn how to put it to use in a different way.

Kat Marran: [00:18:12] And so, for your self-development, a GWBC is all about business. It happens to be a nonprofit in its own definition, but it’s all about business, and all of those disciplines are needed and useful. And I think if you are thinking about your own development, that’s a good way to think about how you apply your skills uniquely and to open up some things that you hadn’t. And I think then you get to take it back to your organization as well to let them know here’s what you’re getting on this business board. And that’s influential as well, because it can open up some things internally for you that might not have been there because people were seeing you in the same capacity. You’ve now broken free of that by bringing a new version of yourself back into the organization, because you’ve seen yourself outside of the organization.

Kat Marran: [00:18:57] So, to me, that’s the benefit to a person being on the board. And then, obviously, what you bring to that board is all of those experiences, all of that network, all of that positivity. Anybody on GWBC is very welcoming to all of those experiences. So, it’s a good board to join.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:14] Now, in your role as Interim CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. What do you need more of and how can we help you?

Kat Marran: [00:19:22] Oh, thank you for that question. There are so many great things that we do at Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. We cover a very large portion of the state, we represent 34 counties and give or take about 35,000 members of both adult and girl members. So, when we think about the things that we need most, we need to make sure that we are still relevant to what the girls around our counties need, and so we’re building programs all the time. So, there is, of course, always a fundraising component of everything that we do.

Kat Marran: [00:19:55] But if I put that aside to people who might be listening to this call and beyond that, we really want to call out to anybody who was a Girl Scout in any place around the country, or who would like to learn more about Girl Scouts to come talk to us. Our anniversary is coming up next year, it’s 100 years of one of our camps here in Mableton, Georgia. It’s a 200 acre beautiful camp, but it needs some love, needs some attention. So, we want a big 100 year celebration of come back to Girl Scouts. So, definitely invite people to come back.

Kat Marran: [00:20:25] And we love volunteers of all ages and all genders. We don’t do this work that we do without a severe amount of important volunteers at all types incremental, seasonal or long term like troop leaders. So, we’re always looking for people who are interested in giving some time to these girls and helping them build the courage, the character, and the confidence that we need them to have to be the next leaders of the generations to come. So, any way you want it, we would love as much support for Girl Scouts as possible.

Kat Marran: [00:21:00] It’s a great pipeline, by the way, for entrepreneurs. Those cookie programs that everybody loves so much, they’re not just about the cookies, they’re about teaching girls how to build their own business. What’s a better way to get more GWBC members and then to get new Girl Scouts as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:17] Yeah, I think that the cookie program is one of the greatest ways to ease someone into selling, to teach them how to sell and to feel confident in selling. And that’s foundational for whatever they’re going to do later in life. I mean, I think that’s a brilliant program.

Kat Marran: [00:21:35] It is. It teaches them also how to handle rejection a little bit too. That’s a big part of sales, isn’t it? How do you pivot and how do you find another way to be comfortable in the no’s as much as you can celebrate the yeses as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:48] Right. Well, if somebody wants to connect with the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, what’s a website?

Kat Marran: [00:21:54] gsgatl.org is our website. That’s Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, gsgatl.org. Or they can certainly find me at kmarran@gsgatl.org and/or through LinkedIn, whatever works for anybody. Come find me, I’m happy to have the conversation.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:14] Well, Kat, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Kat Marran: [00:22:19] Thank you very much, Lee. I appreciate always having been part of GWBC and will continue to be an advocate for that group and for the WBEs in it and for my board partners. So, they to have all of my appreciation and admiration as well. I look forward to further conversations.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:36] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on GWBC Open For Business.

Kris Cugnon, Professional Offline Matchmaker, Dating Coach, and Wing Woman

November 20, 2023 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio

Kris Cugnon, Professional Offline Matchmaker, Dating Coach, and Wing Woman

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North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 718)

Kris Cugnon is a professional offline matchmaker who believes in creating personal connections and reversing the impersonal effects of dating apps. Kris offers a range of services, from matchmaking to date coaching and even becoming a “wing woman.” She and host John Ray delved into Kris’s approach to helping clients find their forever person, which includes an in-depth understanding of the client, their personality, interests, and what they seek in a partner. Kris also discussed how she guides her clients through the dating process, the importance of setting realistic expectations, shared advice on dating during the holidays, navigating the initial stages of a new relationship with transparency and authenticity, and more.

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

**Kris Cugnon, Professional Offline Matchmaker, Dating Coach, and Wing Woman**

People say Kris never meets a stranger. She is passionate about the process of truly getting to know people and discovering the factors that aid in Matchmaking.

With over 25 fulfilling years in Business Development and Program Management, she has helped launch, market, and connect people with products and services nationwide. She utilizes these same skills, and intuition, to seek out amazing singles and facilitate meaningful introductions and date coaching.

Kris is a fierce networker with the heart of an altruist. Her goal is connecting people with their “forever human”.

In her spare time, she and her husband support numerous Veteran initiatives. They enjoy traveling, music, and culture-seeking at every opportunity.

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

01:12 Welcoming Guest: Kris Cugnon, Professional Offline Matchmaker
01:39 Understanding Kris’s Journey and Passion for Matchmaking
03:58 The Problem with Online Dating Apps
07:12 The Offline Matchmaking Process
09:02 Understanding and Managing Dating Expectations
11:33 The Importance of Authenticity in Dating
18:38 Navigating Dating During Holidays
23:56 Success Stories and Final Thoughts
25:13 Conclusion and Contact Information

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

Since 2000, Office Angels® has been restoring joy to the lives of small business owners, enabling them to focus on what they do best. At the same time, we honor and support at-home experts who wish to continue working on an as-needed basis. Not a temp firm or a placement service, Office Angels matches a business owner’s support needs with Angels who have the talent and experience necessary to handle work that is essential to creating and maintaining a successful small business. Need help with administrative tasks, bookkeeping, marketing, presentations, workshops, speaking engagements, and more? Visit us at https://officeangels.us/.

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Live from the Business Radio X studio inside Renasant Bank, the bank that specializes in understanding you. It’s time for North Fulton Business Radio.
[00:00:19] John Ray: And hello again, everyone. Welcome to another edition of North Fulton Business Radio. I’m John Ray and folks, we are broadcasting from inside Renasant Bank in beautiful Alpharetta. And if you’re tired of getting tattooed by your big bank, your big mega bank out there, and you know what I mean by that computer generated voices, and you can’t find a live person if your life depended on it I’ve got a suggestion.
[00:00:46] John Ray: Go to Renasant Bank. They’re big enough to handle pretty much any need you can throw at them, but they’re small enough to deliver those services in a personal way, and I know this myself from my dealings with them. So go to renasantbank.com, find one of their local offices, some 200 around the southeast, and give them a call.
[00:01:05] John Ray: I think you’ll be glad you did. Renasant Bank, understanding you. FDIC. And now I want to welcome Kris Cugnon. Kris is a professional offline matchmaker. Kris, welcome.
[00:01:19] Kris Cugnon: Thank you so much. Excited to be here.
[00:01:21] John Ray: I’m excited to have you here. That’s not the word I think people would have expected is offline, right? They were expecting online.
[00:01:30] John Ray: So let’s. Let’s get into this quickly. Talk a little bit about you and how you’re serving folks out there.
[00:01:35] Kris Cugnon: Excellent. Thank you so much. Sure. Absolute pleasure to be here with you today. So I am a, I’m a fierce connector. I’ve had a long career in business development, project management. So I’ve taken those skills and my passion for connecting people and helping them find their forever person. Wow.
[00:01:57] John Ray: So you were in the business world for a long time.
[00:01:59] Kris Cugnon: Long time, yes. And I actually dabbled in this just for fun as doing matchmaking singles events back when I was single and looking. But I’ve come full circle now and made it my full time focus.
[00:02:11] John Ray: That’s wonderful. That’s wonderful. Talk about why you developed this passion for matchmaking.
[00:02:19] Kris Cugnon: I actually woke up this morning thinking about this because I do have a funny story. Okay.
[00:02:24] John Ray: We love funny stories.
[00:02:26] Kris Cugnon: When I was five years old, I’m the oldest of three. The oldest tend to, be a little more take charge sometimes.
[00:02:33] Kris Cugnon: I was five. My parents were at the hospital having my little brother. And they left me with one of their best friends, a very kind woman, lifelong friend. And it was supposed to be nap time, but I got up, took a piece of paper and a pencil, and proceeded down the street asking for people’s names and phone numbers.
[00:02:53] Kris Cugnon: I don’t know what I was going to do with it, but I knew that I needed that information to do it. to launch myself into some kind of business. I actually got to really, can you imagine how terrified this poor woman, but I realized, and I look back on that and just laugh about it. Now I’ve, Talked about it so many times, but it’s the marker of who I am.
[00:03:16] Kris Cugnon: I am a connector and I’m so passionate about getting to know people on a really deep level. And my husband says I never meet a stranger and it’s, it is the truth. I take it very seriously. That’s just who you are. It
[00:03:29] John Ray: is indeed. But why, there are a lot of ways you could apply that talent and that that you have, why matchmaking?
[00:03:38] Kris Cugnon: So many people are just, there’s so many amazing people out there and they just haven’t found their person yet. And a lot of people are stuck right now, wondering what in the world to do, especially if they’ve been in a long relationship and they’re just getting back out there or they just haven’t found their person yet and.
[00:03:58] Kris Cugnon: Unfortunately the dating apps, we can talk about that later if you’d like, but they have, they’ve really done a disservice to our society. I feel like they have completely changed the face of dating. I think they were created by men, maybe just for and then everybody was forced to use them.
[00:04:17] Kris Cugnon: Everybody was forced to use them. And it’s created more problems than good. I want to be the alternative to that. We’re getting back to good old fashioned matchmaking in person conversation and networking. Yeah,
[00:04:30] John Ray: That’s good stuff. I would imagine that most of the clients that you work with have tried the online Experience.
[00:04:37] John Ray: Absolutely. And they’ve got horror stories.
[00:04:40] Kris Cugnon: There’s so many. I actually heard one yesterday at the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce. Okay. Tell us. He was finally, and they say that it takes a hundred swipes in a dating app to actually get on an actual date with an actual person. And you still don’t know who that person is.
[00:04:59] Kris Cugnon: And so yesterday, I heard yet another story. He found somebody fairly interested. They had a meeting at the bar, I think, seven o’clock. They’re supposed to meet at the bar. And he’s looking all around, could not find her. So he called her on the phone. And the woman right beside him answered the phone and he’s you don’t look anything like your pictures.
[00:05:20] Kris Cugnon: Yep. What’s with that? She’s oh I wasn’t getting much attention with my own pictures. So she And it was a completely different person. And she said I didn’t think I’d you know get to you if I just Shared my actual, so of course that the date’s over quickly and . Yeah. He was catfished once again.
[00:05:38] Kris Cugnon: So
[00:05:39] John Ray: is that what you call that? .
[00:05:40] Kris Cugnon: . They either make up their own profile or use other people’s pictures.
[00:05:43] John Ray: But you call that catfishing.
[00:05:44] Kris Cugnon: It’s called catfishing. They are, oh, there’s, it’s very deceitful.
[00:05:47] John Ray: It happens
[00:05:47] John Ray: so much. There’s a term for it. . Yeah. Yeah. That. And it’s I think people know this by now dealing in the recesses of the internet is you can be anybody you want to be,
[00:05:59] John Ray: right?
[00:06:00] Kris Cugnon: Yeah. That’s the scary part. That’s the problem. That is a big, huge problem. Absolutely.
[00:06:04] John Ray: I’m just curious about this. I’m sure, the stats on this is that how successful are those dating apps really? If we were new, knew the real numbers. Nobody would ever go on them.
[00:06:15] John Ray: Exactly.
[00:06:16] John Ray: Do you know, do you have, can you get beyond all their veneer and marketing who he and tell us what the real numbers or do you know,
[00:06:23] Kris Cugnon: well, there, there are some, and actually there was recently some research that just came out. One in three dating app users say they left the relationship because it felt toxic.
[00:06:34] Kris Cugnon: And then yeah. And then, of course, there’s, it’s just a dangerous psychological space. But you get unsolicited pictures, unsolicited people trying to contact you just in a general inappropriateness. And 52 percent of people are urgently swiping through these matches. And you just have to take a step back and say, how could you possibly find your soulmate by just glancing at a picture for two seconds?
[00:07:02] Kris Cugnon: Yeah, really. Yeah. So there, there are plenty of stats about that, but yeah.
[00:07:10] John Ray: So you. So let’s talk about how it happens with you and that process. So you’re there to help folks decompress from that experience, right? Yes. And and reconnect with as you say, some good old fashioned, just face to face, uh, meeting and talking and getting to know someone.
[00:07:31] John Ray: Yes. That’s intimidating. It’s intimidating for all of us in a way, right? Even the most extroverted sometimes. So talk about how you work with someone on on at the beginning.
[00:07:41] Kris Cugnon: We typically meet in person if possible. If not. Online video chat can suffice, but yeah, we get to know you on a deeper level, really get to know you and what you’re looking for.
[00:07:53] Kris Cugnon: And then we take it from there. We do matchmaking, but also date coaching is a big piece of what we do. Just really helping people narrow their list. If they have a very lengthy list of expectations and something they’re looking for, we help. Rope that in. And then some people don’t have a list at all because they’re completely confused or whatever their past experience has been.
[00:08:17] Kris Cugnon: They don’t know where to start or what the expectations should be. So through that conversation, we help them, guide that, guide the search. And then we can be a friend through the whole process and even provide that consultation, date coaching and I can even be a wing woman on the side to help actually have practicum experience out in public.
[00:08:36] Kris Cugnon: I can support, yeah, folks for all those needs.
[00:08:39] John Ray: I want to hear more about that. Kris Cugnon is with us folks, and Kris is a professional offline matchmaker. Kris.
[00:08:50] John Ray: People are different, right? And you just described it that some people have a lot more expectations than they ought to have. And some people just have no idea what they’re getting into. So what do you have a series of questions you take people through? Or how do you really get into knowing Who someone is right?
[00:09:14] John Ray: And so that you can help better service them in terms of matching them up
[00:09:20] John Ray: properly.
[00:09:20] Kris Cugnon: That’s a great question. I would look at it like I have maybe a flight was just delayed and I’m sitting beside somebody at the airport and she just Start to find out what their hobbies, their interests are, their career education, background and their past dating history.
[00:09:37] Kris Cugnon: What does that look like? And then eventually the conversation comes around to, and the main focus of finding your forever person is how you want to feel. And you can look at it five years down the line. How do I want to feel? When I am loved and I want to give love, what does that look like for me?
[00:09:59] Kris Cugnon: And it gets beyond physical descriptions and other things like that. So it gets really to the heart of what matters.
[00:10:05] John Ray: Do you work with women, men,
[00:10:08] John Ray: both? Both. Yep. Both. And all ages. Okay. Ages, all ages.
[00:10:15] John Ray: So what do you see are the differences in men versus women that you work with?
[00:10:22] Kris Cugnon: Women are quick to seek guidance. I think we naturally. Packed together and maybe you’re a little more social and conversational about that when we’re looking for a match men tend to not be as, as, I guess assertive with looking for that help but an equal number of men are absolutely amazing and fantastic and deserve that great match as well.
[00:10:49] Kris Cugnon: So I know they’re there but drumming them up, it takes a little more, a little extra push but I want people to feel completely comfortable. Like I’m a friend in this process. And that’s what we do. We’re friends through the whole thing and we get to know you and. And set out and find that good match for you and set you on your
[00:11:06] Kris Cugnon: way.
[00:11:06] John Ray: Okay
[00:11:07] John Ray: so we’ve had our discovery sessions, shall we say, where you get to know someone. So what about the, what they’re looking for? Do you help people clarify that? Do you sometimes find that you help people discover what things that they’re looking for they didn’t, they really didn’t know?
[00:11:32] Kris Cugnon: And sometimes just the reverse of that. Somebody has in their mind, since they’re, Whatever, a teenager, a physical description of what they’re looking for. I heard recently someone who’s looking for very good eyebrows and or a good jawline or this, that, and the other. You’re not marrying their eyebrows or their hair or their, these physical descriptors that at the end of the day, it just, it’s not an attraction, of course, that’s a good thing, but but you’re going for that feeling, like I said so yeah, absolutely, I’m, I help have those discussions and get to the root of really what’s important.
[00:12:10] Kris Cugnon: So you, I can imagine you have to have some conversations that are. Pretty Frank it’s yes, because people have expectations that are unrealistic.
[00:12:24] Kris Cugnon: Yeah, exactly. I actually just recently, there was a gentleman that had a five page list of what
[00:12:32] John Ray: I was going to ask you about that. I could imagine you get some really.
[00:12:38] John Ray: Difficult situation. So let’s just put it like that, right? Whereas people have so many expectations that they’re looking for a unicorn.
[00:12:45] Kris Cugnon: Exactly. Absolutely. And it’s, there’s a lot of reasons for that. Some people are um, I don’t want to say self promoting, but maybe that’s the word there.
[00:12:56] John Ray: Oh, come on.
[00:12:56] John Ray: I’m shocked to hear there are people like that,
[00:12:59] Kris Cugnon: and then perfectionism that’s an, and then maybe things that they, a mantra that maybe a parent has planted in their head that they have to have this person with a certain career or this certain status or certain look and, or they have to have.
[00:13:12] Kris Cugnon: Wearing or be super trendy or whatever the those hang ups are. We people have them for different reasons. Certainly past experiences, personal values priorities, cultural differences. Those all come into play when they’re Creating their list. But yeah, ideally it needs to be roped in just a notch, typically.
[00:13:34] John Ray:
[00:13:34] John Ray: Yeah, I can see how you have to have a, frank discussion once in a while with people, but so okay, so you’ve had this, you’ve had this this time together. Is that one session, several sessions or however long
[00:13:49] Kris Cugnon: it takes one session, a couple hours. Okay, cool.
[00:13:53] John Ray: And so what happens then?
[00:13:56] Kris Cugnon: Then we decide what the course of action is. So some people, date coaching and couple sessions just to talk that out, get them on track and find some, really new exciting, fun things to do around town, ways to network, that kind of thing. So it could be consultation route.
[00:14:12] Kris Cugnon: But if somebody wants help typically. There’s certain people, busy professionals, people who are very serious about finding that person quickly they can hire us to do actual matchmaking and then we set out to find those matches. We actually set the dates. So all that’s super easy.
[00:14:32] Kris Cugnon: You just meet at typically a restaurant or somewhere. at a certain time and you know who to ask for and then take the conversation from there.
[00:14:40] John Ray: So you bring, you can do it two ways and maybe more. You can actually bring the candidates. Is that the right word? Yeah, clients. Okay, the clients. You can bring your you can bring your client potential matches.
[00:14:57] John Ray: Or you can help them understand what the dating game looks like these days and launch them off into the world. Exactly. Okay. Exactly. Okay, got it. So what, give some advice on what the first few dates. What do you think the first dates ought to look like?
[00:15:16] Kris Cugnon: They should be fun. They should be fun.
[00:15:19] John Ray: That always helps, right?
[00:15:20] Kris Cugnon: Absolutely, and just usually I suggest only about an hour. No pressure. You’re just going to meet a new friend. It doesn’t have to be intimate. No expectations, especially those first one, two, three, four dates. Keep it high level. Just super fun. What you’re doing during this time is…
[00:15:40] Kris Cugnon: Setting up the rules for the dance. So you’re seeing how the two of you interact, are they on time, responsive, respectful are they interesting? And so you’re just noticing their character, the vibe and that kind of thing. It’s, and it. I say too, it’s very important that perhaps the person you’re with may not be your match.
[00:16:01] Kris Cugnon: If this is just a date that you found, but they might know someone who would lead you to their match. So if you’re keeping it friendly, you’re meeting a new friend they may have a neighborhood cookout where you meet somebody fabulous, or maybe they’re going to a Braves game and you meet somebody there.
[00:16:16] Kris Cugnon: So just a lot of times people ask me, do you believe in love at first sight? But I think what’s more important is don’t expect a spark. You might be pleasantly surprised, but don’t expect a spark rather. Think about it’s curiosity at first sight.
[00:16:33] John Ray: Ah,
[00:16:34] John Ray: okay. That’s a good way to think about it.
[00:16:37] Kris Cugnon: And a lot of people, especially those first few dates. People get overwhelmed by the task of dating. I hear that so often that they just can’t, Oh, I don’t have time, I can’t, How could I possibly do that? I think what those people are thinking is that they have to pour so much of their energy into those first couple dates and tell their life story and this and are they checking all the boxes?
[00:17:03] Kris Cugnon: But that’s not it. Try don’t get overwhelmed with that really. It’s just a one hour, go grab a coffee, a quick beverage, a slice of pizza, a shaved ice, a walk in the park, something, something super easy and you’re just getting to know a new friend. Yeah.
[00:17:18] Kris Cugnon: Yeah.
[00:17:18] John Ray: Yeah.
[00:17:20] John Ray: So let’s talk about those first few dates. And the signals that someone should be looking for beyond the obvious, there’s some obvious ones that are it’s a go or no go. But some of the signals that you should be looking for that this is a good match or not a good match.
[00:17:40] Kris Cugnon: That’s a great
[00:17:40] Kris Cugnon: question. So certainly eye contact. Eye contact is. It’s a gauge of a person’s character and really you can gauge honesty and sincerity that way. And then is the person courteous? Are they courteous? Are they are they on time? Do they respond when they say they’re going to respond?
[00:18:01] Kris Cugnon: Do they maybe um, hand you something during dinner or are they’re holding the door for you? That would be, Typically for a gentleman, but either way, it’s just signs of courtesy and respect. That’s what you’re looking for because again, you’re setting up this dance and or the rules for the dance.
[00:18:19] Kris Cugnon: Just like you are ballroom dancing. Usually the gentleman takes the lady’s hand, walks her to the dance floor. You do the dance and he returns. He returns are there. That’s I’ve done some ballroom dancing, so that’s very formal. But it’s the rules of the dance and how you’re gonna create your own personal space and then space together.
[00:18:36] John Ray: Got it. Got it. We’re here recording this show. In November 2023, a week before Thanksgiving, so we’ve got the holidays coming up that always gets real dicey, right? Talk about what the what you advise around the holidays in terms of when it’s time to introduce uh, this person that you’re think you’re getting serious about to the family or what have you.
[00:19:06] Kris Cugnon: I Would say don’t I would say don’t, this is, it’s highly personal. It’s your decision. And the moment that you introduce somebody, there could be, there could be negative comments, there could be. Questions that you just maybe aren’t prepared to answer, don’t need to answer quite yet because you’re still getting to know each other.
[00:19:27] Kris Cugnon: So certainly not only the holiday, any holiday around the entire year that’s sometimes stressful enough in family situations. So adding another person to the mix is, uh, just, I would say be a little cautious and make sure the timing is right for you. You’re the one that matters and who can make that decision.
[00:19:47] John Ray: Yeah.
[00:19:48] John Ray: Yeah. And you’ve got to make sure you’re both on the same wavelength on that, right? Correct. And that you both understand what that means and what it doesn’t mean.
[00:19:56] John Ray:
[00:19:56] John Ray: And they may be pressuring you to bring this new person around, even if they’ve heard about them or that, but it’s really on your own schedule.
[00:20:03] John Ray: Yeah. Nobody should feel that pressure.
[00:20:06] John Ray: So what about those that are single during the holidays and that just being single, it creates its own dynamic there during what is most people consider a family time.
[00:20:22] Kris Cugnon: But it’s an exciting time to. There’s so many things you can do as a single person to meet people and do your own.
[00:20:31] Kris Cugnon: networking, outside of your career you can set a challenge that you’re going to go do something new each week. And put yourself out of your comfort zone. One great thing to do for our community, but also for yourself is to volunteer. You can, there’s so many things. Year round to do for volunteering and you always meet good, kind hearted people typically.
[00:20:54] Kris Cugnon: I have some other ideas if you’d like to hear those. Please. Okay. If somebody is into, to wine tasting, there’s always plenty of events going on with wine tasting. Join them. a wine club. I’m actually a co host for the Atlanta Wine Meetup. It’s on the meetup app. Okay. We’ve got about 7000 members in that group.
[00:21:13] John Ray: Oh, wow.
[00:21:14] Kris Cugnon: Yep. Just high professionals, a lot of fun people, good people who like wine and we do a lot of fun things around year round. Wine tastings.
[00:21:24] John Ray: And it helps to like, let’s use this event as an example. It helps if you like it, right? You can’t show up at the wine event and not like wine. Right?
[00:21:35] Kris Cugnon: You
[00:21:36] Kris Cugnon: could. You could certainly go. If you don’t care for it, you can have a juice or a other drink and that would be perfectly fine. Oh,
[00:21:43] Kris Cugnon: okay.
[00:21:44] John Ray: Okay. I guess the point is you want some authenticity in this, right? Yes, of course.
[00:21:48] John Ray: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Kris Cugnon: But they’re, yeah, there are plenty more things that you can do as a, yeah,
[00:21:53] John Ray: but
[00:21:53] John Ray: there are a lot of things you can do and it’s really and this is where I guess you help your clients to really get out of the mental box that they’re in
[00:22:01] John Ray: terms of what’s possible,
[00:22:02] Kris Cugnon: exactly, and just that overwhelmed feeling or especially not having much time as busy professionals, you don’t have much time.
[00:22:11] Kris Cugnon: So you’ve got to be very intentional, very targeted on what you’re going to choose to do with your time. So
[00:22:17] John Ray: Let’s get to valentine’s day. That’s another little ticklish, a little time of the year for singles that are navigating that and whatever status they’re in, right? If they’ve got a.
[00:22:30] John Ray: Potentially budding relationship that really gets ticklish, right? So talk about your thoughts about Valentine’s day.
[00:22:38] Kris Cugnon: It’s important to, to communicate what your expectations are and your level of comfort and what you’d like to see happen. Rather than leaving people guessing or expecting something amazing or surprise.
[00:22:51] Kris Cugnon: So the ball is always in your court. And so you can guide that process to your comfort level, what you want. What you’d like to do or not do, right? So you’re empowered to drive that. And I think that helps just so there’s no, no mystery on, if two people on different pages.
[00:23:09] Kris Cugnon: Yeah, but actually go ahead. I can share a Valentine’s story. I
[00:23:14] John Ray: would love, yeah. Stories are great.
[00:23:16] Kris Cugnon: So there’s always singles, balls and galas and typically around that time of year. And gosh, it’s been over. 15 years, maybe more. Not quite 20, but somewhere in there. When I was single, okay, went to this with a couple girlfriends and one of my best friends met a gentleman there.
[00:23:37] Kris Cugnon: I helped facilitate the wing. I was the wing woman there. Okay. But they are married with two teenagers now. Wow. And absolute love story. And yeah so had we not gone there, I don’t think she would have met her forever person.
[00:23:50] John Ray: Yeah, that’s well, what a great story. Yeah.
[00:23:52] John Ray: And you’ve given me a great segue to. Question. I know people are interested in examples of successes that you’ve helped create along the way in the matchmaking you’ve done.
[00:24:05] John Ray: There’s
[00:24:06] John Ray: one.
[00:24:06] Kris Cugnon: Yes, absolutely. Naturally I, when I am out. At singles events or any kind of networking, I’m always on the lookout.
[00:24:15] Kris Cugnon: So I’m always as a connector, I’m always have my clients in mind and what they’re looking for. So I might not meet the person directly, but I’m always asking, do you know anybody? Here’s what I’m looking for. Here’s. the person I’m looking for. So I’m always having those conversations and just seeing who I can drum up where I can meet people.
[00:24:39] Kris Cugnon: And and I put the word out so people know how to contact me if they’d like to introduce a friend to me, a friend that’s fabulous and single and they’re looking for some help. That’s,
[00:24:49] John Ray: that’s great. Great work from Kris Cugnon. Kris is a professional offline matchmaker. Dating coach and wing woman, all of those things.
[00:25:01] John Ray: Wow, Kris, this is making people happy is, and that’s what you’re talking about here really at the end of the day and fulfilled is really what it’s all about for you. And congratulations on that work. That’s important work. And we’re grateful we could shine the light on that work.
[00:25:16] John Ray: Let’s get to the most important question though, which is how people can get in touch.
[00:25:19] Kris Cugnon: Absolutely.
[00:25:20] Kris Cugnon: Absolutely. On LinkedIn, it’s Kris Cugnon, C U G N O N. And on Instagram, it’s Connector Kris on Instagram, but with a K. So it’s Connector Kris, Cugnon, and you can message me either place. Okay, cool.
[00:25:36] John Ray: Kris Cugnon, professional offline matchmaker wing woman, dating coach.
[00:25:44] John Ray: She can make your life better.
[00:25:45] Kris Cugnon: I would love to. I would love to. And if your listeners have not heard, please know that you are beautiful, brilliant, and deserving of finding that your forever person that you can really feel that true love with and share. Share your love of the way that you want to share it.
[00:26:04] John Ray: That’s wonderful. Yeah. Great. Great words, Kris. Thanks again. Thank you so much.
[00:26:08] Kris Cugnon: Pleasure to be here. Absolutely. Have a great day.
[00:26:11] John Ray: You
[00:26:11] John Ray: too. Hey folks, if you’ve got some issues in your back office. If you’ve got administrative tasks that are piled up, bookkeeping that’s just a mess and you’re just, you’re tired and weighed down by all those issues, and you know you need to be spending more time on employees.
[00:26:35] John Ray: And your clients. I’ve got an answer for you. That involves Office Angels they have a toll team of angels that fly in and get that work done. So you can spend time on the most important parts of your business, which is the front part of the business where you’re working with clients and your employees.
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[00:27:15] John Ray: I highly recommend them. I use their services myself and they do great work and folks, just a quick reminder. I’ve got a book coming out here in about a month. Now, as we record this show in November, 2023, the books called the generosity mindset method for business success, raise your confidence, your value, and your prices.
[00:27:38] John Ray: If you’re a solo or professional services provider, That has trouble with business development, with pricing issues. This may be a book for you. Go to the generosity mindset. com to sign up, to receive updates. Or if you’re listening to this show in 2024, you’ll find out where to buy the book by going to that link.
[00:28:00] John Ray: And I want to thank you, our audience. You’re just terrific. We’ve survived on this show now seven and a half years, over 700 episodes of North Fulton business radio. And that’s because of you, our listener you have continue to love us on social media. And one of the things you do that I.
[00:28:20] John Ray: I’ve heard from a number of people is you share the show with people that you might think have an interest in the services of our guests on the show. And if you know someone out there that’s looking for that forever person, then you’ve heard from Kris here today, right? But we’ve got so many other business leaders that we’ve had on the show.
[00:28:40] John Ray: And you support them in that way and honor their work in that way. And thank you for that. That also helps us because it helps us live into our mission to be the voice of business in the North Fulton region. And I am grateful for you. So thank you. So for my guest, Kris Cugnon, I’m John Ray, join us next time here on North Fulton Business Radio.