Business RadioX ®

Will Lee on What Drives Business Value at Exit

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Will Lee, Applied Economics, on Valuation Myths, ESOPs, and Why Exit Planning Can't Wait (The Exit Exchange, Episode 26) with host John Ray
North Fulton Studio
Will Lee on What Drives Business Value at Exit
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Will Lee, Applied Economics, on Valuation Myths, ESOPs, and Why Exit Planning Can't Wait (The Exit Exchange, Episode 26) with host John Ray

Will Lee, Applied Economics, on Valuation Myths, ESOPs, and Why Exit Planning Can’t Wait (The Exit Exchange, Episode 26)

In this episode of The Exit Exchange, host John Ray welcomes Will Lee, Managing Director at Applied Economics, for a wide-ranging conversation on business valuation, ESOPs, and the cost of waiting too long to plan a business exit.

Will explains why valuation is both an art and a science and why the “country club valuation,” where an owner benchmarks against what a friend received for his trucking company in 2022, can lead to painful surprises. He walks through the three things that actually drive value: cash flows, growth, and risk. He also discusses the increasing importance of AI tools in valuation and their limitations, particularly in identifying concentrations and risks that an owner may not disclose.

The conversation also covers ESOPs in depth: how they work, what kinds of companies are suitable candidates, and why they have become an increasingly attractive option for owners who want to protect employees and preserve their legacy rather than hand the keys to an outside buyer with promises that nothing will change. Will draws on a standout success story involving a small Winder, Georgia, manufacturer facing a French multinational, where his team helped turn a $7.5 million LOI into a $14 million closing.

The host of The Exit Exchange is John Ray, and the show is produced by John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX®.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

  • Business owners often rely on outdated rules of thumb or “country club valuations” to estimate what their company is worth, both of which can be seriously misleading depending on market conditions and the specifics of the business.
  • The three factors that consistently drive valuation are cash flows, growth, and risk. Owners who work on all three well in advance of a sale give themselves the best chance of a strong outcome, regardless of market timing.
  • ESOPs serve as a viable and often overlooked exit strategy for owners seeking continuity, employee retention, and legacy preservation, especially in industries such as architecture, engineering, and construction, where traditional sales often result in talent loss.
  • AI tools and valuation software can be useful starting points, but they cannot replicate the judgment required to assess customer concentration, key-person risk, or the nuanced risk factors that drive defensible, professional valuations.
  • Exit planning that starts too late forces owners to focus on the sale process at exactly the wrong time, when their attention should be on keeping the business healthy and the numbers moving in the right direction.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:25 Introduction and welcome to Will Lee
02:13 Will’s background and how he joined Applied Economics
04:00 Working for free in the break room and earning a full-time offer
05:49 Why business valuation offers more variety than most finance careers
06:48 What business valuation actually is and how fair market value is defined
08:06 Reconciling fair market value with “something is worth what someone will pay for it”
09:40 The difference between a business valuator and an investment banker
12:18 Why business owners should get a valuation beyond the legally required moments
15:58 Common misconceptions owners have about what their business is worth
18:23 When AI tools and software are useful and when they fall short in valuation
19:33 When to hire a professional valuator and what the IRS requires
20:21 What distinguishes Applied Economics from other valuation firms
26:30 ESOPs defined and why they are becoming more popular
30:07 What kinds of companies are good ESOP candidates
33:03 When business owners should start exit planning and what happens when they wait
35:41 Why Will joined XPX Atlanta and what it offers lower middle market business owners
39:06 The importance of specialized advisors, including a discussion of sales tax nexus
40:56 Symptoms that tell a business owner it is time to call Applied Economics
42:30 Success stories: the Winder, Georgia manufacturer and other deals
45:30 How to reach Will Lee and Applied Economics

Will Lee, Applied Economics

Will Lee is a Managing Director with Applied Economics, where he has worked since 2006. He provides business valuation, investment banking, and ESOP advisory services, with experience across gift and estate tax planning appraisals, purchase price allocations, lost profits and economic damages analyses, fairness and solvency opinions, litigation support, and valuations of intangible assets. He became a partner at Applied Economics in 2012 and, in 2020, joined two colleagues in buying out the firm’s founder. He holds the ASA credential and a BBA from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

Website | LinkedIn

Applied Economics

Applied Economics is an Atlanta-based financial advisory firm founded in 1998, specializing in business valuation, investment banking, and ESOP advisory services. The firm serves a broad range of clients, from growth-stage technology companies to Fortune 100 multinationals, including privately held middle market businesses, private equity portfolio companies, healthcare systems, and nonprofit organizations. Applied Economics performs more than 200 advisory engagements annually for purposes that include financial reporting, gift and estate tax planning, mergers and acquisitions, ESOP administration, and litigation support.

Website

The Exit Planning Exchange Atlanta

The Exit Planning Exchange Atlanta (XPX) is a diverse group of professionals with a common goal: working collaboratively to assist business owners with a sale or business transition. XPX Atlanta is an association of advisors who provide professionalism, principles, and education to the heart of the middle market.

Their members work with business owners through all stages of the private company life cycle: business value growth, business value transfer, and owner life and legacy. Their vision: to fundamentally change the trajectory of exit planning services in the Southeast United States. XPX Atlanta delivers a collaboration-based networking exchange with broad representation of exit planning competencies. Learn more about XPX Atlanta and why you should consider joining our community by following this link.

The host of The Exit Exchange is John Ray, and the show is produced by North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX®, in Alpharetta. The show archive can be found by following this link.

John Ray Co. is a Gold Sponsor of XPX Atlanta.

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell on Estate Planning as Love

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Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell, LMB Law Offices PC, on Wills, Trusts, Business Succession, and the Legacy Light Path (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 949) with host John Ray
North Fulton Business Radio
Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell on Estate Planning as Love
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Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell, LMB Law Offices PC, on Wills, Trusts, Business Succession, and the Legacy Light Path (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 949) with host John Ray

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell, LMB Law Offices PC, on Wills, Trusts, Business Succession, and the Legacy Light Path (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 949)

On this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray welcomes Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell, Managing Attorney at LMB Law Offices PC, to discuss estate planning, legacy, and what it actually takes to protect the people and assets you’ve spent your life building.

Lynita reframes estate planning as an act of love rather than a legal chore. She shares her compelling story: an emergency surgery for stage four endometriosis she didn’t know she had, a daughter not yet six years old, a husband out of town, clients with open retainers, and nothing in place. That experience changed how she approaches her work and why she leads every client consultation with education rather than paperwork. Her office offers free consultations so that even clients who don’t hire her walk away understanding what they have, what’s at risk, and what needs to be done.

The conversation covers the overlooked complexity of business succession, including key person insurance, operating agreement gaps left by generic legal templates, and what happens to client relationships, retainers, and intellectual property if you’re gone without a plan. Lynita also argues that most individuals significantly underestimate the value of their estate and that the threshold for requiring a plan is as minimal as possessing “a scrap of paper.”

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

Key Takeaways from This Episode

  • Lynita experienced a personal health crisis and emergency surgery while her daughter was under six and her husband was out of town, which showed her firsthand what happens when an estate plan doesn’t exist, even for an estate planning attorney.
  • Most people dramatically underestimate the size of their estate. A house, a boat, jewelry, family property, and a business interest can add up to $2 million or more before you’ve finished the list.
  • Business owners need more than a will: key person insurance, a funded trust, operating agreements with succession provisions, and a clear transition plan for clients and partners.
  • Generic legal templates from online platforms typically leave out the succession provisions that matter most, and documents that aren’t funded or properly completed are essentially useless.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

North Fulton Business Radio host John Ray with Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell
North Fulton Business Radio host John Ray with Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell

00:20 John Ray introduces the show and guest Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell
02:14 Lynita introduces LMB Law Offices PC and her approach to estate planning
04:23 Why Lynita chose estate planning: her grandmother’s five-year coma and three-year probate
05:59 Lynita’s own emergency surgery and the estate plan she didn’t have
07:37 Reframing estate planning as an act of love, not a legal obligation
09:23 The word “legacy” and what it means in Lynita’s practice
11:41 A client case: a veteran’s properties in multiple states and a multi-year probate process
15:03 Business succession planning: key person insurance, operating agreements, and finding a buyer
18:43 The problem with generic legal templates and what they leave out
20:41 Intellectual property, copyrights, and the cautionary tale of Zora Neale Hurston
22:03 Unique considerations for high-achieving women leaders, including rest and self-care
24:39 Lynita’s book: Live Life on Fire
25:42 Who needs to call Lynita: if you own a scrap of paper, you need a plan
28:03 Client success story: a couple in Covington and an estate plan done right
31:55 How to reach Lynita and LMB Law Offices PC

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell, Managing Attorney

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell
Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell is an estate planning attorney, CPA, author, and the founder of Light Legacy Stewardship, a transformational approach to estate planning that blends legal strategy with personal legacy design.

With a background that includes PwC, Deloitte, and building an award-winning law firm, Lynita helps high-achieving professionals, business owners, and families protect their assets while intentionally shaping the impact they leave behind. She believes estate planning is not just about documents; it is about direction.

Through her signature framework, The Legacy Light Path, Lynita guides clients to align their wealth, values, and vision so their legacy reflects who they truly are. Her work sits at the intersection of financial clarity, family harmony, and purposeful leadership.

Based in the Atlanta area, Lynita is also a sought-after speaker and retreat leader, known for helping ambitious leaders build lives and businesses that are legally protected, spiritually aligned, and strategically designed for generational impact.

LinkedIn

LMB Law Offices PC

LMB Law Offices PC is an Atlanta-area estate planning and wealth protection law firm dedicated to helping individuals, families, and business owners build and protect meaningful legacies.

Founded by estate planning attorney and CPA Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell, the firm provides strategic, personalized legal solutions designed to preserve assets, prevent conflict, and create clarity across generations. LMB Law Offices focuses on wills, trusts, incapacity planning, business succession planning, and comprehensive estate strategies tailored to each client’s goals and family dynamics.

The firm is known for combining technical excellence with thoughtful guidance, helping clients move beyond basic document preparation to fully aligned legacy planning. At LMB Law Offices, estate planning is viewed not merely as paperwork but as leadership, an intentional act of stewardship that ensures a client’s values, vision, and wealth are carried forward with purpose.

Serving professionals, entrepreneurs, and multi-generational families throughout Georgia, LMB Law Offices empowers clients to protect what they’ve built and shape the impact they will leave behind.

Website

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

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

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Retreva of Atlanta on B2B Email Prospecting

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Ajit Kahaduwe and Kevin Moran, Retreva of Atlanta, on Cold Email Prospecting, Warm Leads, and Filling the Small Business Sales Pipeline (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 948) with host John Ray
North Fulton Business Radio
Retreva of Atlanta on B2B Email Prospecting
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Ajit Kahaduwe and Kevin Moran, Retreva of Atlanta, on Cold Email Prospecting, Warm Leads, and Filling the Small Business Sales Pipeline (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 948) with host John Ray

Ajit Kahaduwe and Kevin Moran, Retreva of Atlanta, on Cold Email Prospecting, Warm Leads, and Filling the Small Business Sales Pipeline (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 948)

Ajit Kahaduwe and Kevin Moran, co-owners of Retreva of Atlanta, joined North Fulton Business Radio host John Ray to talk about one of the most persistent frustrations in small business: an unpredictable sales pipeline. Their company runs cold email prospecting campaigns for B2B and B2C businesses, handling the outreach so clients can focus on closing the warm leads that come back.

Ajit and Kevin draw on decades of experience in telecom and enterprise sales, including stints at Nokia, Motorola, Bell Labs, and senior sales roles in the tech industry. That background affects how they think about the “feast or famine” sales cycle that smaller teams have to deal with. Retreva’s system sends plain-text, personalized emails to targeted prospect lists, built around each client’s ideal customer profile. It handles follow-up automatically, managing unsubscribes and bounces, and routes only interested replies back to the client’s inbox.

On this episode, the two dig into why email still outperforms cold calling and SMS for generating business conversations, the psychology behind structuring a seven-to-nine-email campaign sequence, and which kinds of businesses see the strongest results. They also share the story of a commercial cleaning client who landed a $4,000-per-month contract within three months of starting with Retreva, a contract that grew steadily from there.

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

Key Takeaways from This Episode

  • Email prospecting and email marketing serve different purposes. Retreva’s outbound emails focus on prospects currently looking to buy, rather than nurturing opt-in subscribers for future sales.
  • Persistence without being annoying is a skill Retreva has refined over 12 years. A campaign typically runs seven to nine emails with heavier frequency early on, and one client responded to the 11th email nine months after the first one landed.
  • Past customers represent an overlooked gold mine. Ajit observes that existing customer lists consistently yield higher response rates than cold contacts due to the established relationship and trust.
  • Retreva’s human copywriters, not AI, write all campaign emails, following specific psychological principles about what not to say, including avoiding negative framing and assumptions about the recipient’s situation.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:20 John Ray introduces the show and guests Ajit Kahaduwe and Kevin Moran of Retreva of Atlanta
02:33 How Ajit and Kevin came to co-own Retreva of Atlanta after careers in corporate tech and telecom
04:25 The serendipitous origin story: Kevin used Retreva at a prior company, then discovered the founder had once worked for him
05:17 Ajit’s background at Nokia, Motorola, and Bell Labs, and why systematic customer outreach mattered across all of it
06:55 The difference between email marketing and email prospecting, and what Retreva actually does
08:15 Targeting an ideal customer profile and why repetitive, persistent outreach matters
09:29 The narrow line between professionally persistent and annoying, and how Retreva navigates it
10:23 Why business owners are even more prone than salespeople to letting follow-up lapse
11:47 Why past customers are the highest-return starting point for an email campaign
12:51 Why email still works better than cold calls or SMS for generating business conversations
14:09 A client who responded to the 11th email, nine months after the first one
16:24 How Retreva delivers only warm replies to the client’s inbox, not opens or clicks
17:00 Survey data on why email gives prospects a sense of control that phone calls and texts don’t
18:21 How Retreva’s human copywriters craft emails, including the psychology of what not to say
19:54 What makes a bad cold email, and how Retreva’s approach differs
21:55 Which types of businesses work best with Retreva’s system
23:32 How the onboarding process works: content form, list building, campaign launch, and ongoing support
25:16 How Retreva’s writers structure a campaign, and the paragraph-rearranging technique between emails one and two
27:29 Pricing and the no-contract, 30-day-out model
28:39 The under-$300-per-month price point and what it includes
29:48 How Retreva helps clients source and build targeted contact lists using Dun & Bradstreet and Hoovers
35:19 Client success stories, including FastSigns nationally and a local commercial cleaning company

Ajit Kahaduwe, Co-Owner, Retreva of Atlanta

Ajit Kahaduwe, Co-Owner, Retreva of Atlanta
Ajit Kahaduwe, Co-Owner, Retreva of Atlanta

Ajit Kahaduwe is a growth strategist and co-owner of Retreva of Atlanta, a firm focused on solving one of the most persistent problems in business: an unpredictable sales pipeline. With a career rooted in entrepreneurship and technology innovation, including roles at Nokia, Motorola, and two accelerators at Bell Labs and Mire, Ajit specializes in moving companies away from luck-based growth. He has a reputation for transforming chaotic outreach into structured, high-performing systems that turn cold prospects into warm conversations.

At Retreva, Ajit works alongside small and mid-sized teams to build personalized email prospecting engines that respect the prospect’s time while consistently booking meetings. He bridges the gap between high-level analytical strategy and the ground-level reality of how modern buyers actually make decisions.

LinkedIn

Kevin Moran, Co-Owner, Retreva of Atlanta

Kevin Moran, Co-Owner, Retreva of Atlanta
Kevin Moran, Co-Owner, Retreva of Atlanta

Kevin Moran is a veteran sales leader and co-owner of Retreva of Atlanta. With 40 years in corporate America, primarily in technology sales and marketing, Kevin has held roles from frontline sales rep to CEO. He built his career searching for tools that help companies and sales teams find prospects who actually want to talk, and Retreva is the one he found most effective.

At Retreva, Kevin translates his decades of sales leadership into structured outreach rhythms for clients. He helps businesses move away from sporadic, emergency prospecting and toward a steady, personalized system that generates high-quality conversations without draining internal resources. Kevin takes a common-sense approach: no gimmicks, no mass-blasting, just respectful outreach aligned with each company’s values.

LinkedIn

Retreva of Atlanta

Most businesses treat prospecting like a chore, something they do only when the calendar looks thin. Retreva of Atlanta changes that. It is not an email marketing tool or a bulky CRM. It is the engine that turns cold contacts into real, one-on-one conversations.

Unlike automated blasts that read as spam, every Retreva email is sent as plain text from a real person, written by human copywriters using principles drawn from psychology and top sales practitioners. The timing and follow-up frequency are calibrated so clients stay top of mind without crowding an inbox. The system pauses during holidays or sensitive events, protecting each client’s brand reputation.

Retreva functions as a virtual sales assistant that runs around the clock. Whether a business is chasing new clients, re-engaging past customers, or nurturing referral partners, Retreva handles the outreach. Its back-end technology validates email addresses and sorts replies, separating the uninterested from the ready-to-talk and delivering only warm responses to the client’s own inbox. For B2B and B2C owners and teams that need a consistent pipeline without the overhead of additional staff, Retreva provides a steady path to revenue.

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

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

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Donn King: Building a Business When Caregiving Owns Your Time

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Donn King on Protecting Your Professional Identity, Defeating Perfectionism, and Keeping Your Business Alive Through Caregiving (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 167) with host John Ray
North Fulton Studio
Donn King: Building a Business When Caregiving Owns Your Time
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Donn King on Protecting Your Professional Identity, Defeating Perfectionism, and Keeping Your Business Alive Through Caregiving (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 167) with host John Ray

Donn King on Protecting Your Professional Identity, Defeating Perfectionism, and Keeping Your Business Alive Through Caregiving (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 167)

Donn King joins host John Ray on The Price and Value Journey to discuss one of the most underserved challenges facing solo practitioners and expert service providers: how to maintain a professional and creative identity when caregiving takes over your life.

Donn spent more than two decades caring for his daughter Hannah, who had a rare neurological condition requiring round-the-clock attention, while also caring for his partially disabled wife Janet. During that time, he continued writing, podcasting, pastoring, coaching other authors, and teaching college. His book Creating While Caring is a field guide for the roughly 50 million unpaid caregivers in the United States, many of whom are trying to run an expertise-based business at the same time.

Donn and John explore the genuine challenges that caregiving poses for professionals accustomed to managing their time in this conversation. Donn explains why standard productivity advice falls apart under the weight of a caregiving life and what it actually takes to keep going. Topics include distinguishing your identity from your methodology, why perfectionism is a thief rather than a virtue, the critical difference between consistency and persistence, and the practice of treating your schedule as aspirational rather than a measure of success or failure. Donn also shares the personal chapter he navigated after Hannah’s death in December 2024 and what it means to suddenly face open time at age 70 when you spent two decades simply doing what had to be done.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of the Business RadioX® podcast network.

Key Takeaways You Can Use From This Episode

  • Separate your professional identity from the way you carry it out. When caregiving changes what is possible, the methodology has to flex while the identity holds.
  • Perfectionism is a thief. It steals joy, it steals time, and most importantly it steals value from the people you could be serving. “Done is better than perfect” is not a cliché here; it is a survival principle.
  • Treat your schedule as aspirational, not as a pass-fail test. When life interrupts, dragging a task to tomorrow is a tool, not a defeat.
  • The difference between consistency and persistence matters. Consistency demands a regular pattern. Persistence simply requires that you keep showing up. For caregivers and for many solo practitioners, persistence is the more honest and more achievable standard.
  • Decide what to protect, not just what to pursue. Knowing which professional activities are essential to your identity helps you make the hardest trade-off: what not to do.
  • You have more resilience than you realize. Donn tells caregivers that their coping skills are often better than they think.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 John Ray introduces the show and guest Donn King
02:21 Donn on why caregivers are more likely to run expertise businesses than traditional jobs
05:08 How Donn kept his professional and creative identity intact through two decades of caregiving
06:05 Accepting you won’t accomplish everything you’re capable of
08:11 The apocryphal Warren Buffett story: 25 goals, pick five, scratch off the rest
09:14 Focusing on one project at a time instead of scattering energy
10:06 The subtle perfectionism caregivers face and the 10-year writing shutdown
11:21 The reversal: he was not depressed because he stopped writing, but stopped writing because he was depressed
11:52 Why this is an identity issue, not just a productivity issue
12:31 Separating identity from methodology: same writer, different work style
13:39 Background on daughter Hannah and wife Janet and the round-the-clock care demands
17:14 The decision to move Hannah to a specialized nursing home
19:08 The typical day exercise from the book and what it revealed
19:53 How Hannah’s birth ended Donn’s professional speaking career
21:27 Why standard productivity advice doesn’t apply to caregiving lives
22:06 What actually works: aspirational scheduling, bite-sized tasks, bags packed for ER visits
24:34 Separating principle from application: dependability as the principle, flexibility in execution
26:10 Flexibility is not weakness; it is resilience
28:45 Consistency vs persistence: why persistence is the more honest standard for caregivers
32:09 Perfectionism as a thief of joy, time, and value
34:24 On dignity and identity: more than a caregiver, still a writer
35:01 The oxygen mask principle applied to professional identity
39:51 Adam Grant’s research on creative procrastination
42:19 Life after Hannah: open time at 70, Medicaid financial constraints, finding new priorities
47:03 Tools and tips are examples, not answers
49:26 On AI: “I want the AI to do dishes so I have more time to write.”
53:34 What Donn most wants caregiving professionals to hear: you are not alone and more resilient than you think
55:42 Where to find Donn and Creating While Caring
57:51 John’s closing thoughts for the audience

Donn King

Donn King
Donn King

Donn King is an emeritus professor of communication studies at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee, a pastor in the United Methodist Church, a speaker, and a communication coach. He calls himself “The Confidence Cultivator,” and for good reason: his work consistently comes back to helping people show up fully, speak clearly, and build a professional life that reflects what they actually value.

He is the author of several books, including two business fables in The Sparklight Chronicles series and Creating While Caring: Practical Tips to Keep Creating While Caring for a Loved One, which grew from his own experience as a family caregiver. He hosts The Alignment Show podcast and runs Hidden Mentor Media, where he helps independent authors publish with confidence. He has spoken to audiences across the United States and spent more than 40 years teaching college students and business leaders the skills of effective communication.

Donn and his wife Janet live on the quiet side of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Website | LinkedIn

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

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

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

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

John is a podcast show host and the owner of North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their podcast using The Generosity Mindset® Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.

John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 900 shows and having featured over 1,300 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.

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

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

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

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

Your combination of these elements is unique in your industry. There lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.

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

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

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Email

Business RadioX®:  LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Kathi Cook on Alpharetta Growth and Community Development

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Kathi Cook, City of Alpharetta, on Alpharetta Growth and Redevelopment, North Point, and the Future of Community Development (North Fulton Voices, Episode 17)
North Fulton Studio
Kathi Cook on Alpharetta Growth and Community Development
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Kathi Cook, City of Alpharetta, on Alpharetta Growth and Redevelopment, North Point, and the Future of Community Development (North Fulton Voices, Episode 17)

Kathi Cook, City of Alpharetta, on Alpharetta’s Growth, Redevelopment, North Point, and Future Community Development (North Fulton Voices, Episode 17)

How does a fast-growing city preserve what people value while continuing to evolve?

In this episode of North Fulton Voices, Kathi Cook, Director of Community Development for the City of Alpharetta, joins Jack Murphy, Nancy Diamond, and Kathy Swahn of the North Fulton Improvement Network for a wide-ranging conversation on how Alpharetta approaches growth, redevelopment, and long-term planning. Drawing on more than three decades of experience with the city, Cook reflects on Alpharetta growth and its transformation into a more connected, walkable community, why mixed-use development has mattered so much, and how projects like Avalon reshaped expectations for quality development.

The discussion also explores Alpharetta’s current comprehensive plan update, what residents are saying about connectivity, tree canopy, green space, and workforce housing, and how public engagement helps shape decisions that will affect the city for decades. Cook also offers a detailed look at North Point redevelopment, including the vision for a sports and entertainment district, green space integration, housing, and transportation connections. This is an important conversation for anyone interested in how North Fulton communities can grow thoughtfully without losing their character.

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

Key Takeaways from This Episode

  • How Alpharetta growth created a more walkable, connected community
  • Why Avalon became a turning point in Alpharetta’s development model
  • What residents are saying in the comprehensive plan process about traffic, green space, tree canopy, and housing
  • Why redevelopment now matters more than greenfield development in Alpharetta
  • What Kathi Cook says about ADUs, housing types, and local flexibility
  • The long-range vision for North Point, including a possible sports and entertainment district
  • Why public engagement in planning matters more than most residents realize

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Introduction and Jack Murphy’s housing affordability data point
02:31 Kathi Cook’s background and how she got into city planning
04:09 Alpharetta growth and it’s transformation into a walkable, connected community
04:37 Avalon’s impact and why it changed Alpharetta more than expected
07:18 Comprehensive plan update and current public engagement process
08:27 What residents are saying now about growth, connectivity, green space, and housing
09:49 Mixed-use development, redevelopment, and what the public will support
11:18 Tree canopy, tree-lined streets, and ordinance changes
12:31 How residents should approach and use the comprehensive plan
15:37 ADUs, workforce housing, and local planning flexibility
17:47 Gentle density, condos, stacked flats, and smaller housing formats
19:46 North Point redevelopment vision and the sports and entertainment proposal
22:36 Workforce housing questions tied to North Point
24:12 Transportation capacity and connectivity around North Point
26:12 Tax allocation districts and public-private redevelopment tools
29:08 Permitting timelines and misconceptions about delays
33:53 Brookside, Windward, and office-to-residential evolution
40:12 How the public can engage productively in planning decisions
42:20 Downsizing, seniors, and walkable housing preferences
43:49 Kathi Cook’s contact information and closing call to action from NFIN

Kathi Cook, Director of Community Development, City of Alpharetta

Kathi Cook, Director of Community Development, City of Alpharetta
Kathi Cook, Director of Community Development, City of Alpharetta

Kathi Cook is the Community Development Director for the City of Alpharetta. Since joining the city in 1992 as a public works engineering technician and construction manager, she has served in a range of leadership roles, including oversight of environmental programs and the engineering department. Her more than three decades of experience give her a rare perspective on Alpharetta’s evolution and the planning, redevelopment, and quality-of-life issues that continue to shape its future.

Website | LinkedIn

Kathi Cook on "North Fulton Voices" talking about Alpharetta growth.North Fulton Improvement Network

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

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

Jack Murphy

Jack Murphy
Jack Murphy

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

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

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

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

LinkedIn

Nancy Diamond

Nancy Diamond

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

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

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

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

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

LinkedIn

Kathy Swahn

Kathy Swahn, President Emeritus, The Drake House
Kathy Swahn

Kathy has resided in the North Fulton area for almost 45 years. She has watched the community evolve from what was “unincorporated Fulton County” to a six-city bustling suburban community. Her history has been marked by a strong emphasis on children: she raised two daughters as a stay-at-home mother, held leadership positions in school PTAs and Girl Scouts, participated in the National Charity League and the North Fulton Council of PTAs, and held the position of chair of the Superintendent’s Advisory Council.

Kathy resumed her career by entering the nonprofit sector. She joined the team at North Fulton Community Charities, running their holiday program, becoming Development Director and successfully managing the $3 million capital campaign for their Elkins Road location. Along the way, she also served on the DFACS Board and chaired the board of the Fulton County Continuum of Care for four years.

After having the opportunity to join in the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program, Kathy was surrounded with a dynamic group of folks who worked to create The Drake House. Since 2004, she served as board chair for the first four years, executive director for nine years, and is now retired. Over those years, The Drake House served over 500 single mothers with over 1,000 children and grew the assets of the organization to over $4 million.

Kathy continues to serve The Drake House on the Advocacy Committee, along with her work for NFIN.

She spends much of her time traveling to the DC area, where her children and grandchildren reside.

LinkedIn

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

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

John Ray
John Ray

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

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

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

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

Why Clients Stall and What to Do About It: Dr. Larry Gard

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Dr. Larry Gard on The Ambivalence Paradox: Why Clients Stall, How to Read It, and When to Walk Away (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 165) with host John Ray
North Fulton Studio
Why Clients Stall and What to Do About It: Dr. Larry Gard
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Dr. Larry Gard on The Ambivalence Paradox: Why Clients Stall, How to Read It, and When to Walk Away (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 165) with host John Ray

Dr. Larry Gard on The Ambivalence Paradox: Why Clients Stall, How to Read It, and When to Walk Away (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 166)

Dr. Larry Gard joins host John Ray on The Price and Value Journey to discuss one of the most frustrating and costly dynamics in advisory work: the client who genuinely wants your help and simultaneously resists it. Drawing on his book The Ambivalence Paradox, co-authored with Tom Bixby, Dr. Gard explains why this behavior is not irrational, not necessarily a sign of a bad client, and not a communication problem. It goes deeper than that, and understanding it changes how you engage from the very first conversation.

Dr. Gard walks through how ambivalence shows up in client behavior, from missed deadlines and topic-changing to analysis paralysis and sudden silence. He explains why advisors misread these signals, either diagnosing the client too quickly or making too many excuses and enabling the very resistance that’s slowing the work. He also discusses the importance of inquiring about previous advisory relationships before accepting an engagement, the significance of a client who cannot reflect on a past failed engagement as a warning sign, and the art of framing difficult conversations in a way that encourages openness rather than defensiveness.

The episode also goes into the question of when to decline an engagement, how to handle ambivalence that may be directed at you personally, and why your own ambivalence as an advisor can quietly fuel a client’s resistance. This episode is worth your time if you’ve ever felt like you were putting in more effort on an engagement than your client.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of the Business RadioX® podcast network.

Key Takeaways You Can Use From This Episode

  • Ambivalence is not hesitancy. A hesitant client is slowing down. An ambivalent client is simultaneously accelerating and braking. Recognizing that distinction changes how you respond.
  • When clients procrastinate, delay, or change the subject, focus on the behavior itself rather than assigning an internal state. Telling yourself a client is “not motivated” or “just too busy” can lead you to enable the very pattern you need to address.
  • Ask about prior advisory relationships early in your discovery process. How a prospective client talks about a past engagement that didn’t work out tells you a tremendous deal about their readiness for this one.
  • Reframing how you raise difficult topics with clients matters. Language that names what you’re observing without cornering the client creates an opening for honest conversation rather than defensiveness.
  • Your ambivalence about a client or engagement is not invisible. Clients can sense it, and if they are already conflicted, your uncertainty will amplify theirs.
  • Declining an engagement is sometimes the right decision for the client, not just for you. Having a trusted referral list ready makes that conversation easier and leaves the relationship intact.

Topics Discussed in the Episode

00:00 Introduction: When a client resists the very help they asked for
02:22 Dr. Larry Gard on what drew him to this subject and why clinical psychology applies far beyond the therapy room
05:22 The PhD dissertation was 99 pages. The book is 47.
06:27 The origin of The Ambivalence Paradox and the collaboration with Tom Bixby
08:32 The engagement readiness assessment: a screening tool to identify client resistance before you take on the work
10:17 Why client ambivalence shows up mid-engagement, not just at the start
10:56 Ambivalence vs. hesitancy: the difference between tapping the brakes and pressing the accelerator and brake at the same time
12:45 What happens to advisors who don’t recognize ambivalence for what it is
13:40 Why naming the ambivalence is often the first step to resolving it
14:45 Most advisors are deliverables-oriented. That’s part of the problem.
15:43 The connection between value conversations and client ambivalence
18:52 How ambivalence shows up: topic-changing, delays, procrastination, analysis paralysis
19:17 The two misreads advisors make most often
21:40 The danger of making too many excuses for the client and colluding with their resistance
23:25 Why experienced advisors over-rely on pattern recognition, and why that backfires
24:24 A reframe for missed deadlines that opens conversation instead of putting clients on the defensive
25:44 The flip side: clients who are too agreeable
27:14 Asking about prior failed advisory relationships before you take on the engagement
31:28 When to walk away: the red flags that signal an engagement isn’t worth taking
34:48 Why having those hard conversations is part of your ethical responsibility as an advisor
36:50 For newer advisors especially: you don’t have to handle it in the moment
38:13 What to do when the client’s ambivalence may be directed at you personally
40:59 Your own ambivalence as an advisor and why clients can pick up on it
41:49 Closing thoughts and how to reach Dr. Larry Gard

Dr. Larry Gard

Dr. Larry Gard
Dr. Larry Gard

Dr. Larry Gard is a psychologist and founder of Done With Work Retirement Coaching and Consulting, based in the Chicago area. His doctoral training at Northwestern University Medical School focused on the second half of life, and he spent decades in clinical psychology before turning his attention to the dynamics that play out between advisors and the clients they serve.

Though no longer a practicing therapist, his long career in clinical psychology gives him the perspective and experience to help professionals navigate the head and heart side of major transitions. He is the co-author, with business advisor Tom Bixby, of The Ambivalence Paradox: Working with Clients Who Want Your Help but Simultaneously Resist It, written for consultants, coaches, and advisors who want to get better at reading their clients and having the conversations that actually surface what’s going on. He is also the author of Done With Work: A Dozen Perspectives on the Decision to Retire.

Website | LinkedIn

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

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

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

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

John is a podcast show host and the owner of North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their podcast using The Generosity Mindset® Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.

John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 900 shows and having featured over 1,300 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.

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

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

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

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

Your combination of these elements is unique in your industry. There lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.

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

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

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Email

Business RadioX®:  LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

LifeKnight on AI Emergency Response and Direct-to-911

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Avery Piantedosi-Petrovski, LifeKnight, on AI-Powered Emergency Detection and Direct-to-911 Response for Senior Living and Vulnerable Workers (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 947), with host John Ray
North Fulton Business Radio
LifeKnight on AI Emergency Response and Direct-to-911
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Avery Piantedosi-Petrovski, LifeKnight, on AI-Powered Emergency Detection and Direct-to-911 Response for Senior Living and Vulnerable Workers (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 947), with host John Ray

Avery Piantedosi-Petrovski, LifeKnight, on AI-Powered Emergency Detection and Direct-to-911 Response for Senior Living and Vulnerable Workers (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 947)

In this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray welcomes Avery Piantedosi-Petrovski, Founder and CEO of LifeKnight, an AI-enhanced safety platform that detects emergencies, routes alerts to the right responders, and connects directly to 911, bypassing traditional call centers that slow response times.

Avery traces the company’s origins to a personal experience: while working as a real estate broker, she was nearly assaulted by a prospective buyer during a property showing. That experience sent her researching the vulnerability of lone workers and others in high-risk situations, and she was equally surprised by what she found about the 911 system itself. Built on copper-wire landlines from the 1960s, the system is tied to static addresses and does not automatically locate a caller dialing from a cell phone. LifeKnight fills that gap by providing real-time latitude and longitude data to first responders, along with pre-entered information about the person and the event, so that when help is dispatched, no time is lost explaining the situation.

The platform uses three AI agents working in sequence: one detects data signals, a second assesses whether an emergency is occurring, and a third determines how to route the alert. The endpoint is always a human responder, whether that is a 911 operator, a facility’s nursing staff, or a corporate Global Security Operations Center. Avery discusses the senior living market as LifeKnight’s strongest area of product-market fit, including an emerging wearable partnership aimed at people aging in place at home. She also describes an early pilot with social workers, one of whom told her that no one had ever recognized how vulnerable that job made them.

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

Key Takeaways from This Episode

  • The U.S. 911 system was built on 1960s landline technology and does not automatically locate someone calling from a cell phone. LifeKnight addresses that gap by transmitting real-time geolocation and pre-entered personal data directly to first responders.
  • LifeKnight’s three AI agents work in sequence to detect a signal, assess whether an emergency is unfolding, and route the alert, with a human responder always at the endpoint. Bypassing the call center model cuts response time in situations where seconds determine outcomes.
  • The platform integrates with wearables, PERS devices, safety apps, and existing security infrastructure, allowing device manufacturers and senior living facilities to embed LifeKnight as an invisible layer rather than replacing what they already use.
  • Avery’s personal experience as a real estate broker and her earlier career as a social worker in home health shaped the company’s focus on protecting lone workers, seniors, and others whose vulnerability is often underestimated.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:21 John Ray introduces the show and guest Avery Piantedosi-Petrovski
02:17 Avery describes LifeKnight’s emergency detection and direct-to-911 platform
03:03 How LifeKnight detects emergencies through wearables, apps, and PERS devices
04:19 Avery’s backstory: from real estate broker to tech founder after a near-assault
06:28 The surprising limitations of the U.S. 911 system and why cell phones don’t solve them
08:09 How LifeKnight fills the gap between an emergency and first responders
10:35 How AI enhances the platform: three agents that detect, assess, and route alerts
11:55 Routing alerts to 911, nursing staff, or a Global Security Operations Center (GSOC)
13:41 Bypassing call centers to cut response time when seconds determine outcomes
15:11 How the platform learns individual behavioral baselines to flag health changes
16:38 Enterprise customers: senior living facilities, home healthcare, PERS device providers
18:50 Avery’s personal motivation: aging parents and a career that began in social work
20:22 Aging in place: filling monitoring gaps when overnight caregivers are not present
22:39 Who should contact LifeKnight and how the platform can be a revenue driver
24:32 Early success story: protecting social workers in the field
26:11 Silicon Valley Safety Group and the broader case for protecting lone workers

Avery Piantedosi-Petrovski, Founder & CEO

Avery Piantedosi-Petrovski, LifeKnight
Avery Piantedosi-Petrovski, LifeKnight

Avery Piantedosi is the Founder and CEO of LifeKnight, Inc., an AI-powered safety technology company transforming emergency response through real-time detection, automation, and communication. Since founding the company, Avery has built LifeKnight’s operations from the ground up, establishing infrastructure, securing IP, and scaling go-to-market functions across enterprise, healthcare, and high-risk sectors.

Under her leadership, LifeKnight developed key operations like engineering, compliance, customer onboarding, and internal systems; expanded go-to-market functions by launching B2B pilots, improving sales strategies, and entering important markets; partnered with IBM Watson and NVIDIA to boost AI and biometric detection; led the creation of the LOIS AI-Enhanced Safety App and LifeKnight HUB platform; obtained a U.S. utility patent for the company’s safety detection and emergency response system; and raised two rounds of early funding while pursuing venture and acquisition discussions.

Some key achievements include being chosen for the NASA Technology Docking Program to speed up testing and launch, finishing Stanford’s Global Innovation Catalyst (GIC) to improve product-market fit, completing MSU’s Conquer Accelerator focused on growth and understanding customers, and participating in the NENA Work Group for new ways to communicate with E9-1-1, helping to shape national emergency response guidelines.

LifeKnight’s flagship, the LOIS Safety App, brings Avery’s vision to life, automating emergency response through intelligent detection and integration with wearables and safety systems. Through LifeKnight, she continues to lead innovation at the intersection of AI, safety, and health.

LinkedIn

LifeKnight

At LifeKnight, Inc., the company is redefining what safety means in the modern world, merging health monitoring, emergency response, and AI to create the first real-time detection and direction platform that requires zero user action.

Its main products, the LifeKnight API Platform and the LOIS AI-Enhanced Safety App, identify emergencies as they happen and quickly send the appropriate help, avoiding the usual delays and call centers. From biometric anomaly detection to fall alerts and geo-fencing, LifeKnight automates safety across the environments where it matters most: workplaces, senior care, real estate, and high-risk industries.

Powered by NVIDIA and IBM Watson, LifeKnight uses high-performance computing and AI to deliver precision, reliability, and speed.

What LifeKnight offers: AI-driven detection and direction that detects health anomalies, falls, accidents, and critical safety events in real time, automatically directing response through AI agents; direct connection to 911 and emergency services that bypasses call centers and middlemen, routing emergencies instantly to the right help and saving crucial seconds; seamless wearable and system integration that connects with Apple Watch, Oura Ring, Fitbit, and existing safety platforms to scale protection without disrupting operations; and real-time emergency alerts that deliver targeted notifications for individual incidents, workforce emergencies, and large-scale threats with full visibility via the LifeKnight HUB dashboard.

Who LifeKnight helps: healthcare and senior living facilities that need fall detection, health monitoring, and aftercare for assisted living, hospitals, and home care; companies that require safety solutions for tech campuses, logistics centers, and large organizations; tech companies wanting to improve safety features for their communication, security, or workflow tools; and industrial workplaces that require geo-fencing, alerts for unusual activities, and automated emergency responses in dangerous settings.

Website | LinkedIn

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

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

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Susan Friedmann: Niche Your Book, Charge More for Your Work

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Susan Friedmann on Why Your Book Is a Tool, Not a Product, and How Niche Focus, Bulk Sales, and the Right Mindset Turn It Into a Business Asset (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 165) with host John Ray
North Fulton Studio
Susan Friedmann: Niche Your Book, Charge More for Your Work
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Susan Friedmann on Why Your Book Is a Tool, Not a Product, and How Niche Focus, Bulk Sales, and the Right Mindset Turn It Into a Business Asset (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 165)

Susan Friedmann on Why Your Book Is a Tool, Not a Product, and How Niche Focus, Bulk Sales, and the Right Mindset Turn It Into a Business Asset (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 165)

Most authors believe that once the book is written, the work is done. Susan Friedmann, founder of Aviva Publishing and author of 18 books, has spent over 35 years showing nonfiction authors why that thinking is exactly backward. She joins host John Ray on The Price and Value Journey to make the case that your book is not the product. It serves as a gateway to unimagined opportunities.

Susan breaks down the most common and costly mistake authors make: trying to market to everyone. A book with no defined audience is nearly impossible to sell, and she explains why going deep into a niche is actually what creates pricing power. When you are the recognized expert in a tight vertical, you face fewer competitors and can charge accordingly. She uses the example of a general practitioner versus a pediatric cardiologist to illustrate how specialization reshapes what the market will pay. She also pulls back the curtain on bulk sales, the strategy that allowed her own first book to move 500,000 copies to a single company, and how consultant-authors can identify similar opportunities within the industries they already know.

Beyond strategy, Susan addresses the mindset barriers that keep authors from marketing effectively: the fear of rejection, the used-car-salesman image of selling, and imposter syndrome. Her shift is simple but powerful. When you stop thinking about selling the book and start thinking about helping the person who needs what is inside it, marketing becomes service. That reframe is where the real momentum begins.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of the Business RadioX® podcast network.

Key Takeaways You Can Use From This Episode

  • Your book is not the product. It is the tool that opens doors to speaking, training, consulting, and other revenue-generating opportunities. Ask what doors this book can open, not how many copies you can sell.
  • Niche focus is a pricing strategy. When you are the go-to expert in a defined vertical, you compete against fewer people and can command higher fees for both the book and your services.
  • Amazon is a shop window, not a sales team. You still have to bring people to the window. Do not mistake a listing for a marketing strategy.
  • Marketing is a long game. Quitting after a few months leaves most of the value unrealized. A well-positioned book can sell and generate opportunities for decades.
  • Bulk sales are an underused opportunity. Organizations and corporations will buy books in quantity when the content supports their goals. Start with the industries you already have relationships in.
  • When you shift from “selling” to “serving,” the fear of marketing shrinks. Framing your book as a tool that helps people solve a real problem is not salesy. It is precisely what your audience needs to hear.

Susan Friedmann, Aviva Publishing

Susan Friedmann, Aviva Publishing
Susan Friedmann, Aviva Publishing

Susan Friedmann founded Aviva Publishing and has spent more than 25 years helping nonfiction authors figure out what to do with their book once it’s published. She has worked with over 400 authors to build authority and generate real business opportunities through their books.

Susan holds the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation and has written 18 books of her own, including the international bestsellers Meeting and Event Planning for Dummies and Riches in Niches: How to Make it Big in a Small Market.

Susan is also the host of the Book Marketing Mentors podcast, which recently surpassed 500 episodes. Susan works with nonfiction authors to stop chasing noise, find their niche, and turn their book into a platform that builds lasting authority and opportunity.

Website | LinkedIn

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

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

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

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

John is a podcast show host and the owner of North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their podcast using The Generosity Mindset® Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.

John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 900 shows and having featured over 1,300 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.

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

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

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

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

Your combination of these elements is unique in your industry. There lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.

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

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

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Email

Business RadioX®:  LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Pineapple and Profits: Kelly Townsend on Business Blind Spots

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Kelly Townsend, Leaders Team, on Pineapple and Profits, Leadership Alignment, Business Blind Spots, and Separating Yourself from Your Business (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 946). with host John Ray
North Fulton Business Radio
Pineapple and Profits: Kelly Townsend on Business Blind Spots
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Kelly Townsend, Leaders Team, on Pineapple and Profits, Leadership Alignment, Business Blind Spots, and Separating Yourself from Your Business (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 946). with host John Ray

Kelly Townsend, Leaders Team, on Pineapple and Profits, Leadership Alignment, Business Blind Spots, and Separating Yourself from Your Business (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 946)

Kelly Townsend, with Leaders Team, joined North Fulton Business Radio host John Ray to discuss her newly released book, Pineapple and Profits: Why You Are Not Your Business and Why That Matters, co-authored with financial educator Peter Frampton.

The book grew out of a moment of personal reckoning. Kelly explains that for nearly 18 years she ran her consulting practice as a technician, never separating herself from the business. After sitting in on Peter’s color accounting class, she found herself in tears in the first hour, recognizing that a story she had told herself since age eight, that she was not good at math, had quietly limited the growth of her business for decades. That clarity became the spark for the book and for a wider conversation Kelly is now having with entrepreneurs about the cost of letting personal beliefs and blind spots drive business decisions.

Leaders Team focuses on leadership development and culture alignment, working with organizations whose teams are misaligned, whether that misalignment is visible or not. Kelly notes that most misalignment goes undetected until performance declines, and even then, the instinct is to find fault rather than diagnose what is missing. Among her current client engagements is one of the largest hospital construction projects in the country: a million-square-foot facility that, with Leaders Team’s help aligning contractors, designers, and the health system, is currently seven weeks ahead of schedule and under budget by $20 million.

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

Key Takeaways from This Episode

  • Kelly traces her motivation for co-authoring Pineapple and Profits to a personal blind spot: a childhood belief that she was bad at math that quietly kept her practice small for nearly two decades.
  • The central argument of the book is that business owners who conflate their personal identity with their business bring limiting personal conversations into decisions that the business needs made differently, from taking on debt to managing finances.
  • Peter Frampton’s RELAX framework (Revenue, Expenses, Liabilities, Assets, Equity) reframes accounting as a communication model rather than a numbers problem, making it accessible to people who have long avoided the financial conversation.
  • Leaders Team’s engagement process starts by asking clients what is happening now that, if the work is successful, would no longer be happening. Most of what surfaces is a lack of alignment that people have normalized without realizing it.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:20 John Ray introduces the show and guest Kelly Townsend
02:24 Kelly Townsend introduces Leaders Team and their focus on leadership development and culture alignment
02:53 Kelly’s career arc: from IBM and Minolta sales to transformational leadership consulting
04:15 The origin of Pineapple and Profits and Kelly’s partnership with co-author Peter Frampton
05:45 How attending Peter’s color accounting class became a turning point for Kelly
06:55 Why personal conversations and limiting beliefs keep business owners stuck
09:14 The book’s argument that everyone belongs in the financial conversation, with a focus on women
11:27 The cost of seeing yourself and your business as the same entity
13:20 Treating a business as its own distinct organism with its own needs
14:32 Peter Frampton’s RELAX framework for understanding accounting
17:09 Value-generating activity versus value-sacrificing activity
18:22 How Kelly’s personal experience gives her empathy and credibility with clients
20:01 How Leaders Team engages with new clients
22:02 Why misalignment is the most common underlying issue Leaders Team finds
23:36 How misalignment becomes invisible until performance declines
24:35 Symptoms that signal it is time to call Leaders Team
26:14 Client success stories, including a Florida development company and a major hospital project in California
27:54 The meaning of the pineapple in Pineapple and Profits
29:23 How to find the book and learn about the Leaders Team program coming to Atlanta in May

Kelly Townsend, Transformational Management Consultant, Leaders Team

Kelly Townsend, Leaders Team
Kelly Townsend, Leaders Team

Kelly Townsend is a Transformational Management Consultant and co-founder of Leaders Team, a boutique consulting firm specializing in leadership development and culture alignment. With a 35-year history working with both large enterprises and small-to-medium-sized businesses, she brings deep experience across sectors including healthcare, construction, legal, and financial services. Her methodology focuses on helping leaders recognize the blind spots and limiting conversations that constrain organizational performance and on creating the alignment that enables teams to do their best work.

Kelly is also the co-author of Pineapple and Profits: Why You Are Not Your Business and Why That Matters, written with financial educator Peter Frampton. The book draws on the workshops she and Peter have led with small business owners and addresses the personal beliefs that keep entrepreneurs from engaging fully with the financial side of their businesses. She is based in Naples, Florida.

LinkedIn

Leaders Team

Leaders Team is a boutique consulting firm focused on leadership development and organizational alignment. The firm works with leadership teams across a range of industries, including healthcare, construction, and financial services, helping them surface and address the misalignment that quietly limits performance. Leaders Team’s approach draws on the field of ontology, the study of being, to listen for the underlying conversations and assumptions shaping how an organization operates, then opens new possibilities for action and collaboration.

In addition to organizational consulting, Leaders Team co-developed the Pineapple and Profits workshop program for small business owners, now available as a book and as a live program being offered in Atlanta in May 2026.

Website | LinkedIn

Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube

Beyond Computer Solutions supports North Fulton Business Radio

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

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

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our Mission

We help local business leaders get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, their community, and their profession.

We support and celebrate business by sharing positive business stories that traditional media ignores. Some media leans left. Some media leans right. We lean business.

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