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IT Help Atlanta with Rick Higgins:  Marc Apple, Forward Push, and Al Simon, Sandler Training by Simon Inc.

April 27, 2020 by John Ray

Forward Push
IT Help Atlanta
IT Help Atlanta with Rick Higgins:  Marc Apple, Forward Push, and Al Simon, Sandler Training by Simon Inc.
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Forward Push
Clockwise from Upper Left: Marc Apple, Forward Push, Al Simon, Sandler Training, and Rick Higgins, Host of “IT Help Atlanta”

IT Help Atlanta with Rick Higgins:  Marc Apple, Forward Push, and Al Simon, Sandler Training by Simon Inc.

On this edition of “IT Help Atlanta,” Host Rick Higgins welcomed Marc Apple, Forward Push, to talk about digital marketing for businesses. Al Simon of Sandler Training also joined the show to discuss his sales consulting and training practice. “IT Help Atlanta” is brought to you by TeamLogic IT, your technology advisor.

Marc Apple, Forward Push

Forward Push
Marc Apple, Forward Push

Marc Apple is the Owner and Inbound Marketing Specialist with Forward Push. Forward Push is an award-winning marketing agency that believes that you don’t have to grow your company alone. Through a team of creative thinkers and analytic problem solvers, Forward Push is ready to challenge the status quo while staying rooted in the research.

The team accomplishes this through specializing in content-driven strategies for small and medium-sized businesses. Based on your unique needs, Forward Push creates a custom strategy that takes account for the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing and looks to future developments. This approach includes website design and development, social media management, blogging, video production, digital advertising and branding.

Through this, Forward Push optimizes your online presence and propels you to your goals by implementing, testing, and refining so your brand is always leading, not following. It’s the Forward Push way. Learn more about their process at forwardpush.com or get in touch directly with Marc by email.

Al Simon, Sandler Training by Simon Inc.

Al Simon, Sandler Training by Simon

Al Simon is the President of Sandler Training by Simon Inc.

Sandler trainers have already had highly successful careers as sales and management professionals, and now use the Sandler sales methodology in their mission to train and mentor others to be successful. Other companies employ trainers who may have never actually sold or managed.

The Sandler sales methodology fosters an attitude of leadership, rather than just emphasizing technique. Reinforcement training facilitates the development of new and empowering behaviors, attitudes, and sales skills, mapping a unique road map to lasting success.

Over 250 local training centers in major U.S. cities and more than 27 countries, plus materials translated into 20 languages, allow us to support our clients almost anywhere in the world, whether you’re a small to mid-sized company or a large organization.

For more information, go to Al’s website or contact Al directly at 770-622-7000.

About “IT Help Atlanta”

IT Help Atlanta
Rick Higgins, Host of “IT Help Atlanta”

“IT Help Atlanta” profiles small to mid-market businesses and highlights how those companies use technology to succeed. The host of “IT Help Atlanta” is Rick Higgins.

“IT Help Atlanta” is brought to you by TeamLogic IT, your managed services technology advisor specializing in cybersecurity, cloud and business continuity solutions. TeamLogic IT leverages cutting edge technology to solve all types of business problems.

For more information, email Rick directly or go to ITHelpAtlanta.com.

 

 

Show Transcript

Announcer: Broadcasting from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, it’s time for IT Help Atlanta, brought to you by TeamLogic IT, your technology advisor. Now, here’s your host, Rick Higgins.

Rick: Hey, good morning, everybody. And welcome to the IT Help Atlanta radio show, the show that profiles small, and medium-sized market businesses and highlights how those companies use technology to succeed. IT Help Atlanta is brought to you by TeamLogic IT, your managed services technology provider. Specializing in cybersecurity, cloud, and business continuity solutions, TeamLogic IT leverages cutting-edge technology to solve all types of business problems. Go to ithelpatlanta.com for audio archives of this show and to learn more about our sponsor, TeamLogic IT. I’m your host Rick Higgins. And today’s special guest is Marc Apple with Forward Push. Good morning, Marc.

Marc: Morning, Rick. How are you today?

Rick: Oh, man, I’m doing great. Thanks. I’m really glad to have you on the show. Marc, tell us who you are, and what do you do?

Marc: Sure. Thank you for having me. My name is Marc Apple, and I am the founder of Forward Push. We are a marketing agency that specializes in helping small businesses and startups to get back to doing what they love to do, which is typically their job, and they don’t have time for marketing. That’s where we fill in. We are their marketing agency.

Rick: And Marc, you guys are so much more than that. I know that a big part of what you do is website work. Could you drill into that or lean into that and talk to us about what you do with website and how that works with your marketing?

Marc: Sure. There’s a good percentage of our clients that come to us because they have a need, just like you said for a website. We all know nowadays that it’s one of the first things that people do. So, they search, they needed something, they have a problem, they go to the Internet, and you lead them to your website. And that’s where our engagement starts with our clients. But you’re right, it is so much more. After that website is built, what are you gonna put on that website so it keeps engaging people? And that’s really where our work comes in.

So, for the small business owners and the startups. We’re writing their monthly blogs for them. We are doing infographics, design work. We’re doing videos. We’re creating their email newsletters. We’re running their Google ads, their Facebook campaigns. So, it’s a full-service agency. And the idea is that the small business owner is super busy. They don’t have time to do all of these things or maybe just some of these things. So, they’re able to work with us because we love working with them. So, it’s a smaller scale operation on how we work with them, but it’s a long-term thinking and it gives them the ability to compete with the bigger players in the market.

Rick: So, that actually leads me into my next question. And you say you work primarily or maybe even exclusively with small businesses. But can a small or local business compete with large competitors?

Marc: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. We find that day in and day out. It’s certainly a long-term strategy because if you’re going up against a billion-dollar company in your industry, they’re spending money like water, but that doesn’t mean that you have to spend money like water as a small business owner. So, what we tend to do is take a really hyper-local focus. Most small businesses, for the most part, are working in their neighborhoods or in a metro city location. And while those bigger companies certainly are working in those metro locations, they tend to be focused on, for an example here, the whole country. And we know that people like doing business with people. So, when you take that local attitude and that strategy, combining that with the know, like, and trust of working with someone local that you can see, that you can talk to, you can go into their store, they can come to your location, it makes it almost very easy to compete because we have a very tight focus on where we’re attracting clients to our clients.

Rick: Well, you talk about not spending money like water, and I know for all the small business people out there, myself included, they really appreciate that. How as a small business owner should I determine what my marketing budget should be? Is there like an ideal metric for that?

Marc: There is. And typically, we’re looking probably in the 10 to 15% of annual gross as a marketing budget. And so that 10 to 15%, it can be a wide range. Certainly, when we’re working with a small business owner, I like to say that we’re not looking for a big check right away. That’s not even in our plan. Our idea is to start, not conservative so that you’re not doing anything, but start so that you can get some movement, start gaining traction on the low-hanging fruit, and then you can move up that scale to spend more because you’re actually making more.

Rick: Right. So, that 10 to 15%, you’re talking about gross of a startup company or does that carry forward into a mature small business?

Marc: Mature business as well. So, that’s for this annual sales…

Rick: Gotcha.

Marc: …is a good number to start at. Yeah.

Rick: Okay. Well, thanks for that. Thanks for diving deep on that. Hey, Marc, give us a success story. And it doesn’t have to be anything recent. I mean, something that you’re really proud of. Talk to us about how you help someone or solved a particular problem with someone.

Marc: I think what I’ll do is I’ll touch on a story of something that’s happened recently since we’re kind of going through this pandemic. And it’s sort of hoarding small business owners, you know, and businesses across the country, not only here in Atlanta. But we work with a healthcare provider that does elective surgery. And basically, as soon as the pandemic started, they had to shut down. They weren’t allowed to see prospective patients or even patients or even provide the surgery at their location. So, it was almost an immediate shutdown for them, which is devastating to them. We were able to offer telemedicine to them, but in a unique way. So, if you go to their website now, one of the first things you see is that you can text message the doctor. And this actually goes through a HIPAA-compliant system that we have for them. So, you’re not actually text-messaging the doctor’s actual cell phone. It’s through, again, a HIPAA server.

And the doctor is able to converse with the prospect or a patient as if it’s a text message conversation. But to even make it better and where we’re seeing the success is that he can do consultations. You actually can click a button on your phone and you’re able to open your camera and you can have an actual conversation with the doctor. You can show the doctor the part of your body that you’re talking about. You can upload images to them. So, the doctor is now able to do consultations when he actually can’t be physically in front of anyone. The best part of it is that his schedule is completely booked out for next month on the condition that we’re gonna be able to see patients next month. So, it’s finding those ways when there is something that’s facing us that’s a real stumbling block, it’s a roadblock, and saying, “Okay. Well, how can we sort of maintain business as usual in these times where it’s not so unusual?

Rick: My key takeaway on that particular answer was that you put the system on a HIPAA-compliant server. Could you talk more about that and why that’s important?

Marc: Sure. So, it’s important because it has to do with the regulations of the healthcare industry. And when you start to fill out a form, in this case, on a website that has to do with a medical practice, your information is either secure or it’s not secure. So, a HIPAA-compliant server where that information that the person puts into the form, and that can be anything from your name to your date of birth to even saying, “I have a pre-existing condition,” or, “I have this condition,” is sensitive information. So, when you hit submit, if that’s not secure, that information can be hacked. And it basically can be out there for anyone to see. So, a HIPAA-compliant server allows the information to be secure. And when it reaches the doctor, the endpoint, they also have it secured on their side as well when they’re replying. So, it has to do with security, it has to do with the patients, their confidence, and making sure that their information stays secure.

Rick: That’s great. And Marc, I appreciate that deeper dive on that aspect because, you know, obviously, the show is about you and your company. But, you know, as you got from the intro is we definitely want to talk about how companies like yourself are using technology and, in this case, it seems like special technology to serve your client base. So, thank you for that.

Marc: You’re welcome.

Rick: So, you know, as a marketing company, what… I know that you talk the talk, but do you walk the walk with what you do? I mean, how do you find your clients?

Marc: Yeah. We certainly do walk the walk and the talk 100%. One of my rules for Forward Push is that we won’t recommend anything to a client without doing it ourselves first. So, if a new technology comes along, we’re the guinea pig. I’ll invest the money in that platform, in that software, in that marketing tactic first to figure it out, to see how it works. What are the opportunities? So, we’re doing everything from blogging consistently. We have an email newsletter that goes out a couple of different times a month. I also have my own podcast that turns into a video podcast that we put out. We also do our own social media. So, all of the things that we offer to our clients we’re doing ourselves. And when we see a change in what we’re doing or, again, maybe there’s a new platform coming out, we’re shifting just as we would tell one of our clients to do, following best practices.

Rick: Do you wanna give a plug and promote your video podcast right here?

Marc: Sure. Thank you very much. It’s called “Your Marketing Minute.” And that can be found on YouTube and if you listen to audio on any of the podcast channels.

Rick: That’s great. I’m definitely gonna check that out.

Marc: Thank you.

Rick: Here’s an interesting question for you, Marc. It’s one that I always like to ask and what’s an aspect about your business that people don’t generally think about, but that you wish people would ask you about?

Marc: That’s good. I love that question, Rick. Thank you for asking that. I think one of the things is that we all have this perception that the internet is instant, and in some cases, it is. You’re gonna record this podcast today. It literally can be upon your website this afternoon, right? In real-time, this could be a live stream. You could write a blog post this afternoon, hit submit, and it’s live on your website. So, things are instant, right? You can go on Amazon. You practically can have your groceries in a couple of hours if you wanted to. So, it is instant. The flip side of it when you talk about for a small business and marketing is things aren’t that instant. Certainly, you can do the same thing. Write that blog post and hit submit for that small business website. It doesn’t mean that Google is gonna all of a sudden start driving traffic to it.

And that’s one of the biggest misconceptions that I usually end up speaking to our clients about is that these things do just take time. So, it’s not only the blogging example, but you could start a pay-per-click campaign today on Google or you could start a Facebook advertising campaign. It takes these powerful algorithms and these powerful companies to figure out how to serve your ad best. Even in Facebook, if you were to run advertising, for the first couple of weeks or so, and that’s sort of a general until it’s starting to get enough data, it actually says in the ad portal learning, meaning that it’s still trying to figure out who best to serve your ad to. All the while it’s charging you for this learning experience.

Rick: Yeah. So, this is the algorithm that’s saying that it’s learned? Is that what’s going on?

Marc: Yes. Yes. So, that’s what’s going on. And so that also happens on Google with pay-per-click. So, it’s the instant of, I’m running ads, but the actual conversions or starting to see sales can take some time because there’s a lot of things that go into play, so a lot of moving parts. And that’s one of the questions that I think, for me, that I have to kind of make sure small business owners understand. So, it’s not one I get asked often, but it’s one that I’m giving the answer often.

Rick: Got it. I’m gonna lean into that a little bit more. Full disclosure to the audience here, Marc and I are friends. We’ve been friends and business associates for some time now. And, Marc, I’ve heard you talk before about how important the local aspect of internet and website marketing is as compared to national stuff. And you mentioned I think the statistic was that 40% of website clicks are for localized searches. Could you talk about that?

Marc: Yeah. I think you’re talking about a stat that you and I were conversing about that last year of all the Google searches, so all the searches, 48% had some local intent.

Rick: There you go.

Marc: Yeah. What that means by local intent, somebody put in a city name. So, they put in Atlanta or they put in the zip code 30341 with whatever they were looking for. So, it might have been a Chinese restaurant, Chamblee, Georgia. It’s a local intent versus putting Chinese restaurant. The same thing looking for a managed service IT provider. If you’re not putting in that city or zip, the results that you’re going to see are gonna be kind of scattered for the most part. There are some instances where you will sort of get the best local results, but just even think about your own habits, Rick. Probably when you’re searching whether it is that Chinese restaurant or a new place to go out to or whatever it is, you’re probably including some type of localization characters to get the best results for you.

Rick: You’re right. I do. I don’t even think about it. I just type it in. I might even type in just my zip code.

Marc: Yeah. And we see that a lot. The other thing that people are starting to do is even take it one step further and Google sort of has been encouraging this is that you start to type in, you know, Chinese restaurant and it starts to tell you, “Near me, nearby,” and that’s because we’re all searching on our phones nowadays. And as you know best, this phone is connected to a GPS system that knows exactly where I’m standing. So, when you do that search, and you do the near me, nearby, it knows exactly where you are. And it will tell you how many feet away you are from that restaurant or how many miles away, right?

Rick: A little bit scary.

Marc: A little bit scary, but also quite useful for a small business owner to realize that this is how, you know, the most powerful search engine in the world, Google, is steering how people find you. And if you don’t have a website that’s built on local intent, you can start missing out. And that’s the scary thing as well. I would say that’s almost scarier than, you know, a giant GPS system knowing where you’re standing.

Rick: Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Marc, what do you like best about being a small business owner?

Marc: I like the independence of it. I come from a Fortune 500 background. I worked for some pretty big, well-known companies. And the reason I left it was, like, I kind of got fed up. I saw a lot of small business owners spending money with these big companies and not having success because they were sort of just another client. It’s different with me and how I act and how my team acts. So, for us, you know, every client we have, we know who their kids are, we know when their birthdays are, and we know a lot about their business. It kind of goes back to how we started this conversation, Rick. It’s like how we positioned Forward Push and the work we do is we are the marketing team for that small business. And that means that my team has to know sort of as much about the business as the owner does. And we’re working with a bunch of clients. So, for me, I just love knowing and working with a bunch of different business owners that all sort of have the same mentality. They all want success. That’s what every small business owner wants because they’re the ones writing the checks. When you start to work with the corporate clients, it’s just a person coming in there that’s got a spend budget that quarter, and they’re not really attached to the check. That’s the difference and that’s what makes me get up in the morning.

Rick: That’s great, Marc. That’s a great answer. Marc, tell the audience how to get in touch with you.

Marc: Yeah. The best place to find me is forwardpush.com. That’s our website. And if you’re on social media, all of our channels are under Forward Push.

Rick: That’s great. Marc, thank you so much for being a guest today on IT Help Atlanta. We really appreciate you. And folks, go to ithelpatlanta.com for audio archives of this show and learn more about our sponsor, TeamLogic IT. Go to forwardpush.com to learn more about Marc Apple and his wonderful company, Forward Push.


Tagged With: al simon, blogging, Branding, digital advertising, digital marketing, Forward Push, IT Help Atlanta, Marc Apple, marketing agency, Rick Higgins, Sales, sales training, sandler sales training, Sandler Training, Sandler Training by Simon, Sandler Training by Simon Inc., social media management, TeamLogic IT, website design

Garrett Massey, Polyglot Labs

June 25, 2019 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio
North Fulton Business Radio
Garrett Massey, Polyglot Labs
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NFBR producer Diane Lasorda with Garrett Massey, Founder and President of Polyglot Labs

“North Fulton Business Radio,” Episode 144:  Garrett Massey, Polyglot Labs

Garrett Massey describes the custom websites and web applications his company, Polyglot Labs, designs for clients as he speaks with host John Ray on this edition of “North Fulton Business Radio.”

Garrett Massey, Founder and President, Polyglot Labs

Garrett Massey, Founder & President, Polyglot Labs

Polyglot Labs is a technology solutions company that works with speed and creativity to solve business challenges with technology smarts and likable personality. They do that through two specialized companies they call labs – Eyesore and Cortex Digital.

Eyesore builds awesome websites and digital marketing that make companies look good and drive business. Find Eyesore at eyesoreinc.com.

Cortex Digital innovates elegant, web-based solutions for back-end processes, databases, and systems that improve technology investments and business results. Find Cortex Digital at cortexdigitalinc.com.

Learn more about how their custom digital solutions can help you simplify processes, solve problems, and make your work and life better at www.polyglotlabs.com.

 

 

 

“North Fulton Business Radio” is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®, located inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with approximately $12.9 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Show Transcript

Intro: [00:00:07] Live from the Business RadioX Studio inside Renasant Bank, the bank that specializes in understanding you, it’s time for North Fulton Business Radio.

John Ray: [00:00:20] And hello again everyone. Welcome to another edition of North Fulton Business Radio. I’m John Ray, and we are coming to you from the Business RadioX Studio inside Renasant Bank. We love Renasant Bank and the great hosts they are for our studio location here in beautiful Alpharetta.

John Ray: [00:00:40] I want to welcome — we’ve got a great guest, and he’s a fun guest. He really is a fun guest, but I’m going to let him convince you of that, folks. Garrett Massey with Polyglot Labs. Garrett, it’s great to have you here.

Garrett Massey: [00:00:55] Thank you, sir.

John Ray: [00:00:56] So, you win the award. The Business RadioX Award that have just come up with for the most creative names for a company, right?

Garrett Massey: [00:01:05] Thank you.

John Ray: [00:01:05] You’ve got three different creative names for the different enterprises you’re involved with. Tell us about Polyglot Labs and what you do.

Garrett Massey: [00:01:14] Yeah, definitely, definitely. Well, Polyglot Labs is a technology solutions company that’s comprised of currently a couple of different labs, one called Eyesore and one called Cortex. Eyesore is a website design and development company that works with small and large businesses, as well as digital marketing agencies as a white-label partner to design and develop really good-looking websites. Cortex is an application development company that creates both web and mobile apps focused on solving some type of workflow, business process, issue, streamlining things, and making the end clients, as well as the business more money.

John Ray: [00:02:04] Cool. So, for those that already know you, this is a little bit of a change.

Garrett Massey: [00:02:09] It’s true.

John Ray: [00:02:09] So, you were originally Eyesore, and you’ve just changed the name of, let’s call it the mother company, to Polyglot Labs. And then, you’ve got two different business lines, and you’ve clearly defined those with these two names – Eyesore and Cortex Digital.

Garrett Massey: [00:02:26] Sure, sure.

John Ray: [00:02:27] I got all that right.

Garrett Massey: [00:02:28] You did.

John Ray: [00:02:29] Good.

Garrett Massey: [00:02:29] You did, you did. Yes.

John Ray: [00:02:30] Okay, cool.

Garrett Massey: [00:02:30] Our brand release was actually last Friday from Polyglot Labs. So, a few of our partners had heard the name prior to that point, but most of our clients and partners were not familiar with it. So, it gave us an opportunity to kind of branch out. We’re still doing the same types of work that we’ve done, but it gives us the ability to kind of focus our marketing efforts and really how we engage with our clients in kind of a more individual way.

John Ray: [00:03:00] Sure. So, I find it interesting that you call these two entities labs. Explain why.

Garrett Massey: [00:03:09] Yeah, definitely. So, we chose to use the terminology “labs” internally because we really liked the feel of an experimental approach. We do not come to the table with a solution that’s in our back pocket. We do not come to the table with a product off the shelf. We do come to the table with — it’s a process that we can use to hone in on what the best solution is for any particular client. What that’s done for us and for our clients is, really, it helps us hone in on what exactly they need, our client’s needs, and gives us the ability to do work that’s a little bit different every time. Kind of keeps our creative folks really engaged in the process because we’re not doing the same thing day in and day out. There’s always a little bit of a challenge there.

John Ray: [00:04:01] And you’re not, I guess, pushing product as it were, right, the term, but you’re not focused in on what your sacred elephants are-

Garrett Massey: [00:04:11] Sure.

John Ray: [00:04:12] … or sacred cows, or whatever animal that is. You’re really about looking at clients from what their needs are and what the problems they need solutions for as opposed to whatever you’ve got on the shelf now.

Garrett Massey: [00:04:29] Yeah, exactly, exactly. One of my favorite examples of that, I get probably two or three phone calls a week, this is anywhere from small business to large business, wanting an app. Everybody wants an app. And the first thing I do is try to talk them out of it because that is a profitable line of business for us, it’s shiny object for a lot of people, but it’s not a good fit for most scenarios. So, kind of taking that off the table, take a step back, and evaluating what folks really need gives us the ability to kind of help them nail down what will ultimately serve them the best.

John Ray: [00:05:09] And sometimes clients don’t know what they need, right?

Garrett Massey: [00:05:14] True.

John Ray: [00:05:14] So, you have to — that requires a little bit of a — it’s not that they are dumb or anything like that. It’s just that having that conversation and having that open inquiry as to, “Hey, we might not have everything on the shelf. So, let’s talk a little bit about what it is you’re trying to get to,” may help them clarify some things they really didn’t have a good handle on to begin with just because they hadn’t been asked the questions.

Garrett Massey: [00:05:40] Oh, yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. We believe in doing discovery up front is really, really key. We work with clients that have an amazing technical competency, and we were with folks that don’t. And they know a lot about their business, a lot about their problems, a lot about what they may think that they need from a technology solution, but we get to help them step through that process and why isn’t that being the best solution.

John Ray: [00:06:09] So, let’s talk a little bit, Garrett, about the Eyesore side of the business. So, Eyesore builds websites. That’s not like my teenager in the garage building with a website builder, right? It’s a little more complicated than that-

Garrett Massey: [00:06:29] It is.

John Ray: [00:06:29] … in terms of the kind of projects that you do.

Garrett Massey: [00:06:31] It is, it is. So, I started Eyesore two and a half years ago as a website design and development company, right. That’s kind of where we focused on. My background, at that point, had been in computer science. I’d just gotten out of college. So, I always had an interest in more complex projects. And we still do brochureware websites, buy page, about us, home page, contact us kind of deal because those do really serve an important purpose.

Garrett Massey: [00:07:00] We, also, develop more in-depth websites a lot of times for a lot of our marketing agency partners, other partners we serve as their technical team to help implement what their client ultimately needs. So, roughly, 60% to 70% of the work that we do on the Eyesore side of the world is in that white-label space where we’re partnering with a digital agency, a traditional marketing agency, video, event planning agencies to ultimately design and develop their clients’ projects. And that can look like a five-page website or that can look like a 12,000-page website that has a lot of custom functionality built in.

John Ray: [00:07:44] And for those that don’t know, that’s pretty common in the world of marketing agencies, digital agencies, that kind of thing to partner together. And so, you really come along as the highly technical side of a marketing agency that really don’t have any of those kind of folks typically, right?

Garrett Massey: [00:08:05] Sure, sure.

John Ray: [00:08:05] I mean, they’re more, I guess, right-brained kind of creative types, and they don’t have that technical expertise. You bring that to them.

Garrett Massey: [00:08:14] Definitely, definitely. The marketing agency, a lot of them, especially the Atlanta area, began to realize several years ago that it’s not in their client’s best interests, and it’s not in their best interest to keep everything in-house. So, the number of partnerships that we’ve seen, not only in just market agency hiring a developer to write a website or whatever, but video production, event production, AI, all the cool stuff that goes into a successful marketing campaign, they’re realizing, “Hey, we can partner somebody else, and we can kind of hone in and focus,” because there’s enough work for everybody to go around. And if they can partner with the best in the business to do each particular aspect of what they do, the end client ultimately gets a better product, a better experience, and it shows.

John Ray: [00:09:08] Folks, we’re speaking with Garrett Massey. And Garrett is the President and Founder of Polyglot Labs. Now, talk a little bit, if you would, about — I mean, it’s one thing for me to say you build a lot more sophisticated websites. It’s another thing to put that into something that our folks out there understand. Talk a little bit about maybe an example of some of the work you’ve done there.

Garrett Massey: [00:09:35] Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. On the Eyesore side, we’ve worked on many, many complex projects over the years on the website side of the world. One of my most memorable projects, one of the agencies that was employed by the US Military was hit up by the US Military to build a new website for the US 3rd Army, which is the army that is the combination of the Army, the Navy, the ,Marines the Air Force, all that stationed over in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, all the places that you really don’t want to be.

John Ray: [00:10:10] Oh wow.

Garrett Massey: [00:10:10] And they had a timeline of two weeks to build what turned out to be a 12,000-page website. So, we were able to successively not only design, and develop, and launch a website in that timeframe, we also had to learn an entirely new programming language and content management system to actually execute that project. So, it actually took two and a half weeks only because they held us up. It’s kind one of the more memorable projects on the website side of the world.

Garrett Massey: [00:10:46] On the application side of the world, gosh, we developed the application that the 2016 Democratic National Convention used to assign all of the hotel rooms to their delegates. So, it’s not just a matter of having 50 different delegation groups. It’s actually about a thousand. So, each stay, each lobbying group, the Kennedy family has a delegation. It’s kind of crazy. But prior to this solution that we developed being in place, they were actually planning all this using post-it notes. So, they’d have a big wall, and they would write down on the wall or on a post-it note the name of the delegation, how many attendees they had, and they would mark off the 5000 different hotels they had for that particular location for that year. And they would assign rooms based on post-it notes.

Garrett Massey: [00:11:43] So, we were actually able to come in and develop a web application that automated that entire process. It was so successful that they literally had to change the Democratic National Convention Committee’s passwords to get them out of it, so they could finalize the numbers. They had so much fun in their playing in different scenarios, figuring out, “Hey, put this group over here. That changes this and that.” So-

John Ray: [00:12:07] Wow.

Garrett Massey: [00:12:10] … kind of bringing it down to the small business side of the world, some of the applications we’ve developed really helped streamline processes in a little bit of a different way. One of my favorite examples, we have a relatively local client in the State of Georgia that is an in-home health care provider, and they have hundreds and hundreds of in-home health care providers that go out to people’s homes and assist assist their folks. They had a time clock system that would involve folks going to these people’s homes, picking up a landline, and calling in, and it would actually clock them in, and they’d call in again, and clock them out. Well, several years ago, this little a trend, not many people have landlines anymore.

Garrett Massey: [00:12:58] So, we developed a mobile app that the in-home health care providers were able to download on their phones, and go out, and actually clock in from the app, clock out from the app. We did a cool thing there. We planted a QR code in the folks’ homes, so you could scan it with the app, and it will clock you in. Well, QR codes can be copied, right. So, it wasn’t in the background, but it occurred, we actually grabbed their GPS coordinates at the same time that they scanned the QR code.

John Ray: [00:13:32] Oh boy.

Garrett Massey: [00:13:33] So, the first month it was running, we actually busted somebody checking in at McDonald’s, a few miles away from the patient’s home. So, that added a level of kind of validation-

John Ray: [00:13:48] Wow.

Garrett Massey: [00:13:48] … and type of feel to that. We also integrated in that particular application a series of text messages, a text messaging system setting. So, anytime there was an availability for a position, the folks in that particular area would receive text messages and all sorts of cool stuff.

John Ray: [00:14:05] So, for that client, you were solving a problem they didn’t know they had.

Garrett Massey: [00:14:10] Correct, correct. It was easier. It’s one point in time when the whole landline thing was relevant. They become less so, and they basically did not have the ability to clock in and clock out. And through developing this process, we kind of weeded out some folks that they didn’t necessarily knew that they had.

John Ray: [00:14:32] Yeah. Back to what we were saying earlier about bringing solutions to clients as opposed to the product off the shelf. The product off the shelf wouldn’t necessarily have solved that problem, right?

Garrett Massey: [00:14:43] No, it would not, it would not. And I mentioned earlier that we enjoy doing a discovery session on the front end of our projects. We get a good clean idea of what’s going on. We also like doing — and the word “agile” in my world, anyways, has been overused to death. It’s the idea of iteratively working on solving a problem in chunks of time called sprints, right. So, you’re kind of stepping through that process. We we enjoy taking elements from that process because we don’t want a client to be waiting 18 months for us to build something. We want to be able to put something out that has some value, that has some use, and then work with them to continue improving that because in 18 months, a lot can change in a business.

John Ray: [00:15:35] For sure.

Garrett Massey: [00:15:36] In three months, a lot can change in a business. So, the issues that may have been addressed at the very beginning of a project, a few months later may have changed or new ones may come to light.

John Ray: [00:15:50] We’re speaking with Garrett Massey. And Garret is the Founder and President of Polyglot Labs. So, I guess, the solutions, the applications that you develop come through the Cortex Digital side. I’m curious how that started because it’s interesting that if you’ve developed a pretty sophisticated business out of one that maybe for some companies is not so sophisticated, but you’ve developed a pretty high-end business in terms of the technology solutions you bring to the table.

Garrett Massey: [00:16:32] Sure, sure. There are a ton of folks out there that build websites. There are ton of folks out there that build websites really well.

John Ray: [00:16:39] And nothing against them by the way, right?

Garrett Massey: [00:16:41] Absolutely not, absolutely not. With my background, like I mentioned earlier, my undergrad is in Computer Science. So, when starting, I understood a lot of the theory that goes into what makes computer work, what makes good software work. And so, always had an interest in solving more complex problems. Very passionate about building excellent web presences that serve a need that we kind of meet a goal. But we had the opportunity early on to tackle some more in depth into the problems that our clients may have.

Garrett Massey: [00:17:16] And what it’s done for us on the Eyesore side is give us the ability to be a true technical partner to not only our agency partners but also our clients. We don’t have to give up because we ran into an issue that we can’t solve. We have a whole team of programmers. And that’s one of our kind of value-adds to our partners is we have an entire team of in-house developers. It’s not just one person. Solopreneurs in our space are great, but they run into the issue of being siloed away from everybody else. And, obviously, the internet kind of helps mitigate that. But at the end of the day, when you run into an issue, and you can lean over to someone sitting next to you and say, “Hey, what’s going on with this? Have you seen this before?” and work collaboratively to solve the issue, that gives an end client, really, a better product and a better experience because it’s all taken care of.

John Ray: [00:18:17] For sure, for sure. Now, I’m interested, and I’m sure our listeners are too because there’s always a search for talent, how do you get the programming talent you’re always looking for? Because there’s always a shortage of talent. So, how do you get the folks that you’re looking for? And here’s the real secret, how do you get them, if you’re headquartered in Griffin Georgia, because that’s where your headquarters is?

Garrett Massey: [00:18:46] Oh, yeah.

John Ray: [00:18:46] Right?

Garrett Massey: [00:18:47] Yeah.

John Ray: [00:18:47] So, I mean, you’ve got quite a few issues there. You have to address in building your business.

Garrett Massey: [00:18:53] Yeah. I remember the first time you and I met, you were shocked to learn that I had a problem-finding talent and programmers in Griffin, Georgia.

John Ray: [00:18:59] Right.

Garrett Massey: [00:18:59] Your mind was blown

John Ray: [00:19:01] My mind was blown. It still is.

Garrett Massey: [00:19:05] Griffin’s a really cool place but is not exactly Silicon Valley.

John Ray: [00:19:09] Right.

Garrett Massey: [00:19:10] And that actually has some unique benefits for us. So, to answer your first question on how we acquire talent, most of our folks, and we employed 15 or 16, folks something like that, most of our folks start out with us as interns, and they’re from the area or have an interest in living in the area. One of those recent fellows we hired lived up in North Georgia in a small town, wanted to live a little farther south in a small town. So, it worked out. But we try to keep a steady influx of paid interns in-house to give us the ability to, hey, they can do work for us that we don’t have to do, so that’s fantastic, but it gives us the ability to kind of get a true insight into folks as to how they work, what their strengths are, and whether or not they’d be a good fit to kind of keep on a little longer than just an intern.

John Ray: [00:20:08] Sure.

Garrett Massey: [00:20:10] So, most of our folks, as I mentioned, are kind of from our area or have a really strong interest in working in our area. We have some folks that live and work in Atlanta, but most of our folks are actually down in Griffin.

John Ray: [00:20:29] Pretty cool. So, I’m curious about what this split with Eyesore, with Cortex Digital, the split off that you have with these two that they’re still part of the same company, of course, Polyglot Labs, but why you thought that was necessary? Is it for marketing reasons solely or is there something else going on that makes sense?

Garrett Massey: [00:21:00] Yeah, definitely. So, we, really from day one, had two sides to our house. And there was overlap, and there still is overlap. We’ve always had what we call, at the time, a frontend and a backend side. Now, we call it kind of a digital presence side and a product development side. And even down our physical space. Half of our team is in one part of our offices, and the other half’s in the other, but there has always kind of been a logical distinction there.

Garrett Massey: [00:21:32] What we found back in the fall, we did a big survey of our clients, current and former clients, and asked them a handful of questions about what they like about us, what they don’t like, which was not too much, I’m proud of that, but then also kind of what the branding and messaging that we had in place for Eyesore kind of meant to them. And what we found was the types of products, and solutions, and services that we offer on what’s now the Eyesore side and what’s down the Cortex side really spoke to two different target audiences.

Garrett Massey: [00:22:16] And our goal with kind of the split from a marketing perspective was just that, it was for marketing purposes. Eyesore has a really, really fun personality. It’s really engaging and kind of creative. Cortex is fun and engaging as well, but it’s a little more buttoned up. It’s the branding that everybody will be seeing kind of roll out of the next several weeks. We’re coming up with stuff like whitepapers and you know.

John Ray: [00:22:48] Oh dear.

Garrett Massey: [00:22:49] Yeah, right?

John Ray: [00:22:51] That sounds pretty serious.

Garrett Massey: [00:22:52] It is, it is, it is.

John Ray: [00:22:54] Yeah.

Garrett Massey: [00:22:54] I work with a bunch of really, really smart people, thank goodness, but yes. So, the short answer to your question is yes, it was primarily for marketing purposes. Same team doing the same types of work, just spend a little bit differently.

John Ray: [00:23:09] Okay. So, I have to ask, do you spend most of your time on the buttoned-up side, or you over on the kind of wild and crazy side, Garrett? Which side are you on, buddy?

Garrett Massey: [00:23:21] I-

John Ray: [00:23:21] I’ve stopped [indiscernible].

Garrett Massey: [00:23:24] Yeah. No, in our offices, I bring chaos wherever I go.

John Ray: [00:23:29] Right.

Garrett Massey: [00:23:29] So, my personality is definitely more on the Eyesore side of the world, but I did tuck my shirt in for you today.

John Ray: [00:23:37] Well, thank you.

Garrett Massey: [00:23:37] Yeah.

John Ray: [00:23:40] We appreciate that. Though, seriously, I think you bring a lot of fun to your business. And I’d love for you to talk a little bit about that because that’s obviously part of keeping good employees, regardless of how attractive they are. I mean, because good people, whatever they do, will leave if they’re not having fun at what they do.

Garrett Massey: [00:24:08] Right, very right, yeah. Yeah, it’s — I think your question there is as how do we retain people and how is fun part of that.

John Ray: [00:24:18] Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Garrett Massey: [00:24:20] And it really is a huge, huge part. So, I think, the biggest thing is not forcing any of it. There’s not some master strategy that I put in place to make sure people have X amount of fun, so they’ll around twice as long or anything like that. Not anything that maniacal or well thought out. But I do believe that if people enjoy what they do, they feel valued, they feel like they’re part of a team, and they will stick around. The folks that that work made have made a conscious decision to work with us, and they are part of kind of building and defining that culture that we have.

Garrett Massey: [00:25:09] When we originally planned on kind of breaking out a piece of Eyesore and calling it something else, the idea of Polyglot Labs, of kind of a mother company was not really on our radar. It was not really part of that plan. But in kind of talking through and hashing out, started to realize that, hey, people are kind of seeing us kind of split into two different entities, and there was nothing juju or anything like that going on, but it’s still one that there was a division there. And our team is really, really close knit. We go to lunch together every day. We do all sorts of crazy stuff. We can talk to them on the radio every day.

John Ray: [00:25:50] Well, we’re not regulated by the FCC so-

Garrett Massey: [00:25:52] Sweet, yeah, yeah. That’s right, that’s right. I forgot about that.

John Ray: [00:25:56] Right. We’re a podcast network, buddy.

Garrett Massey: [00:25:56] Yeah, there you go.

John Ray: [00:25:56] So, okay.

Garrett Massey: [00:25:58] There you go. Well, in case my mom is listening.

John Ray: [00:26:00] Oh, okay, okay. Okay. Well, let’s button it up. Yeah, okay.

Garrett Massey: [00:26:05] Exactly, exactly. But the idea of Polyglot Labs came out of that kind of concern kind of consciousness of that being a thing. We wanted folks to feel like they’re still part of the same team because they are. Want to feel pride in kind of both sides of the business individually, but everybody is part of the same team. And so, I think that feeling is really pervasive in Polyglot, and that’s been a big success for us.

John Ray: [00:26:34] So, unlike the big tech companies we read about that they’ve installed a massage table, or a pinball machine, or free lunch, or whatever they’ve got, right, whatever happy stuff they’ve got, it’s really more about how you treat people. Imagine that.

Garrett Massey: [00:26:52] Right? Right?

John Ray: [00:26:52] Imagine that.

Garrett Massey: [00:26:53] Yeah. It’s-

John Ray: [00:26:54] What a revolutionary concept.

Garrett Massey: [00:26:56] I patented it, trademarked it, and own it.

John Ray: [00:26:58] Yeah.

Garrett Massey: [00:26:58] But, yeah. No, it really is. And we have a very strict no divas rule in our office. So, particularly in the programming world, there are a lot of kind of lone wolf types that are very proud of the way that they do things. We don’t allow that. So, that’s another kind of facet of kind of what loops everybody in together. Nobody’s afraid to go ask for help. Nobody’s siloed away. So, it’s a ton of these little small things really kind of add up to having an organization that everybody enjoys being a part of 99% of the time. There’s that 1% where we’ve gone to each other’s nerves, but that’s pretty minimal.

John Ray: [00:27:46] And you’ve got some pretty intense work you’re doing. I mean, you described this project you did for the Armed Forces that was a very compressed two-week project where if you don’t have that emotional bank account fully deposited with your employees, you’re going to have problems when it comes to projects like that.

Garrett Massey: [00:28:11] Yeah. It’s huge. The buy-in that we have is astronomical. And my job is to really make sure we don’t take that for granted.

John Ray: [00:28:23] And happy employees make for happy customers.

Garrett Massey: [00:28:25] They do.

John Ray: [00:28:27] Yeah.

Garrett Massey: [00:28:27] They do. It’s just like this big beautiful circle where everybody tries to make everybody else happy. Then, things just kind of work out.

John Ray: [00:28:34] That’s great, that’s great. Great story from Garrett Massey. He’s the Founder and President of Polyglot Labs in Griffin, beautiful Griffin, Georgia. And Griffin is beautiful. That’s not a throwaway line. It’s a pretty town. So, Griffin, for those that have heard what you had to say, would like to hear more from you, like to check you out, tell them how to do. How to be in touch?

Garrett Massey: [00:28:57] Definitely, definitely. You can check us out at polyglotlabs.com. So, a polyglot is someone that speaks in multiple languages, right, or a polyglot program, or somebody that works in multiple languages. So, polyglot, P-O-L-Y-G-L-O-T, polyglotlabs.com and all of our information is there.

John Ray: [00:29:17] Outstanding, Garrett, thanks for being with us.

Garrett Massey: [00:29:18] Thank you. Appreciate it.

John Ray: [00:29:19] Absolutely.

John Ray: [00:29:21] Folks, today, you’re more connected than ever, and whether it’s your friends, or your family, or your life, Renasant understands how you bank, offering the mobile banking services that you need. Renasant also knows that, sometimes, you need to speak to real people with real answers. And that’s why Renasant has more than 170 convenient locations throughout the South ready to serve you. For more information, go to renasantbank.com. That’s Renasant Bank understanding you. Member FDIC.

John Ray: [00:29:55] A reminder that you can listen to this show every Tuesday morning live at 11:30 a.m. Or if you miss any of our live shows, no problem. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, whatever your favorite podcast app is – Overcast happens to be mine – or go online at northfultonbusinessradio.com. Check out the archive of our old shows there. Got some great guests just like Garrett that we’ve had here today. Please also follow us on Twitter, on Facebook, North Fulton BRX. That’s North Fulton BRX.

John Ray: [00:30:39] So, for our guest, Garrett Massey of Polyglot Labs, easy for me to say, I’m John Ray. Join us next time here on North Fulton Business Radio.

Outro: [00:30:56] Today, you’re connected more than ever – your friends, your family, your life. And banking is what you do on your time anywhere you like. Renasant understands how you back, offering mobile banking services you need. At Renasant, we also understand that, sometimes, you need to speak to real people with real answers. That’s why Renasant has more than 170 convenient locations throughout the South ready to serve you. Renasant Bank, understanding you. Member FDIC.

Tagged With: Cortex, Cortex Digital, custom app, custom app development, custom application development, customer data, customer data analytics, Eyesore, Garrett Massey, Griffin, Griffin GA, integrated application development, intergrated applications, marketing agencies, marketing agency, Polyglot Labs, Technology Solutions, web developer, web development, Website Creation, website design, website development, websites

OYS Owner Cerila Gailliard Geeked Out Media Founder Megan Good RFP Success Company CEO Lisa Rehurek and Job Exit Strategist Renee Lamb

April 10, 2019 by Karen

Cerila-Gailliard-with-OYS-Geeked-Out-Media-Founder-Megan-Good-RFP-Success-Company-CEO-Lisa-Rehurek-and-Job-Exit-Strategist-Renee-Lamb1
Phoenix Business Radio
OYS Owner Cerila Gailliard Geeked Out Media Founder Megan Good RFP Success Company CEO Lisa Rehurek and Job Exit Strategist Renee Lamb
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OYS Owner Cerila Gailliard Geeked Out Media Founder Megan Good RFP Success Company CEO Lisa Rehurek and Job Exit Strategist Renee Lamb

OYS-LOGO

Orchestrating Your Success (OYS) helps businesses advance their ambitious project goals through project management to maximize business resources and increase project profitability.

Cerila-Gailliard-on-Phoenix-Business-RadioXCerila Gailliard is the owner of Orchestrating Your Success (OYS) LLC. Cerila Gailliard holds a Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification from the Project Management Institute, and Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM) through Scrum Alliance as well as Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems (University of Phoenix).

Cerila resides in Tempe, AZ. In her free time, she volunteers as a Project Coordinator, City of Phoenix and IRS, for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistant Program. She is a Member Ambassador for the Phoenix Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and a Venture Mentor for the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program at Arizona State University.

Connect with Cerila on LinkedIn and follow OYS on Facebook and Twitter.

GeekedOutMediaLogo

Geeked Out Media is a website design agency, specializing in helping companies rebrand and take their businesses to the next level. Geeked Out Media owners have built websites that reach page 1 of Google in highly competitive markets against companies with much bigger marketing budgets. They know that with the proper website setup, keyword research, pre-planning, and an ongoing content marketing plan, your website can do the same.

Geeked Out Media is focused on helping you turn your website into an asset that works for you instead of a time and money pit. If you’re ready to get serious about your online presence, they’re ready to take you to the next level!

Megan-Good-on-Phoenix-Business-RadioXMegan Good is the founder of Geeked Out Media. She has been building websites and doing graphic design for over 16 years. She worked for a number of years in the Real Estate Development arena – helping with projects from Freeman Farms to Merchant Square in the Chandler & Queen Creek Area.

For over 10 years she worked for a local multi-million dollar event company as their online marketing manager, helping them to reach page 1 of Google. Her passion has always been to help companies grow and her hard work ethics and drive for what she does helps her own company stand out in the industry.

Connect with Megan on LinkedIn and follow Geeked Out Media on Facebook and Instagram.

The RFP Success™ Company helps businesses win more business through RFPs (requests for proposal). Our motto is — Do Better, Win More. Through consulting, training, and support services, The RFP Success™ Company team has helped organizations win over $25 million in business in 2018 alone. RFP-SUCCESS-COMPANY

Lisa-Rehurek-on-Phoenix-Business-RadioXThe fearless (and ridiculously fun) founder & CEO of The RFP Success™ Company, Lisa Rehurek, is a seven-time author, national speaker/trainer, and business builder.

Lisa Rehurek shines with her down-to-earth, “get it done” personality. Obsessed with strategies and simplicity, Lisa transforms the most overwhelming tasks into simple, attainable steps that you will be eager to implement in your own business.

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Renee M Lamb, LLC provides high quality training and coaching to professionals and new entrepreneurs who want to start and grow their online business so they can exit their jobs. Their vision is to disrupt and forever change the employee to employer relationship by economically empowering men & women globally through creating successful business owners.

Their mission is: Move Every Client Toward Their Wildest Dream, Help Take The Labels Off Their Mind And Have Them Step Boldly Into Their Entrepreneurial Greatness!!

Renee-Lamb-on-Phoenix-Business-RadioXRenee Lamb has over 15+ years of experience in the corporate world. She has had management roles in HR, international healthcare and project management. But the role she loves the most is Job Exit Strategist for her own company, Renee M. Lamb, LLC.

Renee is not only passionate for (well maybe obsessed) being an advocate for helping professionals to gain freedom and wealth via entrepreneurship. She believes her role is to give them wings so they can soar to greater heights on their entrepreneurship journey. She does this by her coaching programs and courses.

Connect with Renee on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Tagged With: Construction, Dream Business Launcher, Leave Your Job, Marketing Your Business, online marketing, PMI, project management, project management software, Project Plan, Renee M Lamb, Request for proposal, RFP, RFP Success, Startup Business Tools, website design

Chuck Teliin with Valpak and Michael Blake with Brady Ware & Company

February 1, 2019 by John Ray

North Fulton Business Radio
North Fulton Business Radio
Chuck Teliin with Valpak and Michael Blake with Brady Ware & Company
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Michael Blake and Chuck Teliin

Chuck Teliin with Valpak

Chuck Teliin is a Regional General Manager of Valpak managing 10 markets in six states. Prior to Valpak, Chuck was with AT&T Yellow Pages for over 26 years, first as a sales rep, then sales manager, and General Manager before rising to Regional Vice President. Chuck retired from AT&T in 2017.

You may have come to know Valpak as the “coupon mailer people” and you wouldn’t be wrong. Since 1968, Valpak has been mailing coupons to consumers to save them money and support small, local businesses in communities throughout North America. That’s what they were. Valpak has grown up, just as a teenager develops into a confident adult. Today, Valpak is a full-service marketing agency. We provide industry leading, traditional and digital marketing solutions to local and national businesses. With Valpak, you’ll still find the coupons that they’re known for, only now you’ll find them online and in digital apps as well as in our iconic Blue Envelope®. We mail to 38 million homes and drive over 11 million in daily online traffic. From The Blue Envelope to website design, development and everything in between, Valpak supports small businesses with a full suite of innovative marketing services.

Call Valpak at 1-866-235-0870 or visit them at www.valpak.com/advertise.

Michael Blake with Brady Ware & Company

Michael Blake is a Director of Brady Ware & Company. Mike specializes in the valuation of intellectual property-driven firms, such as software firms, aerospace firms and professional services firms, most frequently in the capacity as a transaction advisor, helping clients obtain great outcomes from complex transaction opportunities. Mike is also a specialist in the appraisal of intellectual properties as stand-alone assets, such as software, trade secrets, and patents.

He has been a full-time business appraiser for 13 years with public accounting firms, boutique business appraisal firms, and an owner of his own firm. Prior to that, he spent 8 years in venture capital and investment banking, including transactions in the U.S., Israel, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Brady Ware & Company is a regional full-service accounting and advisory firm which helps businesses and entrepreneurs make visions a reality. Brady Ware services clients nationally from its offices in Alpharetta, GA; Columbus and Dayton, OH; and Richmond, IN. The firm is growth minded, committed to the regions in which they operate, and most importantly, they make significant investments in their people and service offerings to meet the changing financial needs of those they are privileged to serve. The firm is dedicated to providing results that make a difference for its clients.

Mike is the Host of Decision Vision, a podcast series focusing on critical business decisions and brought to you by Brady Ware & Company. Decision Vision is produced and broadcast by Business RadioX®.

Tagged With: consumer intelligence, coupons, database marketing, Dayton accounting, Dayton CPA, Decision Vision, digital coupons, digital marketing, digital marketing solutions, digital marketing strategy, direct mail, direct mail marketing, direct marketing, email marketing, Franchising, intangible assets, leads tracking, mailers, Michael Blake, mobile app, online marketing, print coupons, problem solving, sales tracking, SEM, SEO, SMS, Social Media, Startup Lounge, sustainability, targeted mail, targeted marketing, uncomfortable business topics, Valpak, Valpak mobile app, valuations, variable data printing, website design

RHINO NATION Olenka Cullinan with Discovery Education West and Zach Faust

June 19, 2018 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio
Phoenix Business Radio
RHINO NATION Olenka Cullinan with Discovery Education West and Zach Faust
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Olenka-Cullinan-and-Zach-Faust-with-Michelle-Faust-on-Business-RadioX1

RHINO NATION Olenka Cullinan with Discovery Education West and Zach Faust

On this episode, Rhino Nation host Michelle Faust interviews the future and it is bright! Join young entrepreneur Zach Faust and Olenka Cullinan, Director STEM West at Discovery Education, as they discuss the incredible potential of Generation Next. Get a fresh perspective from a budding entrepreneur and a seasoned perspective from Olenka who has counseled and educated high schoolers towards the path of business leadership. This show will inspire hope and great anticipation for what’s to come.

DiscoveryEducationLOGO

Discovery Education is the global leader in standards- based digital content for K-12, transforming teaching and learning with award- winning digital textbooks, multimedia content, professional development, and the largest professional learning community of its kind.

Serving 4.5 million educators and over 50 million students, Discovery Education’s services are in half of U.S. classrooms, 50 percent of all primary schools in the U.K., and more than 50 countries.

Olenka CullinanOlenka-Cullinan-with-Rising-Tycoons-on-Business-RadioX is a speaker and is the STEM Director WEST for Discovery Education, founder of #iStartFirst, and former founder of Rising Tycoons. She is an Amazon bestselling author as well as Bossbabes and Millennial success coach. Olenka has developed a “Backbone of Success”™ method that helps leaders to up-level their business and mindset. Her work as a startup venture mentor nationwide, combined with humor and personal experiences, led to her two TEDx talks, Phoenix Business Journal 40Under40class of 2017, global exposure and made her into one of the nation’s premier consultants.

Connect with Olenka on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

There are simply too many things to pin down as what is being said as a standard company description. From management of eCommerce companies ranging from watches to welding supplies, to working in real estate as a broker.

Over the last few years Zach Faust has delved deep into the depths of business. From what started as selling used items to classmates in high school, Zach has really taken off in business. Currently, Zach is working on creating a printer that never needs refills on the black “ink” in order to create a more sufficient product. There is much more to come. 

Zach-Faust-on-Phoenix-Business-RadioXZach is currently an incoming Freshmen at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. He will be majoring in Business Management- Entrepreneurship.

He, as mentioned before, has experience in many fields of business that allow him to be more flexible with his capabilities and allows success to come at a larger quantity.

Connect with Zach on Instagram.

ABOUT RHINO NATION

Rhino Nation is a growing community of influential entrepreneurs and small business owners that share a common trait, they don’t walk, they don’t run, they CHARGE to their destiny. We acknowledge and celebrate their business expertise, leadership and fearless attitude to be victorious in their goals. Rhino Nation is committed to making powerful connections and providing enhanced exposure to broaden the reach and promote the extraordinary talents of our community members.

ABOUT YOUR SPONSOR

Rhino Online Strategies & eCreativity helps you free up your precious and limited time, as a business owner, to do what you do best….running and growing your business. Michelle Faust and her team partner with you to identify your content and marketing needs and provide you with fresh, innovative, dynamic copy that will effectively reach your target market, leading to increased customer engagement, a higher conversion rate, and increased sales.

Great content becomes the seeds of a bountiful business harvest, so you can cultivate and grow your business. We take the time to personally understand you and your company’s purpose, so your marketing message reflects who you are and speaks directly to your target market. Let us join you as part of your team. We’ll partner with you to develop powerful messaging strategies.

We strive to create an expansive mindset through education, marketing content and access to a talented team of business consultants. Our mission is to deliver cutting edge entrepreneurial support by providing engaging targeted messaging along with online business education, ancillary business services, and enhanced exposure.

Michelle has an extensive background in sales, marketing and public speaking, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry. When she left her corporate career, she shifted into the entrepreneurial world, combining her experience, talents and passions to reinvent herself. As a marketer and copywriter, Michelle thrives on discovering what motivates people into action and what their key emotional triggers are. Michelle and her team create powerful and targeted messaging that improve conversion rates and increase sales.  Michelle loves to connect people through the power and beauty of the written word. her passion is helping people create a road-map to success, so they can fulfill their dreams and live their destiny.

For more about Rhino Online Strategies & eCreativity find them at  www.rhinostrategy.com, on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Tagged With: Content writing, copy writing, copywriting, digital marketing, digital marketing solutions, Discovery Education, eCommerce training., eCreativity, entpreneurship, International Real Estate Broker work, Michelle Faust, Rhino Nation, Rhino Online Strategies, social media marketing, website design

AGLCC Hosts Eastern Data Incorporated and Southern Web

August 15, 2017 by angishields

Eastern Data Incorporated
Midtown Business Radio
AGLCC Hosts Eastern Data Incorporated and Southern Web
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Eastern Data Incorporated
Bruce Logue, JoAnn Pfeiffer, Emma Foulkes, and Drew Barton

AGLCC Hosts Eastern Data Incorporated and Southern Web

On this week’s episode, Emma Foulkes and Bruce Logue of AGLCC hosted JoAnn Pfeiffer of Eastern Data Systems, and Drew Barton of Southern Web. They shared numerous things for the business owner to think about to handle their IT technology and website needs.

Eastern Data Systems:

Since 1997, EDI has specialized in strategic sourcing of customized and major manufacturer IT systems that are the lowest priced, of great quality, and are quickly delivered to our customers from our 56,000 sq. ft. facility in Norcross, Georgia. Additionally, we offer quality IT systems & supplies from leading suppliers including, HP, Microsoft, Lenovo, Intel, etc. Annual revenues of over $35,000,000 and are the second largest distributor of Microsoft oem software products in the east.

The company currently has 28 employees. Full Line Product Distributor: Systems, Servers, Notebooks, LCD’s, Computer Components, Networking, Operating Systems and Office Software.

  • Accessible Inventory: 10+ million in inventory, delivery routes including same day/emergency delivery and shipping
  • Local Support: Inside and outside sales team plus product specialists
  • Technical Support Team: Certified engineers on staff
  • Business-focused: quick response, commercial quality products
  • Product Specialists: In-depth expertise in data products, communications and systems
  • Customer-focused: Provide value-added services with emphasis on total installed cost of product
  • Custom Solutions: Flexibility to develop custom customer solutions. Diversity Certifications: Women’s Business Enterprise (WBENC), Asian American-owned Business (AASC), Small Business Enterprise (City of Atlanta), Minority Business Enterprise (GSMDC)

Web: http://www.ediatlanta.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EDIAtlanta/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ediatlanta
Blog: http://ediatlanta.blogspot.com/

Southern Web

Since 2005, Southern Web has helped leading brands elevate their message online across multiple industries, from real estate and law to healthcare, manufacturing and more.

One of the leading Atlanta SEO Companies today, Southern Web supports over four hundred companies and has built over a thousand websites.

With their renewed focus on Digital Marketing, they have helped their customers grow their website traffic, leading to remarkable results in both revenue and lead generation.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Drewbarton
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewbarton/
Web: https://southernweb.com

 

Tagged With: CW Hall, Drew Barton, Eastern Data Incorporated, Emma Foulkes, IT, mobile devices, Southern Web, Website Creation, website design

Digital Marketing with Richard Warner

January 19, 2016 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio
Midtown Business Radio
Digital Marketing with Richard Warner
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Digital Strategy

Richard Warner talks digital strategy

Digital Marketing with Richard Warner

Long-time Georgia media personality, Richard Warner, joined me in the studio this week.  He spent over 30 years in front of microphone and camera on TV and radio and was awarded the Career Achievement Award by the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.  He hosted Georgia’s Business on Georgia Public Broadcasting, and served as a business commentator and host for 11 Alive, WSB Radio, and WGST.  But he’s not just a successful media talent.  He’s also and expert in digital marketing strategy.

In addition to serving as on on-air talent for several decades, talking about business, Richard is also a successful entrepreneur.  He founded What’s Up Interactive in 1990, which after transitioning from building a successful information service utilizing then-innovative fax technology, now provides media production, digital strategy, web design, and SEO services.

We talked about some things a business owner needs to be cognizant of regarding their approach to their online presence.  With Google’s frequently-updated search algorithms placing ever-more emphasis on relevancy and freshness of content on a site, along with how frequently it’s consumed, linked, and shared, it is very important to have a good strategy for telling a company’s story and sharing useful, topical information to its clients and prospective clients.

Special Guest:

Richard Warner, CEO/Founder, What’s Up Interactive  facebook_logo_small3  linkedin_small1  twitter_logo_small  instagram-logo-transparent-png-i11 (16x16)  google-plus-logo-red-265px

digital marketing

  • ABJ, Broadcast News, University of Georgia
  • Former Host/Managing Editor, “Georgia’s Business, Georgia Public Broadcasting
  • Recipient, Career Achievement Award, Georgia Radio Hall of Fame
  • Board Member, Georgia Chamber of Commerce

 

Tagged With: CW Hall, digital strategy, Midtown Business Radio, Richard Warner, Talk Radio, website design, Whats Up Interactive

Outsourced IT Solutions

April 14, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio
Midtown Business Radio
Outsourced IT Solutions
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Midtown Business Radio

Outsourced IT Solutions

This week I sat down with two experts from Zydexo to talk about the variety of supplemental and outsourced IT solutions they provide.  Going in I knew the company placed a focus on providing supplemental and permanent placement of the gamut of IT professionals.  What I didn’t know before talking with Sugra Naqvi, Business Developement Manager, and Jerry Lawrence, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, was the breadth and scope of the IT solutions they provide.  These include contract staffing of vital IT talent experts for key time-limited projects, but also software development, educational offerings, and IT consulting services.

Both of these folks have been with the company for over 11 years, a testament to the professional culture within the company.  And as you listen to this fun interview you can clearly appreciate their respective passion for their work and the brand they represent, as well as the pride they take in delivering what they know is a high level of professional service and customer experience.

Let’s face it–supplemental staffing can be a rather vanilla subject on some levels.  It can be as bland as, “I need an X Technician.”  “I find good ones.”  But when that sort of engagement is coupled with a measure of personal buy-in to the importance of what the “X Technician” will be doing and its financial impact on a client’s business and a high level of customer service, those can be long-term relationships.  And those are engagements companies readily feel as though revenue dollars invested to secure the X Technician was absolutely worth it.

Special Guests:

Sugra Naqvi, Business Development Manager,  Zydexo  twitter_logo_small  facebook_logo_small3  google-plus-logo-red-265px  linkedin_small1

Zydexo

  • BS, Sociology, Georgia State University
  • BS Nutrition Sciences, Kaplan University
  • Active Wellness/Lifestyle Coach
  • Fluent, Urdu/Hindi

Jerry Lawrence, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, Zydexo  linkedin_small1

Zydexo

  • Bachelor, Business Administration, Atlanta University
  • Former Licensed Commodity Broker, (Series 3 Certification), Risk Capital Trading
  • Previous Director of Admissions, Mithani Education Group, University of Atlanta

 

 

Tagged With: CW Hall, infrastructure, IT consulting, IT project management, it services, IT Solutions, IT staffing, midtown, Midtown Business Radio, network design, permanent placement, Recruiting, software development, staff augmentation, Sugra Naqvi, TAG, Technology Solutions, TIE, website design

Tony Fountain with Intelligent Safety USA, Tonya Burge with My Apple Gadgets, Jim Ware with iMadeThis and Albert Grassia with Digital Safety Net

March 6, 2015 by Mike

Business Leaders of Today
Business Leaders of Today
Tony Fountain with Intelligent Safety USA, Tonya Burge with My Apple Gadgets, Jim Ware with iMadeThis and Albert Grassia with Digital Safety Net
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Chris Horne, Tony Fountain, Albert Grassia, Tonya Burge, Jim Ware, Tess Turrin
Chris Horne, Tony Fountain, Albert Grassia, Tonya Burge, Jim Ware, Tess Turrin

Tony Fountain/Intelligent Safety USA

Tony Fountain, Intelligent Safety USAIntelligent Safety USA is a technology-based security company that provides high end video surveillance, burglar and fire alarms, and access control. Their solutions use the latest in technology for deterrence, proactive responses, and evidence for the prevention and prosecution of crime. Their servers allow for the integration of your access control points to video surveillance and all your mobile devices.

Tonya Burge/My Apple Gadgets

Tonya Burge, My Apple GadgetsWant to get the most from your iPad or iPhone? My Apple Gadgets is Your Source For iPad and iPhone apps, news and accessory reviews. Tonya Burge (a.k.a. The iGadget Lady) shares some great iPad and iPhone Apps and Accessories with you as well as a ton of iPhone and iPad tips and tricks she’s found helpful. The reviews are unbiased and they are products that she’s either tried or currently use on a regular basis. She does the research so you won’t have to!

Jim Ware/iMadeThis

Jim Ware, iMade This, Inc.The relationship is paramount to Jim Ware, the owner of iMadeThis. Graphic design and website development are Jim Ware’s passions and creative solutions are what he does best. He wants to help you brand your business, build your website, launch your new advertising campaign and find overall creative solutions to reach your clients.

Albert Grassia/Digital Safety Net

Albert Grassia, Digital Safety NetDigital Safety Net helps private and commercial organizations assess their vulnerability to technological and security risks, and develop customized solutions to support workstations and networks from hackers.

Business Leaders of Today On-Air

Tagged With: digital safety net, fire alarms, graphic design, hacker, hacking, i made this, igadget, igadget lady, imadethis, intelligent safety usa, intenet breaches, Internet, internet security, ipads, iphones, isafety, isafetyusa, mobile devices, my apple gadgets, online branding, passwords, security, security company, security risks, small business, technology risks, technoloy, tess turrin, the igadget lady, tony fountain, tonya burge, video surveillance, vocallogic, vocalogic, web design, web development, website design, websites

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