Who is the hero of your business? Too often, it’s you. It SHOULD be the customer. Stephanie Greenwood is a StoryBrand consultant and explains it all so simply to me. She’s with IMMIX Strategic and walks me through the process. The customer is the hero. You – the business – are a guide that helps the hero overcome their problem. You bring them to solutions and help them avoid disaster. It’s so simple. And yet we botch it again and again. Show Sponsors: E3 Termite & Pest Control Roy Lewis Construction Allison Horner – State Farm Agent Angelo DePaola –… Read More
Categories: LibsynLeadership consultant and author Brandon Smith has written a book that I’ve had referenced to me too many times in the past weeks to simply ignore. Called Author vs Editor Dilemma, the book is a management and leadership guide with simple plans for turning your employees into a more highly productive team. It’s a simple concept – as the leader, too often you’re an author, telling people what to do. You need to edit – guide their behavior and leave them to take initiative. On with Brandon and me is Wills Moore. Wills is an executive coach and uses the… Read More
Categories: LibsynThis week on Keepin’ It Real, Cam gets a flashback memory to one of the low points of his early adulthood and why he should hold on to that memory to keep himself in check. —– I listen to my commentaries from time to time and I can sound quite self-righteous. A bit “holier than thou.” And I don’t much care for it. Perhaps you’re familiar with the expression “beware the reformed.” It means those that have returned from the brink of some excess tend to be evangelizers of their new ways. They’re the alcoholics, for example, who insufferably rail… Read More
Categories: Libsyn2Cline Jones spent time as a boy watching the locks and dams near his home take and receive tow-boats on the river. The attraction of the work was deep and he signed up to be a part of that industry. Today he’s the Executive Director of the Tennessee River Valley Association and the Tennessee-Cumberland Waterways Council. He knows the numbers: the 12,000 miles of waterways transport 1/3 of the nation’s GDP; 541,000 jobs come from the inland waterways; 15 barges equals 1000+ 18 wheelers or 216 train cars. There are 219 locks operating today. And it’s the locks and dams… Read More
Categories: LibsynOn this week’s Keepin’ it Real, Cam Marston wonders if we prefer entertainment to anything of substance. And frets over the consequences. —– I hope everyone had a nice July Fourth holiday. On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was officially adopted and signed. It has proven to be one of the most influential documents in world history, generating demands for independence and self-rule across the world. Eleven years later, in 1787, the US Constitution was created and was then ratified about a year later. The energy and enthusiasm and aspirations of these two documents propelled a new nation… Read More
Categories: Libsyn2Economist Connor Lokar says it’s goign to get worse before it gets better. Then it’s going to get much worse. Connor is with ITR Economics. He and his firm work with businesses to help them prepare for economic change. Avowedly apolitical, Connor and his team only say the November election is unlikely to change our economy in any meaningful way, regardless of who wins the presidential election. To get a good read on the economy you need to know government spending, demographics, imports and exports, and a dozen other numbers. Connor knows his stuff, and you’ll want to hear what… Read More
Categories: LibsynThe roost is full at Cam’s house. And on this week’s Keepin’ It Real, Cam shares that it may never be this way ever again. —– My wife and I had thought our summer would be quiet and a bit boring. Two of our four children would be living away and the other two would be at home but either working during the day, away at camp for a few weeks, or playing sports. Plans changed, though, and they’re all back home for the summer. Our house is packed. The roost is full. Our four kids are between the ages… Read More
Categories: Libsyn2Lots of changes coming to workplace rules ranging from the legality of non-compete agreements to changes to the salary of exempt employees. Windy Bitzer of the Hand Arendall law firm explains the changes and what they mean for you and me. Show Sponsors: E3 Termite & Pest Control Roy Lewis Construction Allison Horner – State Farm Agent Angelo DePaola – The Coastal Connection Realty Persons Services Corp Seth Cherniak – Jeffrey Matthews Financial Bill-E’s Bacon Roosters Restaurant in Downtown Mobile, Alabama Bay Business News Find Cam Marston’s book – What Works: The Ten Best Ideas from the First Two-Hundred Episodes… Read More
Categories: LibsynOn this week’s Keepin It Real, Cam is having a harder and harder time walking his dog due to his neighbor’s dog that won’t go away. —– “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain asked this of God after his brother Abel went missing and God asked Cain, “Hey. Where’s Abel?” Cain claimed he didn’t know. Cain had killed Abel, by the way, and was trying to hide it. How about this question – “Am I my brother’s dog’s keeper?” I remember growing up in a neighborhood where everyone let their dogs run. There were few fenced in yards. No such… Read More
Categories: Libsyn2Lots of chatter out there about AI. Lots. Every day some some sort of news about how it will make our world unbelievably better and another about how it will be the end of humanity. I reached out to Kai Gray to ask him to answer some questions – what can AI really do? Aside from being the best source tech help I’ve ever found, what can it do for me? Today? Right now? It wrote me a sonnet to read to my wife on Valetines Day (which my wife thought was the most romantic thing I’ve ever done until… Read More
Categories: Libsyn