Disaster recovery businesses have to be prepared for anything (and your business should be, too)
Posted On March 27, 2020
Did you know that, according to government statistics, nearly 70 percent of businesses affected by a major disaster will go out of business within the next two years? Russell Fountain’s business is to help companies and organizations avoid that fate. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Fountain is the owner of Global Disaster Solutions, a construction consulting and disaster recovery company that helps businesses, hospitals, schools and individuals deal with the aftermath of disasters – natural or otherwise. Fountain started his business after 15 years as an insurance adjuster and a decade of working… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam Marston
Boards by the Bay: How a nationally famous skateboard builder created his brand in Fairhope, Alabama
Posted On March 23, 2020
Did you know there is a nationally famous builder of skateboards right across the bay in Fairhope, Alabama? I’m guessing you probably didn’t, and Bear Walker would just as soon keep it that way. Walker, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” doesn’t publicize the location of his shop, but his work is well known across the country. He is the owner and creative force of Bear Walker Premium Boards, and if you’ve never heard of them, your kids probably have. Walker shares with us what makes his boards unique, from the high-quality maple deck… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam MarstonCoronavirus gives millennials, Baby Boomers something else to argue about
Posted On March 18, 2020
When you stop and think about it, our response to the global spread of coronavirus, or COVID-19, has been pretty remarkable. Professional sports leagues have suspended their seasons. The NCAA canceled March Madness and the College World Series. Disneyland and DisneyWorld have closed. People all over the country and the world have willingly curtailed their daily activities –many of them voluntarily quarantining themselves — in order to not only decrease their own chances of catching the virus, but the chances of unwittingly passing it on to others. But not everyone has completely bought into the social distancing methods many of… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Blog, Generation Y / MillennialsInterview with BAI – My prediction for the future of financial professionals
Posted On March 16, 2020
Rising anxiety rates in youth today and the corresponding rise in worry by their parents will drive financial professionals to begin doing very different things within the next ten years or so. Data shows that today’s youth struggles to find happiness more than any generation in the past. One of the largest reasons is their ubiquitous dependence on social media. In this podcast with BAI, I discuss the data, what it predicts, and how financial professionals – due to their unique and intimate relationship with clients – have the opportunity to help clients and become both relevant and important to… Read More
Categories: Uncategorized
Building quarterbacks, and a business, from the turf up
Posted On March 10, 2020
If you watched Daniel Jones or Gardner Minshew play in the NFL this year, or if you’ve followed Jake Fromm or Shea Patterson in the college ranks, you’ve seen the work of David Morris and his company, QB Country. Morris, who joined us in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” is a former star high school quarterback and a self-described “career second-stringer” at Ole Miss who founded QB Country, a quarterback training and development company that works with players from middle school all the way up to the NFL. Morris has built QB Country from a sideline… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam Marston
The comfort and challenges of running a family-owned business
Posted On March 6, 2020
There’s something special about a family-owned business. And in many of them, no one knows that better than the employees. “I think when you have a family-owned business, I think you get very close to employees, especially employees that have been around a really long time,” said Brent Barkin, president and CEO of Shoe Station, and our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” “Because of the longevity of being a family-owned business, you kind of grow up around these people. I wouldn’t say it’s trite that you starting thinking of them as family,” says Barkin,… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Why advertising can be important for law firms — and their clients
Posted On February 22, 2020
If you drive in Alabama or watch TV or listen to the radio, you have seen or heard an advertisement for a personal injury lawyer. They’re everywhere – on billboards, on the sides of buses, in newspapers and magazines, maybe even embedded beneath the lacquer on the tables in a favorite restaurant. Why are these types of ads effective? What’s the difference between such advertising, which is legal for attorneys to do, and solicitation, which isn’t? Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” shared some answers to these questions. David Greene is the founder and… Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam Marston
How our love for pets is changing the veterinary industry
Posted On February 20, 2020
Pets have become an increasingly important part of American life. Pet ownership has grown from 56 percent of the households in this country in 1988 to about two-thirds of them today. More pets means more demand for veterinarians. But those larger numbers of pet owners also have different priorities than their parents and grandparents. Their pets live in the house, not the backyard. They pay closer attention to their diets than just tossing them table scraps. So they not only need more veterinarians, but veterinarians who are ready to give them the level and type of care they’re looking for…. Read More
Categories: What's Working with Cam Marston
Keys to the workplace of tomorrow? Flexibility and autonomy
Posted On February 12, 2020
What will the workplace of the future look like? To answer that, perhaps we should look at the trends that have shaped the workplace of today. In the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” two members of Mobile Bay Monthly’s “Forty Under Forty” shared their ideas about what’s important in a workplace, and what they wish older generations could understand about the millennial workforce. Corey James, is Director of Operations for Innovation PortAL, a startup incubator in Mobile, and Cullen Millsap is a vice president of Legal Imaging, which provides digital forensics and eDiscovery for the legal field…. Read More
Categories: Uncategorized
Knowing your customers is important to every business — and that goes double for casinos
Posted On February 6, 2020
Most casinos have similar characteristics. They’re relatively dark, with few or no windows – nothing to distract the paying customers from the lights of the slot machines or the cards on the tables. They’re owned by large companies that run casinos in multiple markets. And they’re typically fairly secretive about their clientele. The Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort in D’Iberville, Mississippi, couldn’t be much more different, however. In its fifth year of operation, it’s a family-owned business operated by a family that is new to the gaming industry. Its floors are flooded with natural light. And its CEO isn’t bashful about… Read More
Categories: Uncategorized