One way to survive lean times: Keeping your operation lean
Posted On February 26, 2019
When the housing market crashed in 2008, Mobile builder Rogers & Willard found themselves in the same situation as pretty much every other construction company in America. After the crash, the company limped through 2009 on only a third of the revenue it had enjoyed in 2008. Times were lean. But fortunately for Rogers & Willard, “lean” is something with which it was already familiar. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Rogers & Willard president Mike Rogers says the company survived those tough years by keeping its operation lean as a matter of principle,… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Real Estate, Recession Economy, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work
‘A passion project:’ Varsity Brands not only sells sports gear, but works to create school spirit
Posted On February 19, 2019
With iGen following in the digital footsteps of the millennial generation, having grown up with technology at their fingertips as a primary source of communication, many of us Generation X parents find ourselves desperately seeking outlets that will force them into face-to-face social interaction. And many of us are turning to team sports. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is working to fuel – and equip – this phenomenon. Adam Blumenfeld is CEO of Dallas-based Varsity Brands, a major youth sports equipment distributor that does much more than sell bats and gloves. Varsity Brands… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, iGen, Podcast, Product Design, What's Working with Cam Marston
Barley, yeast, water and hops: Starting a brewery from scratch in south Alabama
Posted On February 19, 2019
If we could pick any type of business to own, many of us might choose one that allows us to drink beer all day. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” did just that. Brian Kane acted on a love for craft beer to open Fairhope Brewery with a partner six years ago. Kane’s dirty little secret, however, is that he’s only ever brewed about four batches of beer himself. “My side is much more on the beer tasting side, if you will,” he says – along with the business and marketing end. So how… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Are tariffs a good idea? One economist’s take
Posted On December 26, 2018
We all want to see the economy grow and create jobs. A favored method in the current U.S. administration’s efforts to accomplish this has been to use or threaten to use tariffs against foreign countries to level the playing field for American businesses. We’ve been told they will save American jobs, but our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” economist Peter Ricchiuti of Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, begs to differ. “I think tariffs are insane,” he said. “They’re a prosperity killer. … I think these things sound good on a political stump, but they… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Recession Economy, What's Working with Cam Marston
Yes, you can make a living selling popsicles. But it’s not easy.
Posted On December 12, 2018
So you want to be an entrepreneur, but don’t have that big, original idea that no one else has done? What about taking something that’s been done and putting your own twist on it, or simply doing it better? That’s what Octavio and Shannon Arzola did. Some people may have thought our guests in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” were crazy when they decided to open a gourmet popsicle stand in Gulfport, Miss. But in updating an old favorite, the popsicle, using fresh, all-natural ingredients, and going all-in to make their vision a reality, the Arzolas’ business has… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Even today, honesty is still the best policy
Posted On September 20, 2018
In this age of instantaneous and global communication, where a lie or a bad review can travel, as they say, halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on, how does a business control its own message? Our guest in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is Kinnon Phillips, an accredited public relations professional who is experienced with crisis communications and what to do when the weight of the world – and the worldwide web – is crashing down on your business’ reputation. Social media is now our “town square,” Phillips says, and “word of mouth” takes… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Entrepreneurship, Podcast
Forestry and land management are more than a walk in the woods
Posted On September 4, 2018
When you drive up I-65 from Mobile to Montgomery or across I-10 from Mobile to Tallahassee, the acres and acres of pine trees along the roadside make for a rather boring drive. But to someone like Barrett McCall, it is a beautiful sight. McCall, our guest in this week’s episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” is president of Larson & McGowin Forest Managers and Consultants, one of the area’s foremost land management firms. Most of the timberland managed by companies like McCall’s is owned privately by families who hire management firms to handle harvesting schedules, hunting leases and the… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Podcast
Saddle up for a ride into the wild, wild West of buying and selling a business
Posted On August 18, 2018
Say you’re a business owner who is ready to retire. You don’t have anyone in the family to pass the business along to, and you’re looking to sell. Do you know where to start? Or say you’re in the market to buy an existing business. How would you go about it? Buying and selling businesses isn’t like a normal real estate transaction, where a realtor puts a sign in your yard and lists your home on MLS. In most cases, you wouldn’t want your employees or your competitors finding out the business is up for sale until a deal is… Read More
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Podcast
Sticking to a succession plan and overcoming an ‘epidemic of spinelessness’
Posted On April 18, 2018
The first step to succession planning, as with so many other things, is realizing you have a problem. Succession planning expert Wayne Rivers, our guest in this week’s episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,”has seen it all play out many times: An aging business owner tells his son he’s going to turn the company over to him, but then can’t bring himself to let go of the reins and the company suffers in a self-inflicted limbo. With everything else in life edging out of his control – his health, his mobility, his kids’ lives, etc. – the business owner… Read More
Categories: Downloadable Media, Entrepreneurship, Generations, Podcast, Workplace
Fewer Family Businesses to be Passed to Next Generation
Posted On January 31, 2017
I’ve written in this space before about the need for succession planning. The long-term viability of your business may depend on it – particularly for family-owned business that want to maintain family control. But PwC’s annual family business survey found a decreasing number of owners who planned to keep their businesses in the family. Of the survey respondents who foresaw a change in ownership within the next five years – admittedly a small number at 17 percent – only 52 percent were planning to pass their companies down to another family member. That’s the lowest number since 2010, according to… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Entrepreneurship, Generation X, Succession Planning, Work