The Path to Distinction: How to set your business apart
Posted On June 3, 2024
How do you set yourself apart from your competitors? The first step is becoming distinctive. How do you do that? Scott McKain can tell you. McKain, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” is a speaker, author. consultant and Sales and Marketing Hall of Famer who has put a lot of study and research into how a company or brand can become distinctive. “Distinction to me is being the go-to in your category,” he said. “Why would a customer choose you instead of the other alternatives in the marketplace?” For many of us, it’s because… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Helping businesses grow through franchising
Posted On May 28, 2024
Burnie Juneau helps businesses grow. But only if they want to. Juneau, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” works for Franchise Marketing Systems. Based in the Atlanta area, FMS identifies companies ripe for expansion through franchising, helps them prepare for the process, and then helps them find and vet franchisees. Most of these businesses are restaurants or service-related companies. Juneau, based in New Orleans, has a background in the food-service industry and focuses on restaurants from Texas to Florida. “I like to see successes,” he said. “I’m looking for Mom and Pops, businesses that… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
How to grow a restaurant business (and how not to)
Posted On April 23, 2024
What kind of restaurant has the best chance at scalability? What are the most common mistakes restauranteurs make? What should anyone who wants to start their own business ask themselves? Lauren Fernandez knows, because she’s been there. Fernandez, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” is the CEO of Full Course, an Atlanta-based investment company and accelerator that specializes in helping restauranteurs scale their businesses with an eye toward eventual sale. Fernandez is an attorney who became a restaurant manager and owner herself, so the advice she provides comes from experience. A self-described “MacGyver” whose… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Selling team-branded gear (and getting smiles) just takes some personality
Posted On April 7, 2024
Shadrick Toodle came by his gift of charisma naturally. His mother raised six children and still found time to teach Sunday School and be the “candy lady” in the neighborhood. So when Toodle had kids of his own, he threw himself into their sports and other activities. And that, combined with his personal charm and judicious use of social media, has helped him build a business. Toodle, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” owns Toodle Boys Sports, which designs, creates and sells unique branded clothing and other merchandise for high schools, club programs and… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Creating the ‘World’s Best Salsa,’ and growing a brand
Posted On March 31, 2024
Cooking is in Tony Tejas ‘ blood. But his background is in restaurant management. Tejas has now combined his cooking skills and his business sense to create his own products and his own company. He shared how in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” A Mobile native, he spent part of his younger years in Houston and developed a love for Mexican cuisine. During his 20 years as a restaurant manager, he developed a concept for his own restaurant. While that concept never got off the ground, it became the catalyst for something else. Disgusted at what… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
When it comes to training quarterbacks, a top coach remains a student
Posted On March 10, 2024
David Morris has trained a lot of quarterbacks. His company, QB Country, has trained four first-round NFL draft picks since he started it in 2009. Two more, Drake Maye and Bo Nix, could be first-round picks in this year’s draft. But Morris, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” still believes that he has more to learn. “I’m more of a student now than I’ve ever been,” said Morris, a former collegiate quarterback at Ole Miss. “You can’t fake this stuff when you’re talking about guys that are going to be top 10 picks. Year-round,… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Designing great outdoor spaces and an engaging social media presence
Posted On March 3, 2024
We have talked before in this space with experts who tell us we need to harness the power of social media to build our personal brand, and build our business. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is someone who’s putting that advice to good use. Catherine Arensberg is a landscape architect in Mobile, Alabama, who has built quite a social media presence. She has 26,000 followers on Instagram, more than 5,000 on Facebook, and 8,000 on YouTube, where she hosts her own web series: Simple.Honest.Design. She’s done it by being authentic – followers have… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Sometimes, success means hitting the market at just the right time
Posted On December 22, 2023
Sometimes a business model just has to be started at the right time to find success. What wouldn’t have worked at one time may be the Next Big Thing in another. So it was for Josh and Jarred Higginbotham, our guests in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” The Higginbothams took about 100 kernels of heirloom corn from a freezer in a barn on the farm that’s been in their family for generations and have built a thriving business, Bayou Cora Farms. There once wasn’t much of a market for heirloom corn – a pre-1940 variety that… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Stepping back from your passion in order to grow your business
Posted On December 21, 2023
If you’re going to turn your small business into a multi-million dollar company, chances are you’re going to have to step outside your comfort zone and try some new things. You’re also going to have to trust others to do the things you enjoyed doing to get that business off the ground. Marty Grunder, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” says learning how to delegate and how to develop new skills and new roles for yourself is important to the growth of any business. Grunder started Grunder Landscaping in the Dayton, Ohio, area while… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
When a side gig becomes the main gig
Posted On December 14, 2023
Sometimes a side gig can become your true calling. So it was for our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” After Danny Lipford started a remodeling business in Mobile in 1978, he was looking for a way to set himself apart from competitors. He made himself accessible to local media, did local speaking engagements, and 10 years later, he got the opportunity to do a home improvement TV show on a local station. Thirty-five years after those beginnings, the “Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford” television show, which Lipford hosts along with his daughter Chelsea, is… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston