How a broker can help you buy or sell a business
Posted On June 19, 2023
Looking to buy or sell a business? A broker can help. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” was Trey Langus, a business advisor and broker with Transworld Business Advisors. He connects owners who are looking to sell their businesses with potential buyers. There are a lot of potential buyers looking for businesses, Langus says, and many of them are coming from out of state and across the country, attracted by the favorable business climate in the Southeast. What they’re looking for, typically, is a business with clear financials, upside and, ideally, scalability. But Langus… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Podcast, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam Marston
Want to get fit and be more productive? Start with stress management
Posted On June 8, 2023
Did you know that many of the primary keys to fitness for professional athletes are the same for business leaders? No, not three-cone drills and increasing your max on the squat rack. Sleep. Hydration. And perhaps most importantly, managing stress effectively. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” was Brad Davidson, a California-based fitness athletic performance trainer who works with NFL and other professional athletes as well as people from all walks of life, including CEOs. Davidson says increasing your resilience to stress is one of the most important things you can do to improve… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
Want to know how iGen sees the future? Ask iGen
Posted On June 5, 2023
My guest on the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” needs no introduction – not to me, anyway. He’s my son, Spencer Marston, and I invited him on the show to share his perspective on his generation’s views on work and leadership. It has been a tradition of mine to interview my children after they graduate from high school and prepare to head off to college. While this is great fun for me, it’s also an opportunity to find out what iGen thinks about current trends and their feelings toward the future. As Spencer heads off to the… Read More
Categories: Blog, iGen, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
When a fundraiser becomes a calling, and a calling becomes a business
Posted On May 28, 2023
April McClung was just looking for a way to raise enough money for her kids to travel overseas. What she ended up with was a business. McClung, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” was perfectly content working in the corporate world, and expected to retire in that same role. But like several other reluctant entrepreneurs I’ve met, she felt a calling. And that’s how Emily’s Heirloom Pound Cakes was born. It started as an answer to a prayer about how to afford to give their sons the experience of school trips abroad. McClung and… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
ESG is here to stay, so get with the program
Posted On May 23, 2023
Do you know what ESG is? If you do, chances are you’re already looking for ways to optimize it for your company. If you don’t, you might want to get caught up. ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. It’s a measure of an organization’s emphasis on sustainability and other ethical issues. And according to Kai Gray, CEO of Motive ESG, it’s here to stay. Gray, who joined me recently on “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” says that companies – particularly publicly-traded ones – are going to have to account for ESG whether they like it or not. The government… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
CEO of Outokumpu discusses workplace, energy, technology challenges
Posted On May 13, 2023
As the CEO of one of the world’s largest producers of stainless steel, Heikki Malinen has a unique view of trends in the worlds of business and industry. Some of those trends he finds concerning, and at least one big technological transition he believes will be seismic. Malinen, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” is the CEO of Outokumpu, which is based in Helsinki, Finland, but has facilities throughout Europe and North America, including one right up the road from me in Calvert, Alabama. The largest stainless steel producer in the Western Hemisphere, Outokumpu… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
Don’t be afraid to get personal on social media
Posted On May 10, 2023
How do you use social media? Do you share pictures of the kids, something funny the dog did, a great meal you had? Now how do you use social media for business? Most of us feel a little uncomfortable sharing personal stuff on professional social media pages that we use for business. Domenick D’Andrea says that’s a mistake. D’Andrea, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” has been a New York-based financial advisor for over two decades. But he’s seen new leads emerge since he began making a concerted effort to share more of… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
Using social media as a marketing & engagement tool: ‘It’s where people are’
Posted On May 2, 2023
Doctors and surgeons, by the nature of their profession, need to stay on the cutting edge of technology. For an orthopedic surgeon like Dr. Matt Barber of Mobile, that means taking advantage of robotics, 3D modeling, and even artificial intelligence and augmented reality. As Barber told us in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” this technology is making procedures like the knee and hip replacements in which he specializes more efficient, less invasive and resulting in better outcomes. Doctors and surgeons, like people in many other professions, are also finding that keeping up with a different type… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
Introducing a new generation to cigars and cigar-making
Posted On April 21, 2023
Introducing the next generation to the family business can be a challenge, even if your family has been in the business for generations. For Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, patriarch of E.P. Carrillo Cigars, it was all about finding the best roles for his two children, Lissette Perez-Carrillo and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo III, who have degrees and experience in law and economics and both of whom grew up around the cigar business. As co-founders of E.P. Carrillo Cigars with their father, their expertise in these areas has helped grow the brand. “It’s a process,” said Perez-Carrillo, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Generations, Podcast, Recession Economy, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam Marston
Customer service can set your business apart, or sink it
Posted On April 13, 2023
Business owners spend a lot of money getting customers to come in the door, creating marketing campaigns and buying advertising. Why is it, then, that so many of them send those same customers right back out the door with poor customer service? “Bottom line, it’s respect,” Pam Denham, one of Alabama’s leading customer service trainers, said of its importance. “It’s really not that hard to do these things and be set apart from other businesses because so few people are aware of it.” Denham, who joined us in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” has run her… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Training Industry, What's Working with Cam Marston