Urban forestry isn’t an oxymoron
Posted On September 8, 2022
The phrase “urban forest” sounds like an oxymoron. But for Beau Brodbeck, it makes perfect sense. One needs only visit city parks in any number of metropolitan areas, or drive down Government Street in my hometown of Mobile, Alabama, to see the value of trees in an urban setting. The canopy formed by Mobile’s live oaks over the city’s main east-west thoroughfare creates a signature effect that leaves an impression. Commercial or residential, trees typically add value to a property — and not just aesthetic value. As an Auburn University Extension Specialist focused on urban forestry, Brodbeck’s job is to… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
Symbol Health Solutions CEO Mike Molyneux identified a problem and created a solution
Posted On August 28, 2022
Successful entrepreneurs typically see a problem in need of a solution or an unfilled niche in the marketplace. Then they build a business to fill that niche or fix that problem. Mike Molyneux has done just that with Symbol Health Solutions, the company he built and currently serves as president and CEO. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Molyneux shares how he identified a problem in the healthcare marketplace and built a business to fill that need. Molyneux, a physical therapist, had over 1,500 employees in the healthcare company he co-founded and found that… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
Eagle Scout candidate John Shell learns the power of word of mouth and ‘luck surface area’
Posted On August 20, 2022
Have you ever wanted to have that big idea that captured people’s imaginations? We all have. John Shell, a high school junior in Mobile, just wanted to become an Eagle Scout and help the environment along the Alabama Gulf Coast. And it appears he’s stumbled across one of those big ideas. A lover of the outdoors, Shell wanted his Eagle Scout project to be something that would help the environment. In researching potential projects, he came across the work of David Wolff, an environmentalist in Florida who developed a unique artificial floating reef system that provides homes for oysters and… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
Jeb Brooks gets paid to travel around the world. Here’s how
Posted On August 11, 2022
How would you like to travel all over the world and get paid to do it? Many of us would jump at that chance, but it wasn’t something Jeb Brooks set about to do initially. By finding an audience and honing his video skills to meet what that audience wants, he’s built a business in creating YouTube travel videos. Brooks shared how it all came about in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” It started when Brooks, a frequent traveler with his consulting business, noticed there was a “tiny genre” of creators on YouTube posting videos about… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Travel, What's Working with Cam Marston
The advantages of solar power (and the disadvantages for Alabama residential customers)
Posted On August 8, 2022
Solar power can be an effective way to cut your utility costs. So why don’t we see more of it in Alabama? This is a state, after all, with some of the highest utility rates in the Southeast. But according to the Southern Environmental Law Center, there are only about 500 rooftop solar customers – commercial and residential – in Alabama, a fraction of those utilizing solar power in other Southeastern states. Why? In the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” I posed that question to Sam Yates, CEO of Eagle Solar and Light, the largest solar power… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
The most common money mistakes normal people make
Posted On July 30, 2022
Arindam Nag will tell you the 2008 financial crisis wasn’t really caused by Wall Street. It was caused by the general public’s lack of financial literacy. That’s a problem Nag has been trying to solve as CEO and co-founder of CentSai.com, a financial education platform that seeks to provide the public with the financial guidance it needs to make informed decisions. In the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Nag explains why 2008 was a lesson that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. He also shares why, with longer life expectancies leaving some people retired for… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
Being nimble: What Navy SEAL training can teach us about building better business minds
Posted On July 22, 2022
The Navy SEALs are an elite fighting force, and it’s not by accident. They are trained to deal with anything, particularly the unexpected. Perhaps that’s why I’ve found that many of them have gone on to succeed in business. Whether it’s that the SEALs draw tough-minded people or it makes them tough-minded, former SEALs tend to be adept and thinking through complex problems in the business world as civilians. So it is with Marty Strong, our guest in a recent “What’s Working with Cam Marston” replay. Strong spent 20 years as a SEAL and then went on to make a… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
What can a former CIA counterintelligence officer teach us about hiring?
Posted On July 18, 2022
When your job is to recruit informants for the CIA, you learn to ask the right questions. Blake Mobley did just that while working as a counterintelligence officer under two presidents. It was an experience that taught him how to look for the structural weaknesses in organizations, how to find what motivates people, and the sorts of questions one needs to ask to really learn what they need to know about a person. Those are valuable tools in the hiring process, too. And in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Mobley shares how some of the lessons… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Recruiting, What's Working with Cam Marston
How Dr. David Bronner rebuilt Alabama’s retirement system, and its image
Posted On July 14, 2022
Dr. David Bronner wasn’t the first choice to lead the Retirement Systems of Alabama when the job was last open back in 1973. He wasn’t the second or third choice. He wasn’t even the 100th choice. But he was the right choice. Bronner, who grew up in Minnesota before coming to Alabama for law school, ended up running the state’s retirement system because neither of the two most powerful men in the state at that time – Gov. George Wallace and Paul Hubbert, then head of the Alabama Education Association – knew who he was. And therefore, after about 160… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, Real Estate, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam MarstonInspiration for You and Your Team. A Gift to be Given. Something very different. Take a look…
Posted On August 23, 2021
It’s tough out there today. It’s always been tough but today just seems…tougher. Trying to find things to be happy about, to feel good about, seems harder. But we soldier on. In January, I asked myself, “How can I influence the way people feel each day? What are my tools to do so? What are my resources?” Suddenly, my Keepnin’ It Real commentaries leapt forward in my mind. Long a staple on Alabama Public Radio, I’m redesigning the Keepin’ It Real commentaries for corporate use and in the process I’ve seen an opportunity to bring something very non-traditional to my… Read More
Categories: Blog, Keeping It Real, Podcast