Disrupting the old school way: By creating a unique customer experience
Posted On September 12, 2024
Want to disrupt an industry? Most would lean on new technology. But that’s not the only way to do it. How about a radically unique customer experience? That’s exactly what Ron Holt has done to do something most wouldn’t have thought possible – make moving fun. Holt founded Birmingham-based Pink Zebra Moving after his mother-in-law had a terrible experience with another moving company. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” he’d already had one entrepreneurial success, the residential cleaning company Two Maids & A Mop, which experienced rapid growth after utilizing a unique compensation model… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
How to get people to pay for something they can find for free
Posted On August 16, 2024
Why would you pay for something that you can find elsewhere for free? You might if it’s a superior product or service. Or if it’s a service personalized specifically for you. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” has done just that. Rob Lightbrown is a lifelong weather junkie and former National Weather Service intern who now runs Crown Weather Services, a subscription-based website that serves, essentially, as a personal weatherman for its subscribers. While there is a plethora of weather forecasts available for free on television, the internet and social media, Lightbrown said many… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Make the customer the hero of your company’s story
Posted On August 1, 2024
Who is the hero of your company’s story? Spoiler alert: It shouldn’t be you. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working With Cam Marston” was Stephanie Greenwood, president of Mobile-based IMMIX Strategic. And she says successful marketing is about telling a story. Steve Jobs learned that when he found himself out at Apple and spent time working at Pixar. He then returned to Apple ready to sell the MacIntosh by telling stories — and putting the customer at the center of them. He did it with the tag line “Think different.” “He was inviting people into an opportunity… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston
The Author vs. Editor Dilemma: How to become a more effective leader
Posted On July 30, 2024
Have you ever thought of the workplace like an editorial relationship? The authors are coming up with solutions to problems, and the editors are considering the worth of those solutions and recommending ways to make them better. Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” has written a book using this analogy to suggest a better method of leadership. Brandon Smith, an executive coach and self-described “workplace therapist,” is the author of “The Author vs. Editor Dilemma,” which has become a trusted go-to guide for many executives and leadership coaches. “What I find is, when things… Read More
Categories: Blog, Parenting, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
The unseen highway: America’s inland waterways
Posted On July 26, 2024
We all know that trucks move a lot of goods and materials in the United States. We see them every day on the highway. What many of us don’t often see, however, is how one-third of the nation’s GDP is transported every year: It’s shipped by boat or barge on inland waterways. About 500 million tons per year are moved across the 12,000 miles of inland waterways in the U.S., and over 540,000 jobs are in some way connected to inland shipping. While we may not see that unless we’re hanging out by the New Orleans riverfront or in one… Read More
Categories: Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston
Are we about to see a ‘ticking debt time bomb’ go off?
Posted On July 7, 2024
Most of us who have had to manage our own finances for any amount of time know by now that carrying and building debt over a long period of time is generally not a good thing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that our government has ever learned this lesson. It has continued to build debt, through both Republican and Democratic administrations, and economist Connor Lokar believes those chickens will soon be coming home to roost. Lokar, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” says he and his group, ITR Economics, believe we should start to see… Read More
Categories: Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston
New federal regulations could affect your workplace
Posted On June 26, 2024
Regardless of whether you own a business or just work for one, you need to know about changes in federal laws and regulations will affect your workplace. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” filled us in on some of those changes. Windy Bitzer, an attorney with the Mobile firm of Hand Arendall Harrison Sale, said there are three changes, in particular, that will change how many workplaces operate. The first is a ban on non-compete agreements. Come September, companies won’t be able to bar an employee who leaves from working for a competitor for… Read More
Categories: Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
Harnessing the power of AI to do your job more efficiently
Posted On June 25, 2024
We all know that artificial intelligence holds great promise in helping us work faster – and some worry that it may one day take our jobs. Those familiar with AI will tell you that it won’t take your job. But someone who knows how to use AI will. But what, exactly, can it do? How, exactly, can we use it to do our jobs more efficiently? Our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” was Kai Gray, an AI enthusiast in south Alabama who can tell us just that. Gray’s company, Motive ESG, helps companies address… Read More
Categories: Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work
Digging deeper to find a solution to reduce carbon emissions
Posted On June 17, 2024
What if I told you there was a way to capture carbon emissions that might otherwise go into the air and instead safely bury it two miles or so underground? Well, there is. And our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” works for a company that does it. Bret Estep works in mergers & acquisitions and partnerships for Tenaska, an Omaha-based energy company that is one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S. with operations spanning the energy value chain. “We build, own, operate and manage energy infrastructure projects all over the country,”… Read More
Categories: Blog, What's Working with Cam Marston
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