May 2014

25 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25822.mp3 Metro Atlanta Chamber 'Business Person of the Year' Week   [caption id="attachment_8241" align="alignright" width="200"] Jim Hall[/caption] Jim Hall - CEO, Owner at Triatek, LLC - Highlight Here Jim Hall is CEO at Triatek. Jim bought the company while it was in Chapter 7, the bankruptcy from which there is no return. But he did the impossible, saved the business, and is with us to tell the story. Triatek is the worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of airflow control systems. Want the air in a room to flow in, not out, say to prevent the spread of contaminants? Triatek is the only choice!       [caption id="attachment_8243" align="alignright" width="200"] Tom DiGregorio[/caption] Tom DiGregorio - Owner, AquaGuard Foundation Solutions - Highlight Here Tom DiGregorio is President and Owner of AquaGuard Basement Systems. Tom dedicated himself and his business to changing the way consumers think about contractors. AquaGuard is "A Service Company with Integrity, A Contractor who Cares." For an unprecedented four years in a row, they received the Better Business Bureau's highest award, The Torch Award for Market Place Ethics. Tom is a very aggressive advertiser and appears on several TV shows and radio programs. Most importantly, Tom is proving that business best practices can change any industry!          ...

25 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25806.mp3 Metro Atlanta Chamber 'Business Person of the Year' Week   [caption id="attachment_809" align="alignright" width="155"] Nancy Whatley[/caption] Nancy Whatley - Vice President of Entrepreneurial Development at the Metro Atlanta Chamber - Highlight Here Nancy Whatley is the entrepreneur's best friend. Her efforts to connect liked mined business owners in town are unparalleled. She knows everybody and knows who needs to meet who. As a former business founder herself, she knows the challenges small business owners face first hand.  Nancy was a VP at GeorgiaPacific, but now with the Metro Atlanta Chamber she is responsible for generating new business development opportunities for  owners. In particular, she helps connect small and large businesses together. Nancy was a judge for the Business Person of the year and hopefully will spill some inside info!      [caption id="attachment_8222" align="alignright" width="150"] Partha Unnava[/caption] Partha Unnava - CEO & Co-Founder at Better Walk - Highlight Here Partha Unnava is the CEO of a medical device company that is rethinking crutches. Crutches, unbelievably have not been rethought is thousands of years! But we all know how horrible crutches can be. They kill your arms! Partha and two teammates decided to solve this problem. At 20, he started Better Walk to innovate healthcare to bring patients greater comfort.      [caption id="attachment_8236" align="alignright" width="200"] Renee Sandler[/caption] Renee Sandler - Co-Founder and CEO - BLAMtastic and her Daughter and Co-Founder Lily Sandler - Highlight Here Renee Sandler learned that only 12 of the Fortune 500 CEOs were women and decided to do something about it. She challenged her own daughters to start a business to learn female entrepreneurial empowerment. They started BLAMtastic in their kitchen. Renee has since been featured on CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, Fox Business, and Time Magazine.  BLAMtastic is now carried by Wal-mart around the country! Lily, Renee's eldest daughter, joins us to tell this incredible story.          ...

24 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25785.mp3 Metro Atlanta Chamber 'Business Person of the Year' Week   [caption id="attachment_8273" align="alignright" width="200"] Rahim Charania[/caption] Rahim Charania - CEO at American Fueling Systems - Highlight Here Rahim Charania is the CEO of American Fueling Systems, a company dedicated to bringing the new fuels to the masses. Rahim has 20 years of business management experience with in-depth knowledge of business management, strategic planning, finance and sales. He raised more than $120 million for new businesses throughout his career. He was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the Top 40 Executives under 40 and by Georgia State University with the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. He is a frequent speaker on the subject of alternative fuels.      [caption id="attachment_8277" align="alignright" width="200"] Ryan Blythe[/caption] Ryan Blythe - Executive Director at Georgia Trade School - Highlight Here Ryan Blythe saw a need and started a business to solve it. Georgia Trade School was created to teach welding skills. He is the state's leading voice on “skilled trades” and the importance of bringing manufacturing back to America. Ryan has appeared on Good Day Atlanta, 11 Alive, Marietta Daily Journal, Cobb In Focus, Welding Journal and The Fabricator and serves on the Governor Deal’s "Go Build Georgia Advisory Council." He was nominated for his local county Business Association Person of the Year award and was a finalist for Business of the Year Award. He was interviewed for the cover story in the "Fabricator Magazine" which called his school one of the top welding programs in the nation.         ...

24 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25768.mp3 Metro Atlanta Chamber 'Business Person of the Year' Week and our 300th Show!   [caption id="attachment_8214" align="alignright" width="200"] Kevin Peak[/caption] Kevin Peak - Chief Popper at CaJa Popcorn - Highlight Here Kevin Peak is the founder and chief popper of CaJa Popcorn. CaJa Popcorn produces gourmet popcorn in interesting flavors using high quality ingredients. Kevin had a great corporate career but gave it all up to pursue his entrepreneurial desires. The cool thing is that CaJa is dedicated to best practices in all aspect of business. Even though they focus on creating delicious popcorn, they are experts at customer service. A huge part of their business is corporate accounts.      [caption id="attachment_8217" align="alignright" width="200"] Amy Baxter MD[/caption] Amy Baxter MD - CEO at MMJ Labs - Highlight Here You saw Dr. Amy Baxter on Shark Tank and her product, Buzzy4PainRelief, is flying of the shelf! She invented the Buzzy pain prevention device. The product has an ice pack and vibrates, and when placed on the needle injection area, he pain is numbed! Dr. Baxter directs clinical research in the ED at Scottish Rite, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, one of the top ranked children's hospitals in the world. As CEO and founder of MMJ Labs, she is trying to eliminate needlephobia and help patients get their injections with dramatically less pain and trauma!          ...

24 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25714.mp3 Metro Atlanta Chamber 'Business Person of the Year' Week   [caption id="attachment_8341" align="alignright" width="150"] Cindi Filer[/caption] Cindi Filer - CEO of Innovative Outsourcing - Highlight Here Cindi Filer saw a problem in her life and the life of others, and it led to a great business. She started Innovative Outsourcing to connect businesses with experienced professionals seeking part-time employment. She left the traditional workforce to raise her children but wanted to continue to work, some. Her company's passion is to help women, especially moms, find work that will allow them to put their family lives first. Her kids are now gone and is devoted full time to helping others!     [caption id="attachment_8204" align="alignright" width="200"] Jake Weaver[/caption] Jake Weaver - CEO, Founder of Codesigned - Highlight Here Jake Weaver built his first computer as a kid and knew computers would be a big part of his life. After 10 years of consulting, he is now CEO and Founder of Codesigned, a Sharepoint software firm. His diverse expertise and passion for SharePoint helps companies make the most of their SharePoint investment. Some of their incredible clients include WellStar Health System, McKesson, and law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge. They won the Microsoft Gold Managed Partner certification in record time and the Inc. Magazine Hire Power Award for job growth.        [caption id="attachment_8207" align="alignright" width="200"] Guiomar Obregon[/caption] Guiomar Obregon - CEO Precision 2000 - Highlight Here Guiomar Obregon came to the States at 23 to attend graduate school in engineering and is now the CEO and co-founder of Precision 2000.  Her company specializes in very unique concrete pours, like fixing a busy Atlanta airport runway during the middle of the night so that planes can land at 6 AM! In 2013 Guiomar received the Leadership Award, presented by the Georgia Hispanic Construction Association (GHCA). She is also the Chairwoman of the Board of the Georgia Hispanic Construction Association.          ...

18 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25713.mp3   [caption id="attachment_8183" align="alignright" width="150"] Chirag Kulkarni[/caption] Chirag Kulkarni - Co-founder and CEO at C&M Group - Highlight Here Chirag Kulkarni is knocking it out of the ballpark! Host Jim Beach had been communicating with Chirag for a couple weeks and even interviewed him before he found out Chirag is just 18. Chirag has already build and sold one business, a company that offered tennis racket stringing to the B2C and B2B markets. The company won  "top 15 business plans in the nation" and "2nd best business in Kansas City" Awards! He now pursues C&M Group fulltime. It is an entrepreneurial strategy consulting firm focused on growth for startups to Fortune 500s. Wow.      [caption id="attachment_8252" align="alignright" width="150"] Annette McClellan[/caption] Annette McClellan - Founding Partner at Annette McClellan Advisors - Highlight Here Annette McClellan holds two patents, has a PhD in Neuroscience, and founded and sold Azalea Biomedical. She serves on the Board of Directors of Lazarus Medical Technologies and recently started Annette McClellan Advisors to act as an advisor and board member in early stage medical device companies. She helps with funding strategy, pitch plans, product development and commercialization.            ...

17 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25712.mp3   [caption id="attachment_8168" align="alignright" width="150"] Dianna T Benson[/caption] Dianna T. Benson - Novelist and Author of Final Trimester and The Hidden Son (The Cayman Islands Trilogy), 2014 Selah Award WINNER for First Book - Highlight Here Dianna T. Benson signed a NINE book deal to write her suspense novels. We want to know how she got the deal! What a huge accomplishment in today's tough world of publishing. She has been an EMS since 2005 and loves the adrenaline rush of responding to emergencies, and her suspense novels provide the same rush. She writes about adventurous characters thrown into tremendous circumstances. She competes in climbing, running, cycling and scuba diving and she has won many awards for her books, including being a 2014 Selah Award Finalist for Book-of-the-Year, a 2011 Genesis Winner, a 2011 Genesis double Semi-Finalist, a 2010 Daphne de Maurier Finalist, and a 2007 Golden Palm Finalist. Her current book deal is with Ellechor Publishing House and her latest novel was released on May 19th.      [caption id="attachment_8170" align="alignright" width="130"] Dale Tweedy[/caption] Dale Tweedy - Partner/Founder of Stonegate Developers - Founder/Owner of CrankShooter Lacrosse Equipment - Founder of Dale Tweedy Mentoring Program for Entrepreneur Scholars at Appalachian State University - Highlight Here Dale Tweedy has several stories to tell. As a true serial entrepreneur, he is involved in lots of businesses. Today though, we focus on a lacrosse business he built to help his two sons learn about business. Now it does about a half million a year! It is an amazing story. Dale is also a developer, building student housing and commercial retail developments throughout the southeast. He created The Dale Tweedy Mentoring Program at Appalachian State University to provide one-on-one partnerships between entrepreneurs and students.          ...

17 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25690.mp3   Ford Saeks - Business Growth Specialist, Author of Superpower: How to Think, Act, and Perform with Less Effort and Better Results and Founder of Prime Concepts Group - Highlight Here Ford Saeks first big success was the PedaStyle Bicycle Storage Systems that are sold by The Sharper Image, Herrington, Hold Everything, Sky Mall, Williams Sonoma, Sams, Wal-Mart, and Target. After selling this business, Ford focused on sharing his growth strategies with small businesses and Fortune 500 companies worldwide. Ford has successfully founded 17 companies, received three U.S. Patents, sold millions, serves on the board of the National Speakers Association. He is a best-selling author and helps all types and size business build better relationships as President and CEO of Prime Concepts Group.      [caption id="attachment_8126" align="alignright" width="200"] David MacMahan[/caption] David MacMahan - CEO/FOunder of DivvyMaster and eCardGiftNotice  - Highlight Here David MacMahan invented one of the top selling silly gift items of all time, The Revenger, a pretend rocket, grenade, and laser launcher to alleviate driver road rage. It sold millions of units! David has since started several start-ups. In 2000, he created a platform for online gift purchases with WebCam Gift Notices and printable eCardGiftNotices.  He is now working to create tools to help catalog and divide estates in situations of death, divorce and downsizing with DivvyMaster.com.  The site provides online tools to ease the burden of estate and divorce divisions.          ...

17 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25663.mp3   [caption id="" align="alignright" width="162"] Skip McGrath[/caption] Skip McGrath -  eBay, Amazon & Affiliate Guru and Author of Three Weeks to eBay Profits - Highlight Here Skip has been on the show several times and one of our favorite guests. Megan, host Jim's wife, used Skip's techniques to start an Amazon business that made 60k in year one! Skip has shared his eBay and Amazon tricks, but today he will help us with affiliate marketing and how to make money with it. Skip runs EZAuctionTools.com and mentioned two sites to help you, Commission Junction and ClickBank. Skip's path to entrepreneurial success started with the closing of a New York antique shop in 1997. He ventured to eBay to see if he could sell his remaining stock and within a few months, he was looking for more inventory!      [caption id="attachment_8118" align="alignright" width="150"] Lady Aye[/caption] The Lady Aye - Professional Sword Swallower - Highlight Here  The Lady Aye is a corporate worker by day and an award-winning sideshow performer by night! She specializes in the rare double blockhead, fire eating, sword swallowing, and more. Lady Aye has worked with Cirque du Soleil and has performed all over the US. She was a finalist for the Stoli Originals Casting Call competition and won the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus’ First of May award and Michael Showalter's "No Punchline Punchline" Contest. She has been featured on the Discovery Channel, Comedy Central, and on the WB. Her press accolades include USA Today, AOL, and the Village Voice's Best of New York Award. Her writing has appeared in Penthouse, Salon, Jezebel, Huffington Post and more. She is with us to talk about building this business and the new speaker agency that she is part of. Very cool. Do NOT try these skills at home!        ...

17 May

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/25645.mp3   [caption id="attachment_8043" align="alignright" width="200"] Carrie Burns[/caption] Carrie Burns - Owner of Atlanta Movie Tours - Highlight Here Carrie Burns started a great company that capitalizes on movies and TV shows being made in Georgia and around Atlanta. Georgia set up tax laws that greatly encourage movie production here. It is a good example of how tax policy can help or hurt business. Movie production has exploded in the area. Carrie is capitalizing on it with tours to some of the areas' hot sets, like The Hunger Games, The Walking Dead and some old classics like Driving Miss Daisy and Gone with the Wind.      [caption id="attachment_8045" align="alignright" width="200"] Bernie Evans[/caption] Bernie Evans - CEO at Red Rhino Market Group - Highlight Here Bernie Evans is the CEO of Red Rhino Market Group. Red Rhino is a full service marketing and advertising agency that focuses on B2C sales, and interestingly they still focus largely on print. Bernie has some great insights into ads and why print is still a great marketing source for lots of businesses. Bernie tries to know his client's businesses from their perspective and builds campaigns tailored around their specific needs. They offer great value by using some of the most advanced tracking and analyzing resources in the country. Most importantly, the Red Rhino site has tons of free info to help you find info about good ads sources and techniques.  A great site!      [caption id="attachment_7245" align="alignright" width="168"] Sean Mabey[/caption] Sean Mabey - Director of Small Business Strategy and Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo Bank   Sean Mabey is one of our favorite guests, as this is his 7th or 8th time on the show! He is the Director of Small Business Strategy with Wells Fargo and says that he is 'always thinking about small business.' Today we talk about some new small business data from Gallup Polling. The data is very interesting and shows some big trends in small business. Its a must listen!      ...

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