Episodes
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"Business… that's just a vehicle to make community impact." -Chris MoxleyThose of us lucky enough to call Charlotte, NC, home often joke about how rare it is to meet a native Charlottean (so many of us moved here for new opportunities). But Chris is one of those unicorns, born and raised in Charlotte, and his love for his city and its people has inspired one of its most unique brands.Chris and his former UNC roommates co-founded a lifestyle brand that merges hometown pride and premium apparel. But it's what 704 Shop does outside its South End storefront that makes it so unique: radical community building that promotes upward mobility and connecting community members who love the city as much as they do.Chris' entrepreneurial journey is rooted in a pay-it-forward philosophy, a lesson he imbibed while growing up in some of Charlotte's most challenging neighborhoods. His belief is simple yet powerful: Every hurdle can be surmounted when good-hearted individuals invest in one another.To learn more:Find him at 704shop.com & connect on LinkedIn.When President John F. Kennedy said, "One person can make a difference, & everyone should try," Chris must have been listening.
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“I get a real sense of purpose out of providing for others.” – Marc Hutto Expensive, frustrating, and typical—these are the words most employers and job seekers use to describe their experiences with recruiters. Sure, the position is eventually filled, but it costs a fortune, and there’s no guarantee the new employee will stick around.That’s why Marc turned traditional recruiting on its ear.Forget aggressive recruiters desperate to earn their placement fees. Forget overinflated profiles of unemployed job seekers desperate to find “anyplace” to land. Forget it all. It doesn’t work.Uncovering people’s purpose, values, and individual “career drivers” and then introducing them to the employers who share them does. Marc has made it his life’s mission to help businesses & employees find their perfect long-term match & do it in the most cost-effective way possible. Talk about a noble purpose.To learn more:Find him at RevealGlobal.com & connect on LinkedIn. Tom Rath said, “Make work a purpose, not just a place.”In such a typically cut-throat industry, seeing someone take that idea to heart is refreshing.
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“I want someone when they look at what I’m doing, to say, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’” – Chris J. Loucy For many years, Chris’ entrepreneurial journey was the stuff of dreams. Following a successful stint in sales, he rolled the dice on his own flooring company & won…big time. He blew his competition out of the water & experienced almost unreal growth.Until one day, when the dream became a nightmare. An unfair lawsuit filed against his company eventually became too big to fight. Chris was forced to close his doors.Which is where the story would end if he was a “typical” entrepreneur. Of course, he’s anything but! Today, you’ll find Chris helping small business owners mitigate their financial risk in their own companies by establishing business credit & the company’s financial foundation.His mission? To prevent others from experiencing the kind of heartache & ruin he personally experienced.Service & purpose. Well done, indeed.To learn more:Check out how Chris is impacting others at JGalt.ioServing others instead of wallowing in self-pity... It’s like Rick Warren said, “Don’t waste your pain; use it to help others.”
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"We think that we are providing benefits to somebody and incentives. Actually, we're creating little fires and warring factions." - Kevin D. Monaghan Most organizations incentivize key employees with creative pay & perks like equity splits. Better pay + better benefits = obviously happy employees who stick around, work hard, & grow the company.t's easy and great math, except for the fact that it doesn't work. As Kevin can speak to personally, equity splits often produce arguments, jealousy, and resentment. Key employees are left at risk.It's a tough pill he was forced to swallow, sleeping on the floor of a 9'x9' apartment, rebuilding his life after losing everything to a work "family" who promised him the moon & then burned him badly.So, what's the alternative to splitting equity & keeping good people? Kevin knows now, & he's on a mission to tell the world.Check out IntuitiveCompensation.com for more info & download his FREE book at BucketsBook.com.
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“I hated it, hated it with a passion.” — George Ramsay When George looks back on music lessons of his youth, he remembers only misery. Stuffy piano teachers, monotonous scales, and the dread of upcoming recitals made faking sickness a weekly occurrence. Music lessons were the enemy, and he’d do anything to miss them. But watching a high school friend learn from a teacher who taught improvisation & the rock music he loved changed his perspective. Music instruction could bring students alive, not just “make them better.” It could be FUN!He picked up the guitar with that teacher in mind and fell in love. Then he knew, “I just had to do something in music.”Together with his business partner, George has turned in-home music instruction on its ear. Equally as important, his business model provides a level of financial security for gig workers (his instructors) unheard of in the industry.People, passion, perspective. It’s all here!To learn more:👉Find him on LinkedIn & at BoldMusicLessons.comRobert Ballard said, “Follow your own passion—not your parents’, not your teachers’—yours.” George did.
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“It’s important to us to help people see that they matter.” – Christina BartolottaChristina & her husband, Titus, are no strangers to business success. From car sales to consulting, this dynamic duo seemingly does it all & very well. Today, you’ll find them in the kitchen of their newest endeavor & one of Lake Norman, NC’s newest & deeply loved restaurants, Rise Cafe.Serial entrepreneurs with a passion for growing their bank accounts?Not even close.Behind every business the Bartolottas own & operate, a deep passion & love for people resonates. They simply have a heart for building businesses that richly improve lives & communities.It’s a noble cause, one made even more exceptional once you hear Christina’s journey. With no exaggeration, she has endured & found purpose in one of the most traumatic childhood journeys we’ve ever heard.
Both Christina & Titus embody a favorite quote by Simon Sinek: “Profit isn’t a purpose; it’s a result. To have purpose means the things we do have real value to others.”This one will leave you speechless.To learn more:👉Find her & Titus at Rise Cafe & Collaborative Solutions Group.
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“I love our business model. It’s one where we can be truly honest with our clients.” Broc BuxtonWhen cousins Jeffrey Wanner & Broc Buxton were growing up together, neither of them imagined that Broc would eventually join Jeff in building a company that would revolutionize the way other small businesses select professional employer organizations (PEOs).But as they matured, they recognized important qualities in each other that would fuel that endeavor: diligence, integrity, & a mutual love for solving problems that plague business owners.(If PEOs are unfamiliar to you, take heart. This episode will show you how you can outsource important HR functions, drive down costs, & how Jeff & Broc do it so differently.)Jeff & Broc turned their love for people & business into their passion for simplifying clients’ lives. Their one-of-a-kind, free (yes, free!) service helps business owners just like you sift through the marketing noise & select the best option for their workforce.Family, friendship, passion. How often do those collide?
Check out Pair PEO and try out their calculator.
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“I want people to recognize my passion for things – my passion for living, my passion for ensuring other people’s success.” — Reece M. Arlin, MBAWhen this car-loving, fitness-focused, self-proclaimed “terrible employee” graduated from college, he was certain buying & operating a gym was the path before him.But like most entrepreneurs, his first big plan never materialized. When a good friend suggested they start a marketing company focused on fitness sales, Reece took the chance & said yes. Together, they’ve built something extraordinary.Marketing geniuses? Not necessarily (though they certainly have the chops!). Passion for finding their niche, hiring the right people, staying true to their voice, pivoting in the face of adversity, & seemingly effortlessly growing a company with a totally remote workforce?Absolutely.Reece wasn’t born with all the answers. He was gifted with the passion to find them. And that has made all the difference.
Check out Business Marketing Solutions Group.
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“I just want to be known as a good guy.” – Palash DesaiMost Ivy League business school graduates turned Silicon Valley execs aren’t known for their big hearts. Big profits, yes, but compassion & love for others take a distant back seat.Not so with Palash. In the middle of a very lucrative engineering career, he dropped it all to buy a two-person cleaning company in Charlotte, NC.Did he love cleaning? No. Was Charlotte home? No again. But that tiny cleaning company offered Palash a unique opportunity: to build a highly profitable & sustainable business that could address income inequality in a city known for lacking social mobility.Purpose-driven capitalism. That’s the heart of The Organic Maids, which now employs over 30 cleaning professionals making more than the average new college graduate -- bringing people out of poverty & changing their families’ & communities’ futures.That’s the work of a very good guy.Palash must have been listening when Leonardo DaVinci said, “Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.”
Connect with Palash on LinkedIn and check out The Organic Maids.
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“So much of what I gain is from helping people in bad situations. Our clients, 95% of them are going through the worst time in their life.” – Jan Barefoot It isn’t unusual to hear firefighters or police officers talk about serving others on their worst days. Still, Jan Barefoot doesn’t wear a uniform or jump into action following a 911 call. She isn’t a first responder at all. But she just might be the brains behind figuring out who’s to blame for the chaos.This former legal secretary with a passion for detective work & justice is the woman behind one of the Carolina’s most established & rapidly growing private investigation firms. Suspected adultery, fraud, missing persons, extortion, you name it, Jan’s team tackles it all & has earned the respect & admiration of clients & top law firms alike. What’s her secret? Serving clients with humility & never allowing ethics to take a back seat to financial success. That’s a lesson for any entrepreneur.
Check out Barefoot PI and connect with Jan on LinkedIn.
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“I love life. I love to make people smile.” – Wilton Rogers IIIGrowing up on a farm, Wilton got his very first taste of entrepreneurship: selling eggs to his mother’s friends at church.But it wasn’t the money that made his heart soar ($2 was his weekly profit!). It was the happiness he felt providing something people needed. That joy became his greatest form of payment.Multiple business opportunities would come & go throughout his life, but getting to know people, identifying their pain, & providing real solutions to better their lives was the common thread to them all. It still is.But what makes this story unexpected is that Wilton applied the same passion for people & service that inspired him as a kid to one of the coldest, most robotic industries on the planet: artificial intelligence.If stories of infusing purpose into unexpected places make your heart soar:Find him on LinkedIn, on his web site at Simply Automate, or listen to his podcast, Automation Nation.
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“When you don’t have a choice…the one thing you do get to choose is who you get to do it with, so don’t do it alone.” Robert F WilliamsIn the 1990s, when financial deals & payouts came easy, Bob’s life looked like a page from a storybook: beautiful family, a booming investment business, and thousands of successful deals.But his story, like any good one, contained a plot twist: Struggling with frequent travel away from his family, Bob lost everything when a trusted entrepreneur made off with millions he’d personally invested & encouraged others to invest. The suspect then died, dodging all accountability. Bob was crushed financially & his zest for life was destroyed.Thankfully, another plot twist was coming in the form of a good friend who wouldn’t let Bob “do it alone.” He got him back into business & life.Now for the ultimate surprise: Bob did the same for Gary years later when troubles came his way.
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“People follow me for advice, but when I get feedback, it’s more about something business unrelated.” – Damon Burton If you don’t know Damon, you may be wondering why over 32,000 people follow him for advice on LinkedIn or flock to read his book, “Outrank.”If you do know him, you’ll know why seeking his advice is a no-brainer. This SEO expert has beat million-dollar companies at their own game & offers proven strategies for his audience to grow their companies. But good SEO advice isn’t all. That “something” he speaks of makes being in his presence genuinely unique, & it’s the absolute love, adoration, & praise he shares for his wife & children, mirrored in how he sees, commends, & nurtures his team. If you’re encouraged by industry leaders who not only upset their industry but unabashedly honor their lives & the people in it, this is the episode for you.
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It’s easy to look at Renee & think that the comforts of Easy Street & a golden parachute allowed her to build the 13th largest woman-owned business in the Charlotte area & the only woman-owned industrial business in Union County (not to mention authoring a book & forming a foundation), but nothing could be further from the truth. A small-town girl introduced first to banking & then manufacturing sales, Renee created a name for herself in a male-dominated industry by working hard & maintaining her integrity. Where others took shortcuts (morally & otherwise), she sought higher ground. Amidst incredible challenges, including domestic violence, a brain tumor that put her in a wheelchair, and the harsh economies of the Great Recession and COVID lockdowns, Renee forged her business into the industry forefront. Perhaps most importantly, she retained her humanity, positivity, & love for good – qualities fueling the purpose of her life’s next chapter: giving back.
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A quick message first: We had audio issues for the first 16 minutes of the show. We cleaned it up as much as possible, but you'll notice a difference. Apologies for that!
"It's really about fit & relationship." — Brad Batten When Johannes Zwick & Bradley Batten first met at Davidson College, neither imagined a future as partners in private equity. But these fraternity brothers turned friends had important partnership traits in common: integrity, ambition, diligence, & love for people.Most importantly, they recognized & respected those qualities in each other.(By the way, if you can't believe these traits are being used to describe private equity investors, you're in for a treat. These guys are unexpected—you know, “anything but typical!”)Johannes & Brad turned their love for business & their focus on fit & relationship into a one-of-a-kind private equity firm. Today, they invest financially & operationally in small businesses eager to scale & do so while preserving each company's employees, culture, & core values.Forget everything you know about rip, strip, & flip private equity firms. These guys represent "investment with heart & purpose."
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“I would love for people to one day, potentially, say that Mike put a piece of God in them… This is the goal of my life.” — Michael Metcalf Jr. Mike doesn’t mince words when it comes to his perspective on life. Maybe it’s because he witnessed the unthinkable as a young child or faced physical adversity on the football field at App State. Maybe his grandmother, “the smartest person I ever met”, provided much inspiration. We’ll never know.What we do know is this: Mike is a transparent, vulnerable, reflective leader who seeks out the good in individuals as he builds effective teams, & his perspective is so refreshing & life-giving to organizations that companies big and small chomp at the bit for a sliver of his time.Is now a good time to mention he’s a NASCAR pit crew leader by trade? (Bet you weren’t expecting that!)If you love stories of unexpected journeys & finding purpose in all you do:NOTE: Mike is providing the special pricing for his book, “12 Second Culture” and running it for 12 days. $8.88 down from $24.99. Use promo code “anythingbuttypical” upon checkout to get the discount! Link to the website for the book in comments.
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Ty Harmon, Founder and President at Harmon Construction, overcame hardship and instability growing up. His mother was never able to own a home. Ty went onto the construction management industry. When he was ready to step out on his own, Ty made sure to never forget his childhood. Ty's company is focused on giving clients "the exceptional construction experience." In addition to commercial and retail construction, Harmon Construction also specializes in complex single & multi family development, construction of schools, and non profit construction.
In this episode, Ty shares how he navigated an industry with very few minority business owners. We talk about the importance of having an elite management team. Harmon goes into the focus of surrounding himself with high quality and talented people.
Check out Harmon Construction, and follow Ty on LinkedIn.
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“It’s OK if I have a day where I work for 15 min.” – Chris Claflin.That’s a mind-blowing statement coming from a successful entrepreneur in property management, where words like “hustle” & “growth” flow with ease, but that’s the heart of Chris Claflin.It wasn’t always.One of 7 children born to a blue-collar household, Chris was schooled in the virtues of hard work & company loyalty. He followed those teachings all the way to Boeing, working double overtime for 9 years & finding joy in corporate life.But when ugly company culture reared its ugly head (sound familiar?), Chris knew the next step was entrepreneurship. It was up to him to design a life worth living.With his wife, Chris has done just that, & he’s learned some incredible lessons about living in your thrive zone & fiercely protecting what matters – all while growing a company & preserving his ultimate goal: the freedom to do whatever he wants.
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This is a special episode of the Anything But Typical Show. Our own Gary Frey has published a book titled: Silence The Imposter Syndrome- 7 Weapons To Silence Imposter Syndrome. In this episode, Gary takes us behind the scenes of what it takes to get a book published.
We talk about the options to publish such as self publishing, an independent publisher, and a large publisher. We go into what Gary's book writing journey looked like. Gary shares his experience with different interactions. He tells us some of the best advice he was given along the way.
Be sure to grab Gary's book, and let him know how it impacted you or changed your mindset!
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Devan overcame childhood struggles with the help of baseball being a driving and motivating force in his life. It helped him stay out of trouble, strive for freedom early in life, and get to college. When Devan made the pros, everything was on track. So when he got released, Kline needed to figure out what was next.
With no money and no ability to get a lease, Devan began holding boot camp workouts in parking lots and abandoned theaters. He and his wife, Morgan, saw the impact they were creating and the opportunity in front of them. Burn Boot Camp was born.
Devan shares with us how they've grown so successfully. He talks about why they didn't bring investors on or make other deals giving up control. He goes into how and why he is constantly working to get away from job titles. This is a must listen episode to learn, be inspired, and grow.
Follow Devan on Instagram @Devan.Kline
Subscribe to his YouTube Channel @Devan.Kline
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