My guest this week is John Carroll. Lately, I’ve wondered how do you confidently promote a city with significant issues. John is behind the highly successful grassroots nonprofit Choose 901 and City Leadership out of Memphis, TN. What started as a bootstrapped nonprofit over a decade ago has now evolved into one of the top promotional brands in Memphis, TN. National Center on Charitable Statistics, 30% of nonprofits fail to exist after ten years. Given that this nonprofit was bootstrapped and no...
Jan 26, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 75
My guest today is Will Chase. This is the second time Will is on this podcast. I’ve heard great feedback about his episode #62, so check it out. This episode will be different and much shorter, and I am looking forward to it. Full disclosure, I was hired to produce work for this venture and this interview. But I was not hired to release it here on my podcast. That was my choice because Will knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship and the changing landscape of banking across the United States...
Dec 20, 2022•18 min•Ep. 74
My guest today is Bob Fockler, former investment banker turned Community builder and asset allocator. Americans gave away just over 484 billion dollars last year, so I wanted to know what this looks like when it's done right. Bob is currently the President of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, which, as he says, is a billion-dollar financial institution. This is a great episode that covers: Running a non-profit like a business and why that matters to steward capital well. Paving your o...
Nov 17, 2022•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 73
My guest, today for the 2nd time, is Youth Villages CEO Pat Lawler. When someone has led an organization from less than 100 kids a year, a handful of staff, and evolved into an impact of more than 32,000 kids a year and over 3,600 staff and counting, they are going to have something to say that’s important to listen and learn from. It’s energizing how a dream can start small, with focus, resiliency, passion, and leadership, it can evolve to be a national thought leader decades later and just get...
Oct 26, 2022•51 min•Ep. 72
My guest today is Frank Cianciola. I’m fortunate to interview many people across the country for the corporate interviews I produce. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few years, it’s that if something works in one market, those principles will work in every market. It’s an absolute pleasure to release today’s episode with Banking entrepreneur and industry veteran Frank Cianciola. Frank is the Founder of Bank3, headquartered out of Memphis, TN, and this isn’t Frank’s first rodeo. Th...
Sep 29, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 71
My guest today is Duncan Williams. I wanted to have Duncan on this podcast because What started as a small regional municipal bond firm in 1969 grew to be one of the largest female-owned bond broker-dealers in the United States. In addition to this work, this family has a strong presence as a holding company in farmland, apartments, and senior living facilities in the southeastern part of the United States. This is great story that shows what one generation's risk and sacrifice can do for commun...
Aug 18, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 70
My guest today is Scott Felsenthal. I wanted to have Scott on this podcast because he and his family are obviously doing something right. Only 3% of companies make it to the 4th generation, and their company Whitmor is one of them. Scott is the CEO of Whitmor, and it's a privilege to have him on this podcast. Whitmor started in Brooklyn, New York, in 1946; over 75 years later, it is running strong. This is a great story that goes deep into this family's history of: Evolving from a manufacturer t...
Jul 28, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 69
My guest today is Eric Barnes. Eric is the CEO of the Daily Memphian, the largest single market digital-only local news site in the United States. Starting his career as a staff reporter and worked his way up as an editorial assistant, editor, publisher, and now CEO, Eric has seen the downward spiral of traditional print firsthand and the digital growth of how news is consumed. What's fascinating about Eric's past is that he started working as managing editor of the internet division in the late...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 68
My guest today is Tim Belk. Tim, his wife Sarah, and his children operate Wild Hope Farm out of Chester, South Carolina. This is a fantastic episode about leveraging your skill sets to make a true family affair. As Tim says, while being CEO of Belk, he and his wife Sarah were like two ships passing in the night. This organic farm allowed them to do something together and leverage her idea of becoming an organic farmer and his experience as a retail operator and CEO.After the Belk Family sold the...
May 26, 2022•55 min•Ep. 67
My guest today is Mason George. Mason is an entrepreneur and business executive with IMC Companies. IMC Companies was started by his Father, Mark George, 40 years ago with just one driver. Today, it is one of the top Intermodal Carriers in the United States. At close to a billion dollars in revenue, it’s quite the story to take a company from one driver to where it is today. Our supply chain is more critical today than ever before. The United States is the largest importer globally, and it’s no ...
May 12, 2022•2 hr•Ep. 67
My guest today is Rick Spell. Rick is the owner of Spell Restaurant group. Before acquiring and operating restaurants around the Southeastern United States, Rick spent decades building a highly successful career as an investment banker for Morgan Keegan (now Raymond James). Rick employs over 500 people through their ownership group. As you may know, currently, more than 11 million jobs are open, and over 6 million people are unemployed around the United States. This is an excellent episode with ...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 66
My guest this week has a story that’s nuts! So far in my life, I have yet to meet someone who has overcome more obstacles in their life to become an entrepreneur in the United States and benefit from capitalism. My guest this week is Sandra Xing. Sandra’s parents were taken away by Mao Zedong’s red party when she was 8. She raised her brother and herself. She witnessed her Mother be shamed and punished because her family came from the Black party. Eventually came to the United States when her si...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 65
My guest today is PGA Tour Champions Golfer Doug Barron. Doug turned pro on the PGA Tour in 1992, played for nine years, and then was out of the game professionally for seven years. In 2019, when everyone thought he was crazy, Doug flew to Europe, qualified, and finished 5th at the Senior British Open. Since then, he has won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in 2019 and The Shaw Charity Classic in 2021, also known as the Champions Tour Workhorse… Whether you’re a golfer or not, this is a great epis...
Mar 31, 2022•59 min•Ep. 64
My guest today is Will Chase. Will is the former CEO of Triumph Bank. Triumph Bank was started right before the Financial crisis of 2008 with just a few million dollars and sold for over 130 million dollars. The number of new banks opening around the United States has drastically changed since the 2008 financial crisis, and I wanted to find out why. This episode will give you much more than that and the future of banking. This is a great episode that also covers: What it actually looks like to q...
Mar 17, 2022•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 63
My guest today is Steve Glenn. Steve is an entrepreneur and CEO of Plant Prefab. After closing its series B round at $30 Million, Plant Prefab is locked in on changing the game of how homes are built... Plant Prefab is backed by high-profile investors, including Amazon, Asahi Kasei, Gerdau Paris Ventures, and Obvious Ventures. They recognize the massive market opportunity that Plant Prefab is capitalizing on. We all know the pain points. There’s an undersupply of homes, rising material costs, in...
Feb 24, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 62
Who says crowdfunding has to be sketchy? There's a new way to access investment opportunities since the jobs act of 2012 , and this real estate family is bringing direct access to the marketplace. My guest today is Adam Kaufman. Adam is the co-founder of ArborCrowd. Based out of New York City, ArborCrowd is the only commercial real estate crowdfunding platform backed by a publicly-traded mortgage REIT. Arbor Realty Trust . This is a great conversation with Adam where you will hear: What's the hi...
Jan 27, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 61
I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off 2022 than with an interview like this! My guest today is Mason George. Mason is an entrepreneur and business executive with IMC Companies. IMC Companies was started by his Father, Mark George, 40 years ago with just one driver. Today, it is one of the top Intermodal Carriers in the United States. At close to a billion dollars in revenue, it’s quite the story to take a company from one driver to where it is today. Our supply chain is more critical toda...
Jan 13, 2022•1 hr 59 min•Ep. 60
My Guest today is Garrott McClintock. Garrott is the COO of AcreTrader. AcreTrader is a hot new start-up out of Fayetteville, Arkansas, that recently finished a series its 12 Million Dollar funding round. AcreTrader matches investors with farmland while giving Farmers the land they need to grow their operation. Did you know that In 1935, there were 7 million farms, and now there are only 2 million in operation? What’s changed? Why is farming so hard? What is often hard for farmers to grow their ...
Dec 30, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 60
My Guest today is Gary Wunderlich. Gary is an entrepreneur and investor. At the age of 26, Gary founded Wunderlich Securities and he and his team turned Wunderlich into a national full service and investment banking firm. 400+ employees and two decades later, Wunderlich Securities sold to B. Riley for 67 Million Dollars. In 2020, Gary Co-Founded Live Oak Merchant Partners. Since the founding Live Oak has launched four SPACS (also known as blank check companies) where they are investing in biotec...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 59
Before we get started, I want to share a few things about the value with this week's episode. Over the last 20+ months, the world has been in a unique place. There's been a record number of people quitting their jobs, and our country's supply chain has been challenged in extreme ways. Even with these challenges, there are men and women across the United States committed to buckling down and producing the things we utilize daily. Even with all of these obstacles, there has been tremendous demand ...
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 58
My guest today is Sam Sawyer. Not many would leave their career at the top of their field to launch a startup disrupting the space they once built their career in. After leaving Dallas, Texas, and working for Silicon Valley Based ZeroDown Sam launched Archetape, where he is Founder and CEO. After an early-stage investment round by Mucker Capital, Sam is building out Archetape and growing it throughout the Southeast U.S.A. Sam believes the future of residential real estate will continue to change...
Nov 18, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 57
My guests today are Patrice and Jerry Thompson. Patrice and her family own and operate the legendary Four Way Restaurant out of Memphis, TN. The Four Way attracts visitors from all over the world. In addition to being known for its famous soul food, the Four Way is also a place with rich history and significance. In this interview, you’ll hear how Martin Luther King spent a lot of time at the Four Way during the civil rights movement. Additionally, this restaurant has seen guests such as Elvis P...
Nov 04, 2021•2 hr 7 min•Ep. 56
My Guest today is Harry Smith. Harry is an author, former public accountant, entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Can you imagine moving to a new city at the age of 37 and taking over one of the largest private companies in that city while it’s facing chapter 7 bankruptcy? After growing up in Florence, Alabama, Harry was recruited to Memphis, TN, to take over Schilling enterprises. As of 1980, Schilling Enterprises ( real estate, HVAC, trucking, automobile sales, and the auto parts indust...
Oct 21, 2021•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 55
My guest today is Andy Cates. Andy is an entrepreneur, investor, and community activist. Here’s a little about Andy... - Founder and CEO of RVC Outdoor Destinations - Managing Member of the Value Acquisition Fund - Founding Chairman and President of the Memphis Fourth Estate (Daily Memphian) - Founding Chairman of the Soulsville Revitalization Project (one of the largest inner-city revitalization projects in the United States) With several others responsible for bringing the Vancouver Grizzlies ...
Oct 07, 2021•51 min•Ep. 54
My guest today is Karen Carrier. Karen is an artist, chef, and entrepreneur. Karen began her career in New York City after dropping out of college and enrolling in culinary school. She got her start working with Chef Susan Trilling, and the rest is history. Karen is nationally recognized by publications such as New York Times, Food and Wine, National Geographic, Garden and Gun, and more. Karen has been invited twice to cook at the acclaimed James Beard House in New York City. Karen has served as...
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 53
My Guest today is Hilliard Crews. Hilliard is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Hilliard left his family's business and started MCR safety in 1974. As of 2019, MCR had sales of 255 Million dollars worth of Personal Protective Equipment. You may not know that Hilliard's first year in business, he made just $3,000 and got a job working at night at a truck line to supplement his families income. Hilliard and MCR Safety averaged more 80% growth compounded annually for his first ten year...
Sep 09, 2021•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 52
My Guest today is Scott Sauls from Nashville, TN. Scott is the Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. Prior to moving to Nashville, Scott served on staff under Tim Keller in New York City at Redeemer Church . You may ask, what prompted me to ask a pastor for the first time on this podcast? I wanted to have Scott on this podcast because I heard that when he moved from New York City to Nashville, Christ Pres had many people leave. As Scott described it, this was a rebuilding eff...
Sep 02, 2021•56 min•Ep. 51
My guest today is Steve Nash. Steve is the founder of Advance Memphis. Advance Memphis was founded over 20 years ago when Steve had it on his heart to help men and women find financial stability through work. There was no elaborate plan, and Steve’s work started when he left his job and drove his grandmother’s Toyota Camry picking up people and driving them around the City of Memphis to find work. Currently, 34 Million people are living beneath the USA poverty line. I am blown away by Steve’s pe...
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 50
Hey Everybody, I’m doing a re-release this week. I am going to air one of the episodes I have heard the most feedback from since this one was released on the last day of 2020. My Guest today is Jean McGhee. Jean and her Husband Shawn acquired Hollywood Feed in 2005, and it is the fastest-growing pet retail store in the Country with 106 stores. As you know, the Covid pandemic caused many changes, but one of those is a significant increase in the amount of Pet Owners around the USA. Currently, 67%...
Aug 12, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 49
My guest today is James Maclin. James is out of Memphis, TN, where he is the founder of M&M Enterprise, a multi-family real estate company. Before founding M&M Enterprise, James spent 20+ years working for the extremely successful Mid America Apartment Communities. Mid America was founded by Memphian George Cates and is an incredible success story. On this episode with James, you’ll hear: Going out on your own isn’t easy- what he would do differently and what has been better than he expe...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 48
