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Alpharetta Business Radio

Month: February 2013

Yvonne Riner & Todd Burkhalter discuss Bartering and Wealth Management topics

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Our two guests today were Yvonne Riner with Uber Trade LLC, who explains the advantages of using barter in your business, including using it to get new clients. And, Todd Burkhalter, a Financial Planner and Partner at Ashworth & Sullivan Wealth Management Group, who discusses how financial planning can help individuals and families meet their goals for wealth creation, preservation and create a legacy.

Yvonne Riner is the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Uber Trade LLC, an online barter exchange based in Alpharetta.  With over 500 members and 25 non-profit members, Yvonne and her husband Preston have plans to rapidly expand their concept nationwide.

Business owners are consistently challenged to do more with less and to seek ‘multiple’ and ‘creative ways’ to promote their business. The times of relying on one medium as your revenue source no long exist.  Find out how business owners are introducing ‘bartering’ as a new marketing channel and means to more to their bottom line when you listen to Yvonne discuss Uber Trade and how you can use it too.

If you are a non-profit, you’ll certainly want to tune in and learn how non-profits are using barter as a way to raise money and gain support for their causes.

Yvonne says she is a transplant from Florida, and a GA Bulldog alum where she earned her Executive MBA. She serves as a board member and an ambassador for the Johns Creek Chamber of Commerce, volunteers with the Alpharetta Business Association, is an ambassador for the UGA MBA Alumni,  and as marketing co-chair for the Hospitality Industry Ministry. Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to establish Riner Associates, which provides marketing and business services for local non-profits.

You can contact Yvonne at ypriner@comcast.net or 770-329-3276. Their website is www.UberTrade.com.

Todd Burkhalter, partner in Ashworth & Sullivan Wealth Management Group, is a standout among wealth managers having been named five times as an Atlanta Magazine Five Star Wealth Manager for Best in Client Satisfaction in 2008 through 2011 and now again in 2012. Five Star Best In Client Satisfaction Wealth Managers are selected as a result of a rigorous research process. The resulting list represents no more than 4% of the wealth managers within a specific market area. Also, in 2010 named as a Top Wealth Manager in the Southeast by Newsweek Magazine. In 2011 and 2012, was recognized by The National Association Of Insurance and Financial Advisors as a member of The Top 40 Advisors Under 40 in Atlanta. These recognitions and awards are indicative of the passion he has for helping others achieve more reflect the skill, depth of expertise and competence of the team backing up Todd in serving his clients.

Todd says he’s been privileged to assist families, business owners, and professionals in realizing their financial dreams. Through a commitment to excellence, he has been fortunate to build a solid client base throughout the United States, which continually expands through referrals from satisfied clients.

Saying his company is very focused on serving its current customers best by understanding their needs, goals and situation in depth, Todd emphasizes their dedication to in-depth personal service to clients is a defining difference between his company and so many other. That, and their philosophy of costing a client a net of zero through sage investing, wise management of assets and careful planning gives you yet another reason to contact Todd.

You can reach him at 404.429.4132 On the Web: www.toddburkhalter.com or at www.ashworthsullivan.com Email him at: todd@ashworthsullivan.com

Help for Retailers Facing a Tight Market; Make Your Website Work Harder and Sell More

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Stu Kent with SW Kent & Associates, LLC, a consulting expert in the retail industry shares some hard truths about retailing today but provides answers that you can put to work in your company. Meredith Kahan, a principal in Vesist Media, LLC, a web and graphics design company provides insights about the different impact on your success of a poorly executed site and one done by professionals who bring graphic design, technology, and business acumen to the process.

Stu Kent SW Kent & Associates

Stu Kent, a 30 plus year veteran of big box and medium size retail management knows what works and what doesn’t. A global thinker, he’s tuned in to demographic and cultural shifts that are already impacting retailers and that all retailers will need to understand to survive and grow an a tight market era. You’ll really want to learn what he sees for retailers coming out of the great recession and how to take advantage of the trends.

A consultant to some very large franchise organizations today and counting dozens of retailers across the nation as clients, Stu brings insights and solutions to declining sales, flat growth and tight margins. You’ll want to engage Stu if you are a franchisor with struggling franchisees. He’ll get them on track for success.

If you are a retail store owner wondering how to get on the growth track, give Stu a call, he’ll spend the time with you to understand your situation and offer sound advice on the way forward. You can reach him at: 866-235-1240 or email swkent@comcast.net.

Meredith Kahan, Versist Media

Meredith Kahan has an MS in Digital Imaging and Design and is marketing professional by trade. Her partner, located in Denver and their technical team , bring 30 years of technology experience and deep expertise to developing a website that meets any requirement. Counting large and small firms from New York to the west coast and even abroad as customers, they have a solid reputation and many years in business backing them up.

Just as a good magazine layout or well done display catches your eye and gets you to consider their content or features, a professionally done website does the same thing. But that won’t help if no one sees your site. That’s where social media marketing and SEO come in. If you are not an expert in these, you need to contact Versist Media, they are experts and can make these tools bring more prospects to you.

Unfortunately, many business owners have amateurish site, built with tools on inexpensive systems. And their visitors notice it. With less than 10 seconds to convince a web visitor not to click away, many of these home built sites actually drive away business.

It’s why you need professionals to do your website. You wouldn’t let your kid do surgery on you or use garden shears to remove your appendix just because they were handy or cheap. If you wouldn’t let untrained amateurs do surgery or use a cheap solution on you, why use the same approach to create your most customer-facing business presence, your website?

Get in touch with Meredith at 973-495-3510 or email her at mkahan@versistmedia.com

 

The Secrets to Business Success from Marketing to Mindset and Taxes to Technology

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Purple Snowflakes Get Noticed, white ones don’t. Our guest, Dagmar Sands, is a true success story with a list of successes in live, business and real estate that won’t fit on five or six closely spaced pages. President of Dagmar Sands – Real Estate International, Inc., an international real estate group and luxury property marketing firm, networking wonder, mentor to many and the brains and drive behind Johns Creek City Guide, an online community resource that has helped draw many to Johns Creek. She and the Guide have likely facilitated more business connections that have made people money than AT&T. She is originally from Czechoslovakia although you’d never pick up on it in her speech and is fluent in about five languages…  Which helps explain why she’s such a powerhouse international property broker.

What a great person to talk about the power of helping others and making your business stand out from the crowd.  She explains more than just what a city guide can do to help connect people and companies with services and opportunities and why that is so critical to your success today. Dagmar also delivers wonderful insights into the business and personal secrets that made her a well known, well respected and sought after speaker, mentor and partner.

Her upcoming book is all about getting noticed and you’ll want to stay in touch and get a copy as soon as it’s available, especially if you are one of the 1.3 million Realtors out there aspiring to stand out and get the best deals.

You can reach Dagmar at: www.johnscreekcityguide.com, email her at dagmar@johnscreekcityguide.com or call 404-313-3456.

HCREW Technologies President and Co-Owner Tommy Higginbotham and his team work with you like business partners, not technocrats. Why? Because Tommy literally grew up an entrepreneur along side his dad who ran his own business. He and his partner understand their job is to help their clients save money and make smart decisions on technology to improve business infrastructure reliability, decrease operating costs and increase productivity.

Offering consultative advice on a company’s technology, data and network setups, Tommy’s company tackles the soft underbelly of so many firms dependent on IT infrastructure to operate. They start by making sure the equipment and software are maintained, monitored for problems and proactively upgraded so small glitches are caught before they become catastrophes.

Helping be sure if “the asteroid hits your building” you can carry on today what with today’s firm so dependent on IT, is essential to survival. After all, how long can you operate with no way to get to your Accounts Receivable records? It’s why they offer monitored backups of your systems and data so ifthe worst happens,  your critical customer records, accounting data, sales information, etc., can all be back up and running almost instantly.

If you are small business, even if it’s just one PC and you can’t see living without it… up to a medium size firm, you’ll want to invite Tommy in for a review of your situation. After all, the business you save might be your own!

You can contact Tommy at www.hcrewtech.com or email thigginbotham@hcrewtech.com and call 855-427-3986.

CPA, CFA and Business Adviser Steve Rothschild, with RRB Financial Services, has been helping businesses small and large avoid not just the tax traps but dodge the tiger pits that kill so many start-ups and growing firms. Steve’s company sets itself apart by helping you interpret the numbers and take action on what they are telling you.

Blending a combination of common sense and sound business advice in with the numbers you need to run your business along with sound tax advice, he helps you avoiding getting one of those “Dear Felon” letters from the IRS. Since 1987, Steve has helped firms avoid thinking about gaming the tax code but instead of putting the code to work for them in a positive way that returns big bucks to the company to help it grow.

If you are starting a company, have a new growing one , or own an established successful one, Steve can help you look to the future so you create an exit strategy and retirement program that will maximize your wealth and secure a comfortable and worry-free retirement.

You can contact Steve at www.rrbcpa.com email steve@rrbcpa.com or call 404-974-3066.

Mayor Mike Bodker of Johns Creek and Mike Caines & David Shavzin ISO Certification

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The Johns Creek Story – What makes a city great

The Mayor of Johns Creek, Mike Bodker, was our first guest discussing Why Johns Creek was formed in 2006, what lead up to the decision and his pivotal role in the process.  He did such a terrific job that he was elected the city’s firs mayor and is now serving a second term.

Many cities are now incorporating because of the many advantages they have as chartered entities. Keeping tax money at home, gaining control over police, fire, planning and 911 service are just a few of the advantages Johns Creek has discovered.

Calling the city “the Beverly Hills” of Georgia is no exaggeration. It is one of the wealthiest cities in the US with most of the best schools in Atlanta. It is respected for its well-managed, planned and sensible approach to growth, citizen service, governmental efficiency, community outreach, a spirit of volunteerism, and a reputation as a community that contributes generously to worthy causes.

Anyone interested in learning how a city can really serve the goals of a community through sensible guided growth and effective, cost conscious government will want to listen in.  To find out more about the process of city formation or reforms that can save tax dollars, contact the Mayor. For companies looking for a great city to headquarter in, you’ll want to have a look at the City of Johns Creek.

You can reach Mayor Bodker  at 678-512-3313. You can also contact him and other departments and the other organizations through the city’s website at www.johnscreekga.gov.

Process Improvement and ISO Certification to Grow Profit and Sales

Mike Caines and David Shavzin and team are process improvement and ISO certification consultants. They help companies streamline their operations and improve financial results by examining every aspect of their business processes. Starting from customer to vendor and every department in between, they work with their clients with the objective of making the flow smooth where interactions and customer experience are exceptional.

Explaining that process improvement isn’t about seeking to eliminate people but rather examining the processes that have grown up in a company and, in conjunction with the people involved using a proven process to look for ways to streamline, simplify and focus the way things are done.

That process produces savings but also sales. It cuts friction costs out such as too much or too little inventory, wasted effort in flows, documentation, lost or misplaced equipment, confusion, etc.

In fact, the process will, the delight the CEO, the CFO as well as the people who were formerly wasting time and emotional effort struggling with the old ways of doing things.

ISO is what could be described as a holistic process that a company adheres to in order to systematically improve their customer’s experience, streamline their operations and turn problems into opportunities to grow and stay focused on results.

Surprisingly, ISO certification is available for almost any company and may or may not be part of a process improvement project. But, as it is often the key to the door for a company wishing to do business with large companies, it can be a key differentiator between you and your competition.

David works with teams as does Mike, helping deal with the human emotional dimensions of change. Change often fails to implant itself if that is not handled well and they are experts at dealing with the issues involved.

One thing that can help businesses in Georgia is generous tax breaks for instituting a process improvement program. One client received a six figure refund as a result. Now that’s real stimulus!

You can find out about process improvement and ISO Certification by contacting Mike and David as follows:

Mike Caines can be reached www.mariettabusinesscoach.com, mcaines@mariettabusinesscoach.com or 770-826-2559 and David Shavzin at dshavsin@shavzinassociates.com, www.shavzinassociates.com dshavzin@shavzinassociates.com or call 678-795-1750.