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Alpharetta Business Radio

Non-Profits

Al Mishkoff, Jo Ann Tuttle, Jeff Sheehan and Brittni Ping Guests

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Our show today covers topics from garage floor coatings to increase your home’s appeal and utility, construction consulting services for companies and governments to take the pain out of accounting and reporting, using sophisticated psychometric testing to help your college student make the right choices, to expert advice on how to use social media to promote your business so you don’t do more damage than good.

Al Mishkoff is president of Granite Garage Floors, a residential services company that upgrades garage floors with a durable, functional and decorative epoxy coating system that will give your garage a look worthy of Jay Leno’s garage. With businesses opened in four cities besides Atlanta and expansion plans afoot, other areas will soon be able to turn their dirty, stained old garages into showcases.

Using diamond grinders and a lot of preparation of the floor makes sure the foundation of the home comes up before Al’s durable coating ever comes up. Well almost anyway, he says that his floor is guaranteed to stay down and not peel like acid prepped surfaces with epoxy paint usually do.  With an infinite range of looks you can turn an old dusty garage into a stain proof and easy to clean one.

You can contact Al Mishkoff and find out more at www.granitegaragefloors.com email him at alan@granitegaragefloors.com or call 770-329-1751.

Jo Ann Tuttle started her consulting firm JAT Consulting Services, Inc., 19 years ago and it now helps governmental agencies such as Hartsfield Jackson Airport manage the financial complexities of its $6.2 billion capital improvement program working for International Aviation Consultants LLC. Taking the complex payments, compliance reporting and contracting details for cities and municipalities are another service her firm provides.

The city of Dunwoody is an example where her company handles all finance, budget and purchasing activities for the newly incorporated city. This model of outsourcing services to private parties to keep government overhead low and results responsive to the citizens is a popular trend here and other governments could well improve services and cut costs with JAT.

A person who gives back, Ms. Tuttle is a member of the Airport Minority Advisory Council, Consulting engineering of Georgia and the Women’s Transportation Seminar. She coaches and helps contractors working in places like Hartsfied-Jackson (there are over 700 contractors, many small) learn business skills and gain the knowledge that simply can’t be learned anywhere else through seminars and mentoring.

Saying she believes that giving back to help these companies not just gives you sense of personal satisfaction that’s hard to duplicate, it also builds a stronger Atlanta.

You can contact Ms. Tuttle at 770-975-7359 email her at joanntuttle@jatconsulting.net or on the web at www.jatconsulting.net.

Brittini Ping is President of Students & College, an information services company for parents and their children who are in the process of selecting a college and thinking of how to cut the costs of a higher education given today’s massive costs for college.

We’re all different and understanding those differences can help you and your college bound children pick the right major and school the first time and save frustration and money later on. That’s what Brittini and her team do for families grappling with college choices and costs.

A division of BestWork DATA, a psychometric testing firm used by companies to help understand how to best place employees in positions and the best strategies for helping their employees maximize their potential, Students & College uses the same powerful testing tools to help you and your son or daughter understand the areas where they will do their best and be happy in their major. By picking the right major up front, you avoid the high cost of having to swap majors later and spend an added year to get a degree, an obvious benefit to the cost conscious.

As important, you and your son or daughter will gain valuable insights as to the college that is likely to be the best fit be that a small liberal arts school or a school with tens of thousands of students. We’re all different and understanding those differences can help you and your college bound children pick the right major and school the first time and save frustration and money later on.

You can reach Brittni Ping at 770-274-0518 x 8300, via email at brittni.ping@celebratestrengths.com or on the web at www.studentsandcollege.com

Jeff Sheehan is President of Sheehan Marketing Strategies, a firm that helps companies use the right mix of social media to drive business and avoid the many pitfalls of “do it yourself” social media approaches can harbor.  Explaining it is not something that will work for every company nor will the same social media channels work with every situation, Jeff says that you really must understand the problems and characteristics of your marketing goals and match that to the right media for the job. That media might be social media or not and if it is, then it might be LinkedIn but not twitter.

Knowing takes a professional and Jeff brings his major ad agency background with him when discussing and advising companies on how best to use this “new media.”

An active speaker in the Atlanta community, Jeff is well known for his volunteer work with career ministries helping others to learn how to think about and use social media in their job search and to develop a personal brand.

You can put his years of experience marketing products to and for major companies like Cisco, Apple, HP, Dow Chemical, and IBM to work in your firm helping you makes sense of and get real business out of today’s new media.

Jeff Sheehan can be reached at 770-366-1047 by email at jeffsheehan2010@gmail.com or on the web at http://sheehanmarketingstrategies.com

Jim Lynch with Lynchpin Associates, LLC ; Carson Cowan with The Carson Cowan State Farm Agency; and Tim Koenning with Transamerica Financial Advisors

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Guests today were Jim Lynch with Lynchpin Associates, LLC ; Carson Cowan with The Carson Cowan State Farm Agency; and Tim Koenning with Transamerica Financial Advisors.

Jim Lynch with Lynchpin Associates applies his many years experience of working with The Coca-Cola Company and UPS where he tackled introducing or repositioning these iconic brands into some 63 countries to large and small firms.

It doesn’t take long to recognize Jim is an expert in strategic planning, performance and program management, marketing and change management and  dealing with different cultures and ways of doing business.

Jim brings his amazing depth of experience and skill to leaders of companies large and small, helping them clarify their vision and turn those into actionable plans for taking their firms into new markets or countries or improve their operations and processes.

An Executive MBS from Emory’s Goizuetta Business School while with Coca-Coal, he improved his skills and refreshed his knowledge as he move over to UPS. We’d say it paid off handsomely. You will also find Jim payoff off handsomely when you retain him to help your company with strategic and tactical issues.

You can reach Jim at 678-916-3938 email: lynchpin@bellsouth.net on the web www.lynchpinassociaes.com

Carson Cowan recently opened The Carson Cowan State Farm Agency in Alpharetta. An eight year veteran with State Farm, Carson and his team are delivering primarily thought of as an auto and homeowner insurance company, in fact they have a huge array of very cost effective policies for businesses he legendary personal service State Farm is know for to families and businesses in Atlanta.  Tim says that while State Farm is and non-profits. Errors and Omission, Directors and Officer Liability, Health, general liability, workman’s comp… the list is long and impressive.

You’ll be surprised to learn they have excellent financial planning products and services too.

If you are a business who is seeking an almost total one stop high service insurance carrier, give Carson a call. Likewise, if you are an individual, be proactive and talk with Carson about how State Farm can save you money on insurance, make sure you have adequate insurance to meet the risks that life brings our -way and discuss your wealth-building options as well.

You can reach Carson at 770-864-5840 email carson@carsoncowan.com on the web www.carsoncowan.com

Tim Koenning represents Transamerica Financial Advisors specializingin helping individuals and families make the most of their retirement. With a broad array of products and services , Tim helps young families plan for a secure future in an uncertain world and helps those baby boomers  who are retiring maximize their returns and help the rest of the “Silver Tsunami” make their nest eggs work harder for them now.  Many families are faced with investing large sums accumulated by their parents which have been passed to them. Tim can offer advice and options that take the confusion out of handling complex investment decisions as well.

You can reach Tim at 770-418-0300  X 118 email tim.koenning@tfaconnect.com on the web www.tfaconnect.com

Julie Grace of Grace Design on Marketing Strategy and Tactics; Reid Trego of Huntington Learning Center on Improving a Childs Academic Skills

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Julie Grace, owner of Grace Design, a marketing strategies and implementation firm, comes from a career working with non-profit firms, helping them define and promote themselves. Working with some of the household name non-profits, she’s helped craft a sound strategy for them then translated that into specific marketing tactics that accomplish specific goals.

A talented designer and excellent copywriter in her own right, she is also grounded in the business side and emphasizes the need for continuous measurement of results and tuning and tweaking to maximize the ROI on every marketing dollar invested.

For several years now, she’s worked with for both profit and non-profit firms in Atlanta helping them understand and articulate a marketing and brand strategy then managing the execution, delivering the copywriting, collateral and promotional materials, direct mail, email, websites, trade shows and social media services required to execute marketing projects.

When you need a well thought out strategy that builds your image, brand, achieves defined results and catches and holds onto your customers, you’ll definitely want to talk with Julie and her team.

You can reach Julie and Grace Design at: 770-922-1200 email: Julie@gracedesign.net; on the web: www.gracedesign.net

Reid Trego, owner of Huntington Learning Center in Woodstock, has owned the center since 2004. Always interested in influencing and working with young people, he has put his major in psychology and economics to work in a business focused on helping students struggling with academic skills.

Parents most often notice there is a problem when homework time leads to frustration or when grades begin to fall. Reid says these go back most often to problems with basic skills and motivation. Basic skills get missed for many reasons and even with many programs in school to help remediate these issues, not all students are helped.

That’s where Reid and Huntington Learning Centers come in. They work one on one with each student, identify the specific gaps that are the underlying cause of the symptoms the parents see then creating  a carefully designed program that helps get each child back on track.

The difference is individual one on one attention says Reid. Not all children learn the same way, at the same speed or “get it” the way something is presented. Using certified educators, they invest the time to first assess the problem and its causes then provide the ongoing one-on-one specialized help needed to close gaps and ameliorate problems.

For children with leaning disabilities, having the one-on-one help is very critical, many children just need a high level of attention to be their best and that’s what Reid and his center can deliver.

And, coping with the alphabet soup of tests that are so important to a child’s future may mean giving a youngster practice and insights into strategies for taking these tests and answering questions. Even practice applying the right skills may be lacking without training. All the way from basic tests to ACT and SAT, Huntington has a program that will improve results.

Huntington Learning Center is a trusted solution to help ensure your child succeeds; the husband and wife understand the root causes that causing the problems; and then have a clear view of the gaps that make school problematic. From that understanding, the see that Reid’s course of action will help bring their child up to speed.

You can reach Reid and Huntington Learning Center at 678-445-4746 or email: reidtrego@hlcwoodstock.com; on the web: www.huntingtonhelps.com

Diane Prindle – Hiring employees with disabilities; Howard Flint – Marketing effectively in a web-centric world

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Diane Prindle of Briggs & Associates helps employers hire those with disabilities; Howard Flint, President of Ghost Partner helps companies market effectively using the new media and a changed web centric world. Briggs & Associates Diane Prindle helps those with mental disabilities find employment which gives an immense sense of satisfaction to those hired while helping companies discover a new pool of dedicated, grateful and highly effective employees to do many tasks in their companies.  Taxpayers win too as those hired no longer require support from State and Local programs freeing up funds badly needed in other areas. Dispelling the myth that hiring people with mild mental disabilities is fraught with problems, she cites study after study showing they make excellent highly-skilled employees in the right position. Working with the employer, Briggs & Associates analyze the job skills needed in various positions and identify those suited to their pool of individuals. After careful matching, the results surprise the employer because they find their new employee is loyal, on time, dedicated and turn out better results than the people they hired previously. There are many other positive outcomes from stepping forward to see how your company can make a difference for challenged individuals and in the process, improve many aspects of their own company. Contact Diane at 404-290-6860 email: diane@briggsassociates.org Web: www.briggsassociates.org to learn more. Their services are free for the employer and the individuals they help so there is no reason not to reach out and discover a new talent pool. Ghost Partner Howard Flint sold his last company, BUZZ Publishing in 200 but saw that content on the web would soon become vital to being noticed. With a proven network of professional writers, he formed Ghost Partner to help firms navigate the uncharted waters of internet marketing. Working with some very high profile clients like Intuit/Quickbooks and many smaller ones, Howard and his team have rounded out a complete solution for internet marketing using unique, quality content, social media, SEO and website content optimization. His team have the edge over many others offering similar services having done newsletters for years and with a network of proven writers to tackle projects. The result is copy and marketing optimized to get the results you have set for your online marketing and return the highest ROI on your investment. If you struggle with finding or executing an internet/social media marketing strategy that works, you’ll want to be sure and reach out to Howard. Call him at 404-537-2166 X 4 or email: howard@ghostpartner.com Web: www.ghostpartner.com