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Alpharetta Business Radio

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.

Timmothy McFadden, CEOSpace and Gene Hammett, Business Coach with Core Elevation

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Timothy McFadden, Club President Atlanta for CEOSpace and Gene Hammett, Business Coach with Core Elevation were our guests. Our show today focused on ways business owners can dramatically grow their businesses. Each guest explained powerful strategies you can put to work to dramatically improve your business results.

Timothy McFadden explained CEOSpace is a new form of a trade show where you meet top executives and business owners face to face, developing new customers and making contacts who will refer business to you.

With a blend of local meetings and several national meet-ups each year, CEOSpace provides a blend of high level networking between company owners as well as CE Credits in many industries in every state. It is why the annual meeting attracts hundreds of top business people, educators and governmental leaders including John Kerry and Barack Obama who have spoken at their meetings.

They give back with a program for students in high school and college where 90% of their fee is paid. Imagine the life-altering experience spending a few days meeting with people who are successful business owners, heads of major corporations and top governmental leaders would do for the future of your son or daughter.

CEOSpace’s structured combination of networking, education and deal making fulfills an important function and is something progressive business owners and parents who understand the value of exchanging ideas and meeting other successful business owners and civic leaders will want to learn more about.

You can reach Timothy at 404-775-9606, email tmm@ceospaceatlanta.com or the web www.ceospaceatlanta.com.

Gene Hammett, Business Coach and owner of CORE Elevation, specializes in helping business owners grow their business using a four step process so they see sales grow and their company thrive.

A successful business owner before he turned to coaching, Gene brings the mindset of a former entrepreneur and business owner to coaching and his orientation toward promotion, differentiation, growth through purposeful action and commitment. His unique program is an outgrowth of his experiences in his business… and with having his own business coach. He credits that decision with being one of the major reasons he was doubling sales year over year. Today, he has two coaches working with him because a coach makes even a coach more effective and focused.

Gene has a special focus on the web and digital world of programmers, web developers and creative agencies but has clients in other businesses as well. His focus on the digital sector gives him an understanding of the unique challenges of those companies and the jargon used. In a word, he understands.

If you are serious about changing the results in your business this year, you’ll want to talk with Gene or catch one of his free webinars.  You can reach Gene at 678-242-9957 or email gene@corelevation.com and www.coreelevation.com.

Team building from hiring to inspiring; Bringing Hollywood Here

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Alan Allard with Predictive Results, discusses how small firms to large can use EEOC compliant behavioral assessments to hire smarter, place people in the right job, and develop skills and behavior scientifically. Find out the secret to hiring the right person the first time – you sales managers pay particular attention – and avoid the very high cost and potential for lawsuits that comes with firing the wrong person who didn’t work out.

You can reach Alan at www.predictiveresults.com or call 678-778-9012.

The flip side of having teams is developing them into cohesive groups who work well together, are engaged and loyal and passionate about their company and their job. Kenny Zale of Making Teams Rock, brings his years of experience with sales management and a career as a professional musician to the art of team development through engagement strategies.

His company uses safe, business focused yet engaging events and games to teach people why it’s necessary and how to work together to succeed.  Meeting planners and owners seek out Kenny to help them create learning experiences that translate back to the workplace in the form of increased awareness of their teammates as people and the best ways to work together for a common goal. You can find out more at www.makingteamsrock.com or call Kenny at 404-861-5130. He has a new book “Did Beethoven Do the Dishes – How to lead teams to success” coming out soon and is a great resource for progressive companies who understand the power of teams.

Hollywood is making big movies in Georgia and the Atlanta area today. One reason is FLIPSFilm. Dale Sizemore, CEO and Founder, simplifies and streamlines the frustrating, time-consuming, arduous task of getting all the filming permits needed to produce a commercial or a Hollywood Blockbuster. Dale says that local and state governments have, for good reason, permitting requirements that although usually sensible and necessary, are different for different jurisdictions and even between departments. Different forms, terminology and timetables slow or even stall productions that can run over $40 million and representing perhaps millions in spending locally.

His company uses a combination of technology and legwork to simplify the process for the filmmaker and simplify the process for the many governmental departments involved in the permitting process. His team standardizes the process from the filmmaker’s point of view and delivers every bit of information each governmental department involved needs to approve a permit quickly and in compliance with guidelines.

Everyone wins when the process is fast and FIPSFilm collapses the time to days or a few weeks instead of months or perhaps, never.

Working nationwide, FLIPSFilm, headquartered here in Alpharetta, eases movie making while increasing revenue coming into local communities daily. If you are in the commercial movie or video production business, you’ll want to contact Dale. If you are a local government who wants to attract Hollywood spenders to your jurisdiction, you’ll really want to contact Dale. You can reach him at www.flipsfilm.com or 678-576-5100.

Web Development and Top Grade IT Recruiting – 3×400.com and The Royak Group

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Web development has come a long way since the early 90’s when sites were hand crafted and developers were designers and coders and sites were carved seemingly in granite, rarely changed and seldom being more than an electronic version of an old business phone directory ad.

Wow, has all that changed! Today sites are dynamic and evolving continually, content is user updateable by almost anyone who can use Word. Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines use  fresh content and social media as part of deciding where your website will rank when people search.

How sites are developed has also matured with free “open source” technology platforms that streamline web development so for a fraction of what things cost back when, your site can have Facebook like features, shopping carts, catalogs, photo and video galleries, event management….

You no longer need to start with a blank sheet of paper to add features and extend capabilities so you reduce risk and increase ROI.  There are well over 10,000 “plug ins” – ready to use code – today that you can use to add features like those for just a few dollars  None the less, it still requires IT professionals who know the technology and who come with the skill to extend or modify how things work to meet business requirements.

Now one of Atlanta’s largest web development companies, if not the largest, 3by400.com was founded by long time IT professional, Brent Laminac and his partners, at the end of GA 400 back in the early 2000’s and hence the 3by400 name. A GA Tech Grad in Physics, Brent teaches continuing education classes for Emory and GA Tech and many owe their careers to him.

3×400 has developed countless sites and applications for some of Atlanta’s top organizations and have a reputation for creating and delivering responsive sites that meet business needs. In fact, Brent says that one of the challenges business owners face is finding a developer who has an in-depth knowledge of business to guide and help them think through what to have on their site, how to make their firm stand out and get viewers to take the step of buying or contacting the company.

Go to the 3×400 website at www.3by400.com or call 678-379-9321 for complete information.

The Royak Group, headquartered in Johns Creek, helps companies, large and small, find skilled technology professionals who are a perfect fit to the culture while possessing the technology background and business skills to do the job.  Direct placement of candidates, retained search, career guidance and a broad range of business oriented services for technology dependent companies set The Royak Group apart from other firms.

Tim Brennan, Latonya Jackson Cecile Francis and Todd Tolford are recruiters for The Royak Group who explain what makes their company consistently get rehired by firms and recommended while candidates tell their friends and colleagues that when the time for a career change is needed, they must work with this company.

The Royak Group takes on the task of finding top performers who are technically solid so firms see great matches, even in a highly competitive hiring market like today and candidates go on interviews that result in offers.

The recruiters say their secret is their company’s disciplined, person and client centric and data driven approach that puts people and culture front and center. This helps create a perfect fit between employer and candidate.  Helping find those hidden technology wizards is the firm’s detailed database of people they have interviewed and placed, all available to fill positions or to recommend people who are a great fit.

Working with candidates and the hiring companies, there is a strong focus on ensuring there is cultural, personal and career fit before anyone ever interviews. They do that through a 19 point process that includes fact to face interviews and screening of candidates so no one wastes time running to interviews or sorting through stacks of electronic applications.

In other words, The Royak Group delivers time-efficient, comprehensive solutions for both clients and candidates. Following up with them and helping put people where they can excel.

Beyond recruiting, The Royak Group has a solutions consulting group who can bring teams of technologists together on a project basis to help firms take on critical projects on an as needed basis.

You can find the full story and reach The Royak Group at www.theroyakgroup.com or call 770-772-5111.

Joe LaBranche – Warrior2Citizen, Adrian Queenan – ExpandaBrand, Marian Massie – Hypnotherapist/Success Coach

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Our guests today all focus on helping people. One helps PTSD traumatized Veterans who have put their lives on the line for us and our way of live. Another  works with individuals, helping them improve and find new answers to dealing with today’s challenges. The third helps firms use innovation and imagination in advertising to get attention and grow their companies.

Our first guest, Joe LaBranche, is Vice President / Director of Warrior2Citizen, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping returning Veterans deal with the effects of PTSD and combat stress.The program targets troops during that critical transition period in the weeks after returning home by providing high quality, focused psychological and spiritual counseling for the warrior and their family in a peaceful setting that will nurture the healing process without outside distractions.  This is accomplished with one-month long residential programs filled with counseling sessions, interactive family activities and outdoor exercise in beautiful surroundings.

Joe discusses the unique challenges faced by today’s soldier and how their program is changing lives of not just the warrior but also their family.  Contact Joe if you need help at joe.w2c@gmail.com or if you wish to contribute to this worthy cause, visit the organizations website at www.warrior2citizen.org.

Adrian Queenan is the founder and President of ExpandaBrand, an innovator in branding impact, product introduction, attracting attention at trade shows and high impact point of sale marketing. He is responsible for many of the signage innovations commonly used today.  His approach to customer service is a big differentiator he says. By ensuring clients get solutions, not just marketing materials is key. Even where those solutions may range from a simple banner to working with the client to integrate trade show builders, I&D services, and event planning, ExpandaBrand will go the extra mile for clients. Adrians’s approach to business brings not just an incredibly talented team in on the project but also a mindset that delivers fresh, attention-arresting signage approaches to his customers. Get in touch with Adrian a 678-597-4265 and visit their website at www.expandabrand.com.

Tiffany Massie, Hypnotherapist and Success Coach, has been helping Fortune 500 executives, entrepreneurs, attorneys, physicians and individuals achieve greater personal and professional success by helping them eliminate subconscious barriers since 1985. She has authored two books and has proven time and again her approach works because it changes beliefs. Once beliefs are changed, making the changes you need to make to achieve grater personal and professional success is easy.

Contact Tiffany at 770-956-0554 and visit her website at www.marianmassie.com

Johns Creek Foundation and Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra on the power of non-profit organizations

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Wayne Carrel, Director, of the Johns Creek Foundation explains how this non-profit organization started, how it helps non-profit organizations in Johns Creek fund their activities through direct grants and discusses how a unique partnership of private donors, businesses and government has made Johns Creek one of the cities in the Atlanta region with a robust arts council, symphony and school outreach programs. As a non profit organization, learn how you can apply for grants and businesses and individuals discover how you can help by getting involved and contributing.

Wayne Baughman is the Music Director of the acclaimed Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra that puts on fantastic events in the Johns Creek area where our own version of the Boston Pops delivers great music that has people dancing in the isles.  Their school programs expose students to music and give them a way to connect with an aspect of the arts that otherwise may be missed. It’s been very well received and more events are planned. With some 100 musicians to draw from, the Symphony can produce large and small events tailored to different events in the Johns Creek area and puts on many free programs for those who want to listen to great music by a fantastically talented group of professionals.  A beneficiary of grants from the Johns Creek Foundation, the Symphony is growing and thriving at a time so many areas are having to disband their orchestras and end music in schools.

The Royak Group IT Staffing, Smith & Howard CPAs, Woodbridge Group M&A

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Patricia Royak Owner and President of the The Royak Group, has been a highly respected name in IT recruiting and career management since 2002, bringing 20+ years of sales and marketing expertise to create IT solutions tailored to individual company and candidates requirements.  Patricia strives for integrity in information technology by providing best of practice solutions to our customers.

She discusses what the challenges employers face today finding the level of talent who are both technically expert but also able to play a broader role in a company, lead with excellence and communicate effectively and reveals the best strategies for attracting that type candidate. For IT professionals, discover how The Royak Group helps you maximize your career growth at any stage of your career.  Learn why The Royak Group invests in their candidates, providing insights, sage career guidance and counseling to senior and fast-rising IT professionals who want to maximize their career, potential and marketability. Find out what changes you can make that pays off quickly and find out where most candidates seem to have challenges that hold them back and how to overcome them.

The Royak Group delivers prime candidates that are a perfect cultural and technical fit to companies seeking the top candidates for top IT positions.  770-772-5111 www.theroyakgroup.com proyak@theroyakgroup.com.

John Lucht, Managing Partner of Smith & Howard, an Atlanta accounting and advisory firm with over 90 associates, discusses issues his firm is seeing across all industries and business size. Included among those issues are tax uncertainty, healthcare reform implications, short-term versus long-term strategy of business owners, and how to get the most out of your professional service advisors.

John was the practice leader for the firm’s Accounting, Advisory and Assurance Services group. He has experience with a wide range of industries in the privately-held, middle market sector. John spends time with owners and executives of businesses, listening to and advising them on both short and long-term strategy for growth and success.

Smith and Howard has been the recipient of several important honors in the past few years, including being named a “best of the best” firm in the nation by a leading industry publication, as well as this year’s recognition by the Corporate Volunteer Council of Atlanta for the best corporate volunteer campaign of the year. The firm also has received consecutive annual recognitions by the AJC as a Top Work Place in the Atlanta region. 404-874-6244 jlucht@smith-howard.com www.smith-howard.com

Doreen Morgan is an Investment Banker with over 10 years experience in the Franchise Industry. She heads up the Franchise M&A Division with Woodbridge International; a Global Mergers and Acquisition firm dedicated to the representation of privately held middle market companies in eight countries.

Doreen discusses what is happening in the M&A market today, what kind of deals are being structured, what the multiples are being obtained and where money is waiting for good investments and the future of franchise M&A outlook over the next few years.

Of particular interest to franchisors who are privately owned will be the details of what to expect and how to prepare your franchise so you maximize your gain when you finally sell your company.

Any franchisor or company owner thinking of franchising their company will learn a great deal about the specialized world of franchise mergers and acquisitions.

She specializes in Sell-Side representation and has a solid a track record in exit strategy and negotiation. (678) 710-2801 or doreenmorgan@woodbridgegrp.com www.woodbridgegrp.com.