The Leader Mentality

This week we had the special treat of having Jan Dobr from Beachfront Kitchen and Bar with us again. We did the show live from his restaurant while promoting an event to raise money for Kind Keeper Animal Rescue. This is an initiative that Jan has been doing every Wednesday since he started the program and it's been a popular community event that has helped many different organizations since he started it.

Highlights:

-Our show was focused around a fundraiser to raise money for Kind Keeper Animal Rescue. Kind Keeper is a no-kill animal facility that takes in animals in need of a home

-Kind Keeper is currently trying to build a new facility to help more pets and needs more donations to help with the build. Please considering donating today!

-The fundraiser works like this: when people come into the Beachfront Kitchen and Bar on Wednesday's every spaghetti meal ordered will raise $10 for the charity of choice. Great food for the customers, keeping the employees active with new customers and raising money for a great cause!

-On this night, we raised more than $400 for Kind Keeper

-Jan has a provision he lives by called Live It...he shares with us how it guides him and motivates him in life

-Jan started his community program as a one time event; it was so popular that he decided to continue it every week

-Beachfront Kitchen and Bar is doing a big Easter special this weekend - Jan shared this info on the show. Come enjoy one of the nicest places on the beach and enjoy food with family!

-Thanks to Carolina Bays Real Estate and Construction for helping sponsor the event!

For more on Beachfront Kitchen and Bar please visit: https://beachfrontkitchenandbar.com/

For more on Kind Keeper Animal Rescue please visit:https://kindkeeper.wixsite.com/kindkeeper

This week Doug Obenour joined us to talk about how to find talent for your company. Doug has many years of experience in finding and recruiting talent. His current aim is to bring people into the Construction Industry – one of the highest demand fields in the country. Recruiting in an industry that has such a deficit in relation to needed jobs to fill versus amount of workers available is a tall task. In this interview, Doug talks about the needs of the industry, how he finds talent and tips to find the best employees for your business.

Show highlights:

-The goal of the Building Talent Foundation is to strengthen the Construction workforce including recruiting and engaging talent

-Prior to his current role, Doug had an impressive career working in both talent acquisition and construction

-The Leader Builders of America (made up of companies such as DR Horton, Beazer and Lennar) founded the Building Talent Foundation in response to the need to get people interested in getting into the construction industry

-Many people are surprised to hear how much construction industry jobs can pay compared to alternate job fields. Starting electricians and HVAC technicians (for example) often start in the $40k range to get started and can get to 6 figures for the best in the field

-Rob mentioned the Dark by 2050 study done by Klein Tools in which the deficit of workers paired with growing needs for electricity throughout the country could lead to widespread power loss

https://data.kleintools.com/sites/all/product_assets/documents/brochures/klein/DarkBy2050_Klein_ResearchPaper.pdf

-While 4 year degrees are great for some students – it is not the best path for every student. Considering the debt many rack up while attending college, it can be advantageous financially to get into a trade right out of college

-Doug  said part of the goal is to give people exposure to the construction industry to see where their passion might be

-If you want to be a business owner – Construction can lead to business ownership quicker than many fields

-Apprenticeship Carolina is a great tool in the Carolinas for businesses that want to develop training programs for employees. There are also financial incentives for providing opportunities to apprentices through the program: https://www.apprenticeshipcarolina.com/

-SC Wins offers tuition coverage at tech schools for certain highly needed fields such as Electrical technicians

-Check out Be Pro, Be Proud – an excellent resource for kids to learn about the construction industry such as trying virtual reality simulators to experience different types of work

-The tips to great recruiting is to – Understand where your potential employees are paying the most attention (social media, events, etc), be present at those areas, focus on explaining the benefits of “why” this is the field for them (not just what the field does) and then let them experience the work first hand. Doug said that often when he finishes speaking to a group of candidates, they are truly interested in hearing more.

For more about Doug or the Building Talent Foundation, visit: https://www.buildingtf.org/

This week was a special treat in which we talked all about the exciting developments and the future of Myrtle Beach with Devin Parks and Howard W Waldie IV, the Director of Economic Development and Chief Innovation Officer, respectively.
For 2023-2024, USNews.com once again has Myrtle Beach listed as the fastest growing place in the US. Devin and Howard talked with us about that growth and how the City of Myrtle Beach leadership is planning for the future to keep the area thriving across the entire spectrum of categories for a successful City. The goal is to continue to embrace the great things about Myrtle Beach, such as the tourist destination, golf courses, a great place to retire and beautiful beaches, while innovating to become a leading city in America. We talked about everything from smart city features, to attracting top businesses and talent, to creating more opportunities through technology.

Some of the highlights:
-These two are such great ambassadors for Myrtle Beach - Devin Parks as the Director of Economic Development and Howard W Waldie IV as the Chief Innovation Officer are passionate about Myrtle Beach being an inspirational leader as a City.
-Devin started early by mentioning that Myrtle Beach is the reigning fastest growing city in America. Check out this article from US News: 25 Fastest-Growing Places in the U.S. in 2023-2024 | U.S. News (usnews.com)
-Howard talked about the excitement he felt when he got the opportunity to come to Myrtle Beach from another area. He said that Myrtle Beach is the example for a great City that others strive to be.
-The Living Lab is one of the stepping-stones to the future for Myrtle Beach; it will attract top minds and entrepreneurs from around the world to the area
-Myrtle Beach is a serious hub for technology - a great example is the DC Blox subsea cable. The City welcomes technological innovators to come to Myrtle Beach to establish their products in a growing City.
-Devin talked about plans for the soon to open Performing Arts Theater as part of the Arts and Innovations district
-Howard took us through some of the features of a Smart City (many of which Myrtle Beach is or will be utilizing in the future). He talked of things such as AI powered stop lights and transportation. Exciting stuff!
-Myrtle Beach celebrated the 86th anniversary of its incorporation in this past week
-Coastal Carolina University and Horry Georgetown Tech are two of the top schools in the Country and are putting out top talent that are increasingly finding local jobs
-We discussed incentives for businesses to come to Myrtle Beach
-Both Howard and Devin shared their appreciation for the unified vision and efforts of Myrtle Beach leadership ranging from the management and coworkers at the City of Myrtle Beach to Myrtle Beach City Council.
-We filmed this show as Sharkey's restaurant in the heart of Myrtle Beach and enjoyed the beautiful view of the ocean the entire time...you cannot beat that!

For more about City of Myrtle Beach - check out:  https://www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com/guests/about_myrtle_beach/index.php
For more on The Living Lab - check out: https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/living-lab-location-grant-discussed-for-smart-city-initiative-in-myrtle-beach/article_cd7711f0-41a5-11ee-a140-efcac6e5b116.html

This week Ryan Foultz, Owner of PCRX Computers, visited with us to talk about the ever changing world of technology in business. Having started his business in 2007, he was able to take us through many topics within the technology industry. We talked about biggest changes that have happened over the last 20 years, how to protect your privacy as a business or personally, smart devices and more. During the show he shared some other tips on how to use AI to help your business grow. Ryan is committed to his community both on the personal and the business front. We hope you all enjoy the knowledge he shared!

Show Highlights:

- “Privacy is the tax we pay for using technology” – Ryan shared this one early in the show and it set the stage for explaining how important it is to protect yourself

-He took us through his career leading up to being a business owner. That trek took him to some fun spots including the Carolina Opry and the old Myrtle Beach Blue Jays team.

-Quantum computers are the future and we need to be ready with protection versus that powerful computing. He described technology like many parts of life and industry...for example, sometimes we build a popular destination that brings in people and then don’t improve the roads to get there until later.

-Ryan is a believer in giving back to the community and helping others. One specific community involvement sounded interesting – Conway Alive: https://conwayalive.com/

-In addition to being a book author, he does a show that airs weekly called “Tech Talk”. The show runs through business technology and security tips for businesses. Catch it weekly on 94.5 Saturday and Sunday

-In his estimation, only about 1 out of 10 people he meets are actually well prepared regarding cyber security measures

-He shared many great AI (artificial intelligence) tips for businesses. Two specific AI platforms he said might help your business grow are…

-Content Studio generates blogs for you based on the content that you would like to write about and

-Missing Letter helps generate social media posts

-While neither Ray nor Leader Mentality endorses any particular AI – you or your business may find value in any of these; just always back check the content AI is producing and find the best software that meets your needs

-We dropped a reminder on the show – Come by Beachfront Kitchen and Bar on March 27th for lunch and dinner and order the spaghetti meal. With each spaghetti meal ordered $10 will be donated to Kind Keeper – a no-kill animal rescue. For info on how to get to Beachfront, visit here: https://beachfrontkitchenandbar.com/

For more about Ryan or PCRX Computers, check them out here: https://www.pcrxcomputers.com/about-us/

Tom Winslow, owner of Winslow Law, met with us to talk about many leadership principles including an insatiable drive to help others. As a founder and leader of a thriving and expanding business Tom continues to build his business with a refreshing mindset that he must work hard to thrive in his field. His goal in doing this hard work is not for selfish glory, but rather to provide best service to customers, to give employees opportunities to grow and to make the best life possible for his family. In this interview he took us on a journey through his career including the challenges and the opportunities that followed. As Tom mentioned, every time something unfortunate happened in his life, a better destiny awaited him. We love that inspiring mindset that shined throughout the show.

Some show highlights:

-In your journey through life, everyone will have some unfortunate circumstances, bad results and missed opportunities. However, those circumstances won’t define who you are – your reaction will. Of all the things we talked about, this was the biggest takeaway. We really enjoyed hearing about each challenge Tom mentioned in life and the following success that came through his positive mindset.

-Work Ethic is important. He humbly says he’s does not believe he’s the smartest guy around, but that he outworks competition through long days – often only sleeping a few hours a night.

-Tom is clear on balance in life. He does have long days, but those days are carefully balanced to include family time, time with employees, time with clients, business growth and person growth time.

-The servant mentality is real – he described leadership as an outlook to help others first and foremost. His Biblical foundation helps to form his goals of lifting up others as opposed to glorifying himself.

-Rob mentioned that Tom is one of the best networking guys around. Tom said he always tries to make time to get to networking opportunities to be a part of the community and keep his company on top of people’s minds. Though he will often get to a few events a week, he prioritizes customer and employee needs first during the workday.

-His network has brought him many opportunities over the years. His networking tip is to remember that the relationships don’t usually immediately lead to opportunities for business but that through consistency in your networking the business will come.

-He has always had a “nerdy” dream of being an attorney. He even spent time as a teenager helping out at a law firm.

-How do you create trust with clients? Listen to the show to hear Tom’s methods; as a teaser, we will tell you it involves understanding your customer’s needs more than your own ego.

-His company’s brand and culture – “Be Approachable and Professional”

-Winslow Law is a company that believes in charitable outreach and has many organizations they support.

-Another mindset item: At his company if you want to be an important part of a team, you cannot just be an observer, you need to be involved. Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, you can affect others for positive or negative by how you participate.  The one’s that makes others better through their actions are the best leaders.

There were many more great points throughout the show. We hope you all enjoy.

For more about Thomas Winslow or Winslow Law, visit: https://www.winslowlawyers.com/

“Focused on Finding Solutions. Together.”

This week’s show was a sweet one as we were joined by owner of Cake Poppin, Kimberly Bashor. She brought us some of her delicious cake pops and talked about how she grew her business by serving a need in the market.  It was amazing how she grew through her network and utilized social media to its fullest.

We always love hearing stories from driven people that have achieved the American dream of business ownership. In this episode she talked about how the idea started for the business through a simple request from her sister. Most importantly, during a COVID market that limited many businesses and lifestyles – Kimberly found an opportunity to thrive through a product and service that the market craved. For anyone thinking about starting a business, you should always start with an unmet need in your market; check out how Cake Poppin did just that!

Show highlights:

-Kimberly is just getting into her next phase of growth with her plans to get a new delivery van – fully wrapped with Cake Poppin logos and pictures

-She recently started teaching classes on how to make cake pops for the public (check out more upcoming seminars)

-Her business started when her sister asked her to make her a cake pop. She had never made cake pops but her sister knew that Kimberly was creative and was the one that could make it happen. Life lesson for us all: surround yourselves with people that know who you truly are, appreciate you and believe in you.

-Since starting her business, she’s only had a few times in which she did not completely sell all of her inventory after making a batch.

-Kimberly utilized social media, particularly Facebook, to grow her business. She makes sure to create a post a day and has seen constant growth.

-One of her great sources of business comes from parents of CCU students. Parents can order special cake pops for their kids that are now on campus at Coastal Carolina University. Kimberly then makes special deliveries straight to the student. She shared some heart warming stories of smiles and hugs of surprised students getting their special gifts.

-Inspiring book alert: Kimberly recommends The Circle Maker. She talked of her appreciation for the message of the book including the strength of prayer in life.

-Rob talked about Leader Mentality’s partnership to raise money for Kind Keeper (and the fundraiser at Beachfront Kitchen and Bar on March 27th). Kimberly is also involved with multiple charities and is passionate about helping her community.

-Finally – Rob asked if Cake Poppin makes custom cake pops. Kimberly said yes...and there may be a special “Macho Man” cake pop coming in the future (special side note: this may be a special protein loaded cake pop)

We had a lot of fun with Kimberly Bashor and her positive outlook on life.

For more about Kimberly Bashor and Cake Poppin check out: https://www.facebook.com/cakepoppinwithkimberly/

If you’ve ever wanted to step your leadership up to the next level, we want to introduce you to Colin Stevens. Colin joined us on The Leader Mentality Show to talk about Emotional Intelligence and why its such a critical part of quality leadership. Colin walked through his athletic journey as a basketball player in high school, to being a walk-on for the Coastal Carolina University basketball team, to starting an earning a scholarship. This was a case study on fighting for what you want, being passionate and being prepared. He went on to talk about how COVID affected him and so many others, being yourself (being authentic) and inspiring others. Colin has a leadership conference coming up on the February 20th 2024 – we hope you can all attend!

Highlights of the Show:

-Colin went from being a high school basketball star to walking on to the CCU basketball team

-He originally did not expect to play being a couple of players down the depth chart – but injuries put him into the starting lineup and he seized the opportunity (starting many games that season)

-He earned a scholarship after becoming a walk-on; life lesson, be ready!

-His career post college has been amazing including getting players prepped to be ready for the NBA and taking his brand of Leadership to other businesses and people that are looking to thrive

-Colin wrote a book titled Make Your Mark. It is getting rave reviews online. We are happy to have our own copy

-Emotional Intelligence is a critical theme of the interview – knowing yourself and knowing how you react can affect others for good or for bad

-We touched on how COVID and social media affected a generation and the challenges that it brought

-Colin suggested that sometimes we are too busy trying to emulate others; we need to be our truest selves.

-Moreover, being our true to ourselves takes less energy and allows us to thrive at being the best at what we do

-He has a Leadership conference coming up called “Better Leadership” on February 20th.

For more on Colin, his book and conferences: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-stevens-a4427586/

We loved having Kind Keeper Animal Rescue with us on the show this week to talk about the pursuit of helping the pets in their community. Leadership shows itself in many ways; one of the best forms of leadership is helping others (and in this case helping these sweet pets that cannot help themselves).

Joann and Amanda talked to us about how this no-kill facility got started, their values, how you can get involved and more. At The Leader Mentality Show we love pets and are all in to help the cause. Check out this show and the cute puppies they brought to visit us!

Some highlights:

-We started off talking about the concept of service first, it’s better to give than receive and the positive things that come back when you give (some might call this The Law Of Reciprocity)

-Kind Keeper was founded as a no-kill facility because the founder wanted to help animals and did not want to see them unnecessarily euthanized

-The organization has grown and is currently raising money for a new facility to house more pets

-We met 3 puppies on the show...the sweetest puppies ever

-Puppies are great, but JoAnn talked about the fact that some of their older dogs make great pets...many are old enough to have been already potty trained, they are past the chewing stage and just need a home because their previous owners had a change in life.

-The facility has pets ranging from puppies and dogs to kittens and cats.

-Amanda talked about the need for fostering pets. Often the facility can get overloaded so fosters provide the noble service of giving pets a good home while waiting for an adoption.

-Leader Mentality will be starting a “Featured Pet” segment on the show – in this segment we will talk about an adoptable pet. We cannot wait!

-Leader Mentality made a donation to the Kind Keeper during the show and we encourage you all to do the same (or if not Kind Keeper with your local pet rescues or shelters). Let’s all make a difference today!

For more on Kind Keeper or how to get involved, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/KindKeeperAnimalRescue/

We are at the 2024 Myrtle Beach Home Show this weekend Feb 2, 3, and 4. 
Located at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center there are over 200 booths with everything you could find to improve your home or find a new one!

Also, we announced the Market Minute segment that Frank Dominick will be doing on a regular basis. In Frank's "Minute" we will talk about market trends, great buying tips and more!

We'll see you all next week for our regularly scheduled show with Kind Keeper!
Have a great week!

Habitat for Humanity of Horry County Executive Director, Meagan Michal, stopped by to talk with us about the power of partnerships in your business and personal life. We always enjoy catching up with Meagan as she is such a positive influence in the community. In this show she talked with us about many concepts for personal growth. Having an entrepreneur spirit from a young age, she talked about her fascinating journey from creative thinking in college to heading the Horry County Habitat for Humanity. Meagan shared a lot of interesting concepts of staying connected to the community through charitable giving and how it can benefit your business. More importantly, you can always be a positive force to give a hand up to people;  we loved hearing inspiring stories of the hard work Habitat for Humanity families put in to change their lives for the better and how others got involved in that journey. Check it out!!

Some show highlights:

-We enjoyed hearing Meagan talk about learning to use your own style in management (rather than coping other’s management styles). As with every great leader, you need understand understand best communication with your team – while still being yourself.

-Habitat for Humanity home owners work very hard to earn their homes with hours of service and preparation to become own a home

-Meagan talks about the positives of community outreach and how it can be part of a company’s marketing plan

-Rob commented that 8 out of 10 buyers said that being a locally owned business was an important part of their buying decision; and that community outreach can help support that local concept

-Company partnerships with the community are abundant and are a driving force to the program

-Among the company ways to get involved are through: donating products, donating labor and helping with builds

-Habitat for Humanity of Horry is opening an additional Restore! The Restore accepts your unneeded items for resale to the community. The items sold help raise money for future Habitat builds. You can help change a life while reducing your clutter.

-The Restore will pick up your items from your home

-Partnering with others is important to growth – it creates accountability, helps maximize strengths of both parties and feeds creativity

-One such partnership was with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and their “Hits for Homes” program.

-Meagan shared that outreach partnerships have an side benefit of powerful networking. Like minded individuals with altruistic behavior come together and often create lasting relationships. Potential future referrals and collaborations – awesome stuff!

The Leader Mentality team hopes you all enjoy show!

For more about Meagan or Habitat for Humanity of Horry County, check out: Habitat for Humanity of Horry County (habitathorry.org)