What's Working With Cam Marston

Water, walks, and sleep. Those were the three biggest points that stood out when I heard Brad Davidson speak at a recent corporate event. He's trained athletes ranging from high school football teams to NFL left tackles. His recipe for busy executives eaten up with stress is more water, longer walks, and better sleep. It's a foundationally different approach to exercise for people in middle age than anything I've heard. His book on how to do it was a best seller. Show Sponsors: Roy Lewis Construction E3 Termite & Pest Control Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Persons Services Corps Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Find my book, What Works, at Amazon.com.

Meet my son Spencer. A tradition of What's Working is to interview my children upon their high school graduation. He's off to the University of Alabama in the fall. We discuss what skills he predicts will be needed in the job market, his prediction of the impact of AI on tomorrow's workplace and where he hopes to land in the work world. You might hear me choke up a bit when telling him how proud his mother and I are of him. Also in this show is Emma Gage's review of Taylor Swift. Emma, an incoming high shool junior, is a "Swifty" and travelled to Houston with her father to see the show. Her review begins around minute 46 and she nails it.  Show Sponsors: Roy Lewis Construction E3 Termite and Pest Control Persons Services Corp Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Allison Horner - State Farm Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Please find my book, What Works, detailing the top ten ideas from the first 200 episode of the show at Amazon.

April McClung's sons had a chance to travel abroad as high school students. April needed money to make it happen. A decison was made to use a family member's old pound cake recipe to sell them at farmer's markets. Today those cakes are sold at Sams and have been shipped across the country. Meet April, hear her amazing story, and become inspired by a woman who thought she had it all figured out until this cake recipe became a central part of her faith-driven life.  Show Sponsors: Roy Lewis Construction E3 Termite & Pest Control Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Persons Services Corp Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Find my book, What Works, at Amazon - highlighting the 10 best business ideas I learned from the first 200 episodes of the shwow.  Also, if you like the show, please offer a review!

ESG is not something "out there" or only discussed in political environments. ESG (environmental, social, governance) is here and is shaping the way businesses interact with each other and with customers. Kai Gray and his parters run Motive ESG. They work with businesses to improve their ESG scores, thereby enabling them to compete for business with some of the nation's defense contractors, major manufactorers, building contractors and such. Kai predicts ESG will become a filter through which the next generation invests money and even buys product at the grocery store.  Show Sponsors: Persons Services Corps E3 Termite & Pest Control Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Roy Lewis Construction Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Find my book, What Works, highlighting the 10 best ideas from the first 200 episodes of What's Working. Available on Amazon.com.  

I met Heikki Malinen at a conference in Point Clear, Alabama for his company, Outokumpu. His presentation showed a grasp of world events like none I'd seen before. He travels nearly non-stop, visiting the company's stainless steel plants across the world. The war in Ukraine has impacted his company's ability to get the affordable electricity he needs to power his plants in Europe. Workforce issues are a challenge to his facilities across Europe and the US. His challenges are familiar to listeners of What's Working, but the scale is much different. You'll find in Heikki, as is so often the case, a remarkable grasp of detail, a nice and friendly demeanor, and an infinite curioustiy.  Show Sponsors: Persons Services Corps Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Roy Lewis Construction Allison Horner - State Farm Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty E3 Termite & Pest Control My book, What Works, highlights the 10 best ideas I heard in my first two hundred episoded of What's Working. 

I've long been suspcious that social media can do anything for me. For kids today, yes. For me, a middle aged guy? Hardly. Domenick D'Andrea and I met at a conference and he assured me that if I learn how and when to post and what subject matters people want to see, it will generate profitable business leads. I commit to try it, postng primarily to LinkedIn, to see what will happen. And Domenick says it can't exclusively be business stuff, it has to be personal, too, like me zipping my suitcase and leaving the hotel room with a very short commentary. Seems crazy. Domenick is convinced. I commit to giving it a try.  Show Sponsors: Roy Lewis Construction Allison Horner - State Farm Agent E3 Termite and Pest Control Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realy Persons Services Corps Find my book, What Works, highlighting the best ideas of the first 200 episodes on Amazon.

Dr Matt Barber loves his work as a orthopedic surgeon. It's a combination of of skills that hits his sweet spot, including the advances in technology which peak his intersts. In the studio with me, Dr Barber has a sample of a knee made from a 3D printer of a patient's scan including the slight imperfections caused by the patient's age and wear and tear. Dr Barber and I discuss how technology continues to shape the profession, how people like him stay sharp and how you and I can talk to an orthopedist to determine if they're on top of their game or not. It's a thought provoking conversation that I loved.  Show Sponsors: Roy Lewis Construction E3 Termite and Pest Control Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Buddy Persons - Persons Services Corp Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Find my book What Works at Amazon.com.

Cigar Aficionado magazine loves EP Carrillo cigars. And they should. The cigars are fantastic. The patriarch of the company is Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. He's third generation in the business after his (thankfully) failed attempt to become a jazz drummer in New York City as a much younger man. Today he leads the company as they develop new product, supervise the growth of a variety of tobaccos in Central America, train rollers, and market across the world. His son and daughter - both brilliant - are also in the business and he's grooming them to lead. This year they're on track to make four million cigars. We talk family business, hurricanes, the youth market, and much more. And you'll hear me geek out a bit because Mr Carrillo is a bit of a celebrity to me - so dang cool to get to talk to him. Check out What Works - my book highlighting the top ten business lessons I learned from the first 200 episodes of the show.  Show Sponsors: Allison Horner - State Farm Agent E3 Termite and Pest Control Roy Lewis Constru

Customer service still matters, though we don't hear about it today like we used to. We know customers are increasingly disappointed in the service they receive. They have no problems blowing up social media when they get treated poorly. But customer service training and eduction is woefully lacking. And cheap, online customer service training...stinks. Pam Denham has trained customer service for years. She and I talk about what's missing today and she offers some simple tips for taking service skills into your company.  Find my book, What Works, online. Show Sponsors: Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty E3 Termite and Pest Control Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Persons Services Corps Roy Lewis Construction Allison Horner - State Farm Agent

Scot Hunsaker was on the show last year talking about how to prepare employees to take over once the CEO decided to leave. He has a recipe for the process which we discussed in a very engaging conversation. Scot and his wife then boarded his boat and began a slow ride up the east coast, around Nova Scotia, and down the St Lawrence river. His boat is now in storage near Chicago. He and his wife then flew to New Zealand and then Australia for a six week trip. From Australia, Scott called. "Cam," he said, "there's something I need to tell your listeners that I'm learning from this trip. They need to not wait too long before starting their retirement. I'm seeing too many people who are too old and frail to enjoy it the way they dreamed." Well worth a listen. Show Sponsors: E3 Termite & Pest Control Persons Services Corps Roy Lewis Construction Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty What Works is my book written about the bes

Bonus Episode: On 3/21/23, about 8:35am, I suffered a stroke in the right side of my brain. The quick actions of those around me plus the Stroke Code team at USA Hospital in Mobile saved me. This podcast is the recording of the radio broadcast with FMTalk 106.5 Midday Mobile show host (and friend) Sean Sullivan as I recount the story.  Take a listen - some things to learn here that my save you or someone else some day. 

Angelo DePaola keeps up with the second home market via his real estate company in Orange Beach, Alabama. Interest rates have changed but there is still a big demand. Home owners are turning over, too. The Boomers who bought vacation homes to bring the kids while they grew up are getting weary of taking care of those homes since the kids and grandkids are visiting less and less. Angelo is a savvy business man who has been very proactive in spreading his name and serving his clients. He's not the cheapest realtor in Orange Beach but his clients seldom go anywhere else once they've used his services.  Show Sponsors: E3 Pest Control Allison Horner - State Farm Roy Lewis Construction Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Persons Services Corp The Coastal Connection Realty

The sophistication of check fraud is something I knew nothing about until chatting with my old friend Rusty Pickering and then, only days later, hearing from two colleagues who had it happen to them. Rusty is President and COO of payment processing company Ingo Money in Alpharetta, Georgia. He and I chat about how check fraud happens, who's at risk, who is at fault, and how to avoid having to constantly replace your credit card or debit card. Special bonus podcast version - an off-script chat with Rusty. Show Sponsors: E3 Termite and Pest Control Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Roy Lewis Construction Persons Services Corp

Richard Jolly believes that the only true differentiator between competitive businesses in the future will be their culture. Every other competitive advantage can be copied. And what is culture? It's the way things get done. It's the "smell of the place." And so much more. We talk "hurry sickness", "reciprocity", manager's new roles, why culture has become so important post-pandemic, etc. This one's jam packed with content. Show Sponsers: Persons Service Corp E3 Termite & Pest Control Roy Lewis Construction Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty

Live Oak Bank is a completely virtual bank. Megan Owens serves as one of the bank's M&A experts and her expertise allows her to serve the bank anywhere in the nation where M&A expertise is needed. Need banking expertise for your veteranarian clinic, for example? Your Live Oak expert may as likely be local as from anywhere in the US but they will have deep, deep expertise in the veteranarian business. And that's one example from the 30+ verticles where Live Oak aims to expertly serve clients. It's a brilliant model.  Show Sponsors: Roy Lewis Construction E3 Termite & Pest Control Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Persons Services Corp Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors

Ben Strout thought "there has to be a better way." As a home remodeling contractor, the frantic rush between roof removal and building the new one often leads to hurried work and - worse - rain ruining the house interior. He's designed a patent-pending system that allows the new roof to go up first, then frame the interior of the addition, and the final step it to remove the old roof and add stairs from underneath. It's a game changer. (This episode is a monthly collaboration with Business Alabama Magazine.) Show Sponsors: Roy Lewis Construction Persons Services Corp E3 Termite & Pest Control Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors

Be Visionary is Marty Strong's new book. In his consulting he found challenges with CEOs who worked to optimize their organizations but did it at the cost of being strategic. Marty says our society's drive towards short term goals often cause busiensses to suffer long term since little effort is put into building a vision and a strategy to achieve it. Marty is a great interview and his background as a Navy SEAL plays into our conversation.  Show Sponsors: Persons Services Corp E3 Termite and Pest Control Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Roy Lewis Construction Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty

Patrick Werrlein said his company could not have won this award six years ago. The company culture needed a big overhaul. He's president and owner of a Swagelok sales and service center in Birmingham, Alabama. Once he got the right team together and became clear about "who we are and what we do," he went to work on the culture. The strategy? Simple, says Patrick - empathy, care, concern, spontaneity and some fun. Patrick offers a list of tactics that any business leader can apply. Sponsors: E3 Termite & Pest Control Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty Persons Service Corp Roy Lewis Construction

Mel Washington is Regional Director of the Small Business Development Center at the University of South Alabama. He coaches and consults and guides small businesses as they work to become stable, viable businesses. He and I discuss what it takes to get started and where many errors are made by small business owners. If you're thinking of becoming and entrepreneur, this episode offers simple recipees that will mitigate your failure risk. If you're trying to grow to the next level, this episode offers thoughts for how to target the next level and how to pursue it. Show Sponsors: Persons Services Corp E3 Termite & Pest Control Allison Horner - State Farm Agent Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty United Bank Roy Lewis Construction Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors

Buddy Persons has never seen as much property damage from a hurricane than what he saw in south Florida after Hurrican Ian. He was there representing the disaster recovery division of Persons Services Corp, of the several divisions of his company. Buddy's background includes such work in Haiti, Albania and Hondurus to name but a few. The company began years ago with his father's plumbing business and Buddy has grown it tremendously. Hear his remarkable story and meet this humble entrepreneur. Show Sponsors: Allison Horner - State Farm Agent E3 Termite & Pest Control Trey Langus - Transworld Business Advisors Angelo DePaola - The Coastal Connection Realty United Bank Persons Services Corp Roy Lewis Construction