Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:59 — 21.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

If you have students in middle school, it’s not too early to start looking at college and career options. I know — you’re probably thinking your adorable youngsters just finished preschool (in your mind) — but they are actually closer to the day they graduate from high school than they are to that day they started kindergarten. Yikes! How do you start making the choices about schools, majors, or possible careers?

Leave it to a former teacher to figure out a way to sort it all out. Gradify is a website and program that helps your middle and high school students find a career path they’d like to follow and points them to the tools to get them there. Its founder, Travis Manigan, is with us today on the BrandBuilders Podcast to teach us how to use Gradify to help your kids with their life choices.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:16 — 23.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

About 1 in 54 children in our country were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder last year, with boys 4 times more likely than girls to be diagnosed. But there is still so much we are learning about Autism — and foremost, is that it can take many shapes and characteristics. In other words, it is a spectrum, not any one thing.

Rudy Thoms’ has spent his career in medical device sales, but the thing he’s passionate about is helping families who are making their way along with a child who is on the autism spectrum. His son Landon was diagnosed in 2009, when he was just a toddler. Rudy is the founder of Autism Strong here in Charlotte, and is joining us along with Stephanie Neuman and Choate Constructions’s Richard Conway to talk about their partnership and upcoming Build Strong event.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AutismStrong

Facebook Buildstrong Event: https://fb.me/e/1xOMJ9azd

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:58 — 46.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

It’s no secret healthcare costs are pretty high, and one simple procedure or one bad illness can send you into personal bankruptcy. Even with insurance, your out-of-pocket costs are a significant chunk of money. No wonder health insurance benefits are one of the top expenditures for any company, too. So how does a business know it’s giving employees the coverage they need, without cutting corners or spending a fortune?

That’s where our next guests come in. Michael Fox and Josh Hyman have similar backgrounds… as athletes and teachers…. but they came together over their work in the insurance business. They both thought, there’s gotta be a better way. They launched K2 Advisors to help companies save money without cutting out important healthcare options. Michael and Josh join us on the BrandBuilders Podcast now to tell us how they do that.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:40 — 30.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

The beauty industry for women in the US is a staggering $62 billion dollar business, and that goes up to $511 Billion worldwide for 2021. So you might guess, there’s money to be made in the beauty business, right? Well, of course. But in a year when a lot of women just didn’t feel comfortable shopping for make-up because of COVID, or salons were shut down, two Charlotte women brought a beauty box right to your door.

Leigh Humphry is an artificial intelligence and data pro who was looking for a way to bring a great customer experience to a new product. Lindsey Regan Thorne is a local beauty influencer who owns her own company as a make-up artist. Put the two together and you get Swan Beauty, a way to shop for personalized cosmetics — and apply them — without ever having to hit the mall.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:05 — 47.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS | More

There are a thousand internet gurus out there who can tell you how to start a business, and many more who preach the sermon of being your own boss as an entrepreneur. But how many of them can tell you how to grow your business while still enjoying life, and EXIT your business successfully — as in, sell it for a lot of money and enjoy life a little more?

Our next guest on the BrandBuilders Podcast is in the business of doing just that, and he’s done it half a dozen times already himself. Mac Lackey is a Charlotte kid who, by his own admission, made mediocre grades in high school at East Meck and got kicked out of his D1 college, where he was on a soccer scholarship. Gosh, where does a guy go from there? Well if you’re Mac Lackey, you get your act together, become an All-American at a second school, make straight A’s, play pro soccer, and then start building and selling companies for 7 or 8 figures apiece. Wow. And he’s here on our BrandBuilders Podcast to tell us how to do that with our company…. Wait, no… not yet, anyway!