The Guided Small Business Planner, Cherith Roberson with Flourish in Growth

[00:00:02] what you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH.

[00:00:13] Welcome to the Entrepreneur Exchange on The MESH Podcast Network, a monthly conversation about startups and small business with ideas, tools, and advice to operate your business more effectively.

[00:00:25] On today's show, there are a lot of ideas out there for starting a new business, but it often can be overwhelming.

[00:00:33] What if you had a guide that breaks it down into manageable chunks and helped you each step of the way?

[00:00:39] Today, our guest is Cherith Roberson, who started her own business and created The Guided Small Business Planner to help you get your new business off the ground.

[00:00:48] Also on today's show, the always exciting lightning round, and we'll share some interesting small businesses that you should be checking out.

[00:00:55] My name is Jeff Neuville. I'm your co-host. I'm director of the Manufacturing Solution Center in Conover, North Carolina.

[00:01:02] I'm joined by my co-host Gary Muller, who is Executive Dean of Economic Development and Corporate Education at Codalwood Valley Community College in Hickory.

[00:01:11] Gary, how are you doing today?

[00:01:13] I'm doing okay. I feel very blessed for my family, but our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody in Western North Carolina and Georgia and Tennessee and all the folks that had to deal with Hurricane Helene.

[00:01:25] We're taping this in the first week of October, and as Gary said, just less than a week ago, the hurricane came through and had some impact on where we are in Hickory, North Carolina here.

[00:01:42] But obviously, parts west of us have been devastated, and we're thinking about them and doing what we can to support them and hope everyone else is out there as well.

[00:01:56] So some sobering times around here.

[00:02:00] Yes.

[00:02:02] But we continue to try to, whether it's a company in distress or a company starting up, where we certainly want to do our best to provide support, and we're fortunate today to be joined by Sherith Roberson.

[00:02:17] Sherith, how are you doing?

[00:02:21] I'm well. Thanks so much for having me today.

[00:02:24] And, you know, my extensive – I had the opportunity to work with Sherith when she worked at the North Carolina Small Business Center Network, but she's also a person who has started her own businesses, and I say that with an S, in that you've been pretty entrepreneurial as well as working at the UNC Kenan Flagler Business School.

[00:02:47] And now you've got a new venture, I guess relatively new, in that you've been at it for a couple of years at this point in time.

[00:02:55] So welcome to the Entrepreneur Exchange, and tell us a little bit about your business, Flourish and Growth.

[00:03:04] Thank you so much, Jeff, for having me.

[00:03:06] Yes, definitely have been down a few entrepreneurial roads, and I'm excited for where I am right now.

[00:03:14] So Flourish and Growth is about – you said it's about two years old.

[00:03:21] I officially launched my first product in January of this year, so I'm 10 months now into sales.

[00:03:30] And the process for getting here was longer than I expected it to be,

[00:03:36] but I think that's what a lot of small business owners say is that it takes longer to get something off the ground than you initially expect.

[00:03:45] So it was an interesting process for me in that I wrote what has kind of turned into a book.

[00:03:52] It's a guide for small business owners, a step-by-step guide.

[00:03:55] But more than that, it's a workbook so that they can apply what they're reading in real time to their business

[00:04:03] so that it matches their unique business and their unique business goals.

[00:04:08] So the process of writing something like this was more daunting than I realized at first,

[00:04:14] which I think is probably a good thing.

[00:04:16] Sometimes it's nice to not know how much time it's going to take ahead of time

[00:04:22] because then it could feel more discouraging, I think.

[00:04:25] So I worked with a really good editor, a friend of mine, who went behind me and said,

[00:04:31] you're missing a comma here or this sentence is confusing,

[00:04:34] and that made a huge difference in the process of writing this workbook for small businesses.

[00:04:41] Well, now, as I said, I know you from the time that we spent together working in the small business center network

[00:04:48] here within North Carolina.

[00:04:50] But sort of, you know, I guess I'm always curious in terms of somebody's entrepreneurial path

[00:04:56] of whether it's just something that is innate and that they sort of can't help themselves

[00:05:01] of saying, hey, I need to start something, I need to be an entrepreneur.

[00:05:04] Is it more of a learned skill?

[00:05:06] So, I mean, looking back at your path to get here, you know, nature or nurture?

[00:05:13] Were you born to be an entrepreneur?

[00:05:15] Or is that something that over time you just said, I have to do it, I have to do this?

[00:05:19] Or some combination?

[00:05:20] I don't know the right answer.

[00:05:23] Yeah, you know, I think for me it's a combination.

[00:05:26] I don't know that I, as a child, I wasn't, you know, thinking, oh, I'm going to be a business owner someday.

[00:05:31] But I did, I guess my personality traits kind of lean into the entrepreneurial side.

[00:05:39] I like to creatively problem solve.

[00:05:42] I like to be innovative.

[00:05:44] I like to have the ability to do a lot of different things.

[00:05:51] And entrepreneurship naturally lends itself to that.

[00:05:54] I also knew in college that I didn't necessarily want to work in a traditional corporate environment.

[00:06:02] And so that, of course, shaped some of what my pursuits were.

[00:06:05] I actually graduated from NC State and was one of the first.

[00:06:10] Yes, go Wolfpack.

[00:06:11] Was one of the first.

[00:06:14] Jeff's not sure about that.

[00:06:15] Yeah, through Jeff for that one.

[00:06:17] My daughter graduated from NC State.

[00:06:21] Awesome.

[00:06:22] Well, we, I went to the college, the School of Business and actually graduated with a concentration in entrepreneurship.

[00:06:30] So at that point, I already knew that this was something that I wanted to pursue at some level.

[00:06:37] And I started, I kind of started tinkering with businesses.

[00:06:40] I was flipping houses.

[00:06:43] And while I was still in college, so I was already in kind of the real estate space.

[00:06:48] Ultimately, I decided I did not want to be in residential house flipping.

[00:06:53] And that was a great experience for me because I learned what I did not want to do.

[00:06:57] And then I kind of followed a little bit more of a traditional path for a couple years.

[00:07:02] I worked at a large national nonprofit.

[00:07:05] And a lot of the skills that I learned there in fundraising have been very helpful for me in working with entrepreneurs.

[00:07:11] And at the same time, I was doing a little organizing business here and playing around with different business ideas, some which were a little bit more successful than others.

[00:07:22] But that gave me a lot of experience to help me learn what I liked and enjoyed working on and what I may be good at or not good at but just don't want to do either way.

[00:07:33] And so that really helped, I think, prepare me for this business.

[00:07:38] So what pushed you into leaping into your current business, Flourish and Growth?

[00:07:46] Was there something specific or just sort of a natural evolution to get you started with that?

[00:07:52] And where did you Flourish and Growth?

[00:07:53] Is that just something that was in your mind or how did you come up with the name?

[00:07:59] Yeah.

[00:07:59] So it was not a leap.

[00:08:02] I'll tell you that.

[00:08:03] It was a very slow step that I took.

[00:08:07] I came up with the idea or kind of the idea for this product came to me in the fall of 2020.

[00:08:14] So in the small business network world, we were kind of, you know, knee deep and really trying to help the entrepreneurs who were struggling because of the COVID pandemic.

[00:08:25] And that was really tricky for a lot of business owners.

[00:08:29] At some point in the fall, I started to think about how nice it would be if I could just give people the exact thing that I felt like they needed based on their struggles to help them take the right next step in their business.

[00:08:42] And so I didn't have like, you know, a specific formula yet in mind, but I felt like I wish I could give some people something like this.

[00:08:53] And so the idea came to me then.

[00:08:56] And I don't know about you, but I get ideas all the time that are exciting and maybe feel like a great thing to do.

[00:09:04] But I've learned that I need to take the time to really think through and analyze and make sure that I that this idea is the right one for me to pursue.

[00:09:15] So it took me some time to just think through what is a business model like this look like?

[00:09:21] Who would be my ideal customer?

[00:09:24] Is this actually the thing that I think small business owners can need and use?

[00:09:28] And then is it something that I actually have the skills and ability to pull off and the resources?

[00:09:36] So all of those things, it took me a long time.

[00:09:39] And then even after I decided, yes, this is something I want to do.

[00:09:42] I still didn't feel like it was quite the right time yet for me to leave the small business center.

[00:09:47] So I stayed at the small business center and continued to do work that I love there for a little bit longer before it felt like the right time.

[00:09:57] And part of that came down to having two young children and needing them to be in a place where I could focus on running a business.

[00:10:07] And and so part of it kind of just played into my role as mom, too.

[00:10:14] And how I came up with my business name is this is so funny because we talked to, you know, at so many times.

[00:10:21] And you probably had this conversation, too, with entrepreneurs where you talk to them and they're having a hard time coming up with a name.

[00:10:27] You say, oh, a name doesn't matter that much.

[00:10:30] But a name is deeply personal to a business owner.

[00:10:33] And it took me a while to come up with flourish and growth.

[00:10:38] I knew that I wanted the business to represent what the brand represents, which to me is helping people grow in a way that feels good to them,

[00:10:48] that represents who they want to be as people and what impact they want their business to have on the community.

[00:10:56] And so I played around with a lot of different kind of word variations.

[00:11:01] I played around with, you know, the Latin version of words.

[00:11:06] I was online looking at a different word variations.

[00:11:10] It probably took me two or three months to land on flourish and growth, you know, not consistently.

[00:11:15] But over time, I and and then, of course, I had to make sure the name was available,

[00:11:20] that there weren't any competitors with a similar name, that I could buy the URL.

[00:11:23] So all of that played into the name as well.

[00:11:28] And and once I landed on flourishing growth, again, I sat on it for a couple of weeks.

[00:11:33] I looked at it.

[00:11:34] I typed it out.

[00:11:35] I ran it by some people.

[00:11:37] And then I decided that that was the where what the name I wanted to go with.

[00:11:45] You know, and sort of building that name recognition, you know, building the brand is a time consuming and potentially expensive proposition.

[00:11:57] How have you gone about getting getting the flourishing growth name out there and trying to build awareness of it?

[00:12:08] Sure. And I'll say that, you know, coming up with the brand name, then I had to come up with the product name, which is the guided small business planner.

[00:12:15] That was also a process.

[00:12:19] But I worked with a graphic designer.

[00:12:22] Once I kind of landed on the name, I worked with a graphic designer to create a brand for me that represented the idea, the adjectives, the values, my mission and vision for the business.

[00:12:34] And then from there, I started we started building the website and started creating materials to represent who the business is and the story that we're telling, which is that we are here to help small business owners grow their business and reach their financial goals for their business.

[00:12:56] So the process for that has been I mean, marketing is such a skill and so many talented people are great at marketing.

[00:13:08] And so I really leaned on the expertise of a lot of people around me to help start to build flourish and growth and get the name, get the guided small business planner out there.

[00:13:21] I've talked with a lot of people in my network.

[00:13:23] I've attended conferences and been to networking meetings.

[00:13:30] I've done some social media marketing, but I've really tried to focus on who I know in North Carolina at this point.

[00:13:39] And now I'm starting to kind of branch out and reach out to other states and other areas to start to get the word out there, too.

[00:13:48] But one of my primary partners for this organization for flourish and growth are entrepreneurial support organizations.

[00:13:56] So organizations like the Small Business Center Network, because our ESOs across the U.S.

[00:14:03] really work with and support entrepreneurs and they can tell them about the resources that are available, including one like the guided small business planner.

[00:14:13] So, you know, so so, you know, in terms of the planner that you you developed and I don't have my own copy.

[00:14:21] I was looking online and trying to get a sense of it.

[00:14:24] But, you know, tell us, tell us, tell us about the planner and sort of how it how it's going to help a small business sort of get up and going.

[00:14:34] And it looks very, very comprehensive and but but but it doesn't look that scary, which is sort of good.

[00:14:41] Yeah. Well, I'll have to make sure you get your own copy, Jeff, because you definitely should have one.

[00:14:47] So make sure I want to sign copies here.

[00:14:50] Don't just send me like, you know, I want to sign copy if you're going to do that.

[00:14:53] OK, I'll sign it.

[00:14:56] OK, we can both sign it.

[00:15:01] OK.

[00:15:05] It is.

[00:15:05] So I wrote the planner based on what I felt like is the natural steps that people take when they're starting a business.

[00:15:14] But as we know, when people start a business, sometimes they just want to skip two or three really important things and jump into what feels like the fun part for the business owner.

[00:15:23] And I totally get that.

[00:15:25] But one of the biggest challenges I found small business owners making is that when you skip those first two or three steps, it's so much harder to reach your ideal customer if you don't know who they are.

[00:15:37] So I wrote the guided small business planner really based on what I felt like was the most natural way to build a business if you're doing it right the first time or if you're growing your business and you realize, hey, I skipped a few steps.

[00:15:53] I really need to go back and refine or make sure I understand what this is about my business.

[00:15:59] So it starts off with really focusing on you as the owner of your business.

[00:16:04] What do you want out of your business?

[00:16:06] Because if we don't know what we want out of our business, how are we going to share that message with other people or make the decisions that align with what I want as a business owner?

[00:16:14] And then from there, the next chapter is really focused on understanding who your customers are.

[00:16:23] So jumping into the head of their customers, I kind of think about it as being like a journalist, really getting out there and getting into the head of folks, understanding what their motivations and problems are.

[00:16:33] And defining customer persona, which is who your ideal customer is when you're selling your product or service.

[00:16:40] And then from there, it walks into understanding the industry and their competitors so that they can create a really strong place in the market, defining who they are based on who their competitors are.

[00:16:56] Because it's fine if I can say, oh, I'm this business and I do this, but I can't tell you what makes me different from any other business.

[00:17:03] But if I can tell you what makes me different from those around me, then my customers have a better job of understanding that.

[00:17:10] And so it follows this kind of natural progression of next, I really want to make sure that I understand what the basics are for building my business.

[00:17:22] Eventually, I'm getting to my marketing and eventually I'm getting to the financials.

[00:17:26] But I have to do those foundational parts before I get to marketing and and setting prices, because if I don't know who my customers are, what motivates them, what the industry is, you know, what's happening in the industry, what my competitors are doing.

[00:17:43] And I'm just throwing numbers at the board and saying, I think this is a good price.

[00:17:47] My numbers and my pricing could be way off or my marketing could not be based on who my actual customers are.

[00:17:54] So really spending the time to do that first.

[00:17:56] And I say spending the time, but this is written as a step by step, very simple and clear workbook.

[00:18:03] So there are a few paragraphs of instructions and then space for people to write in and apply it to their business.

[00:18:11] And it is a physical product, not a digital product.

[00:18:15] A lot of people have questions about that.

[00:18:18] And for me, the brain science behind writing something down and it's sticking is so compelling.

[00:18:25] And that's the way that I like to work that that is why it's a physical product.

[00:18:31] You know, and you talk about people skipping steps.

[00:18:34] I think part of it is sometimes people don't know what the steps should be.

[00:18:38] Yeah.

[00:18:39] So they're in a hurry to to jump in and I want to sell something.

[00:18:45] I want to do this.

[00:18:45] And they don't necessarily recognize whether they should.

[00:18:52] You don't know what you don't know.

[00:18:54] Yeah.

[00:18:54] How do I register?

[00:18:55] How important certain things can be.

[00:18:56] Do I need to register my business?

[00:18:58] You know, do I need to take some steps to protect my my name and register my my name?

[00:19:03] And there's just a lot of things that people you don't know what you don't know, as Gary said.

[00:19:08] And then, like you say, the harder things.

[00:19:10] I mean, I always fall to finance or accounting or, you know, people have great ideas,

[00:19:15] but they don't necessarily know what they need to be looking at to make sure they come up with a realistic budget

[00:19:21] and the costs and all those things that are critical to being successful.

[00:19:28] Sheriff, you were talking about as you were getting started and building your brand that you relied on your network,

[00:19:36] you had someone assist you with graphic arts, I assume, as you came up with a logo.

[00:19:42] So how how do you how does the guide and the advice that you provide to people help them try to identify those areas where,

[00:19:51] hey, maybe that's a hat you shouldn't be wearing or you don't necessarily have the skill set to be wearing it

[00:19:57] and sort of go out and figure out how to bring people onto your team?

[00:20:03] Yes. Oh, my gosh.

[00:20:04] This is such a good question, because we do have to wear all the hats when we're business owners.

[00:20:10] And in the beginning, we often have to wear all the hats, but we don't always have to wear all the hats.

[00:20:14] But we sometimes have this idea that we do.

[00:20:17] And I knew right off the bat that graphic design, I could never design a beautiful product like this.

[00:20:23] That's just not my skill set.

[00:20:25] And I mean, I even took, you know, a couple of graphic design classes, just continuing ed cat classes over the years.

[00:20:33] And I still couldn't do it well.

[00:20:35] So I was like, OK, this is not something that I can do well.

[00:20:37] I have to have help with this.

[00:20:39] So I knew that was an investment that I had to make for my business.

[00:20:42] But in the guided small business planner, in the very beginning, in the owner chapter, we talked through really helping people think about what their strengths are and their abilities are and writing those down on paper and what they may need to ask for help with.

[00:20:59] And so kind of starting off from the beginning of saying, I'm really good at these things, but I may need to help get help and outsource some of these other things.

[00:21:07] I think helps position it in my mind, at least, as it's OK for me to ask for help.

[00:21:12] I shouldn't be good at everything.

[00:21:14] Nobody is.

[00:21:15] And so if I can think ahead of time about the areas that I might need to ask for help in, then I can be more effective overall in the areas that I am really strong in.

[00:21:26] So, I mean, I'm getting ready to hire a marketing firm for my business because I can't keep up with the day to day of all of the marketing activities that I need to be doing in order to be successful.

[00:21:38] So I have done what I could up until this point.

[00:21:42] And it's unrealistic for me to think that I can do all of those things and be effective in the other ways that I feel like are most important for my business.

[00:21:50] So I'm hiring a marketing firm and they can help me get my vision out there.

[00:21:55] And that takes so much off of my plate, but it actually is going to make my business a lot more money because I'll be reaching more people.

[00:22:04] And I know one of the challenges when you're a startup is do we have money to pay for outside services?

[00:22:13] You know, how do we how do we go about funding the business and, you know, how did you did you bootstrap your business in terms of self-funded or and how do you sort of guide people?

[00:22:27] How do you use your guide to help people think through those decisions in terms of funding their business?

[00:22:33] Yeah, so this is so tricky because I will say that I'm very privileged in that we could use savings to fund my business.

[00:22:43] And I also knew that I could focus on this full time and my husband's business could support us without it being a huge financial stress for us.

[00:22:54] And so that makes a huge difference.

[00:22:56] And I'll just acknowledge that that is a big privilege that I have that a lot of small business owners don't have.

[00:23:03] And I didn't necessarily have with earlier businesses.

[00:23:08] And so it can feel really hard to bootstrap a business, depend on the income and and know that you have to have the income and then figure out where to invest money.

[00:23:23] And so what I encourage business owners to do is if you're not in a if you're in the space where you have to depend on the income for the business, then I wouldn't move forward with that as a full time gig until I had proven that I can have enough sales in order to do that.

[00:23:43] So I might do it part time. I might do it as kind of a side hustle until I know that I have I have sold enough of that product or service in order to make it work.

[00:23:55] Maybe I'm taking a part time. Maybe I'm leaving a full time job and taking a part time job and working part time on the business.

[00:24:02] And that's what a lot of my clients at the small business center did.

[00:24:07] And, you know, I worked with clients who one of them specifically came to me.

[00:24:12] She had a bakery business and she was like, you know, here are my sales.

[00:24:18] We looked at her sales. We looked at her activities.

[00:24:21] And I said, you can use, you know, we kind of calculated together, but I gave her some additional tools to use to allow her to figure out exactly how much more she needed to sell in order to leave her full time job and cover her benefits and everything.

[00:24:35] And she only needed to sell like I think it was like 15 more units a week in order to make that difference, cover that difference.

[00:24:45] And that was really shocking for her because then we started talking about tactics of is that realistic and possible for you to do?

[00:24:53] And she decided that it was and she left her full time job and focused full time in her bakery.

[00:24:59] But until that point, she was selling on the evenings and weekends and and was able to kind of build up her name and market until that point.

[00:25:12] Well, you talk about some of the experience and lessons that you got working with startups and entrepreneurs while you're at the small business center.

[00:25:22] You know what? As you sort of continued your work with with your guide and working with startups,

[00:25:28] are there other big hurdles that you see out there that entrepreneurs typically run into?

[00:25:36] And, you know, what are the big challenges that they face and what sort of ways do you tell them to approach those obstacles?

[00:25:47] Yeah, I mean, so when I was at the small business center and even before I was at the small business center,

[00:25:53] the two things that people always came or needed help with were marketing and managing their money.

[00:26:00] Either it was understanding their business financials or pricing or knowing, you know, how to pay themselves.

[00:26:07] I kind of put that all into the managing their bucket, their money bucket.

[00:26:11] So I like to kind of take a step back and say what's driving those two challenges so that we can create an effective solution.

[00:26:21] And so I think the foundation is going back to really knowing who my customer is and the problem that I'm solving,

[00:26:31] understanding the industry that I'm in so that I can effectively price so that I can, you know, position myself in the market

[00:26:40] so I can position myself to my customers and they understand who I am.

[00:26:44] And then I can create an effective marketing plan.

[00:26:48] But a marketing plan, I mean, you hear the word marketing plan.

[00:26:51] You're like, what does that even look like?

[00:26:52] What is what does that even mean for my business?

[00:26:54] I've never seen a marketing plan before that, you know, that sounds great.

[00:26:58] But what does that look like?

[00:27:00] And so that's why I wrote the guided small business planner, because it really walks you through step by step through.

[00:27:07] This is actually what a marketing plan looks like.

[00:27:09] You need to reach people so they know about you as a product.

[00:27:12] Then you need to help them to decide whether or not they want to buy from you.

[00:27:17] You need to make it really easy for people to give you their money as the solution to their problem

[00:27:23] and then have a way to have people come back and repeat the cycle or refer other customers to you.

[00:27:28] Those are the four steps of getting people to buy from your business.

[00:27:34] So I really encourage people to just walk through that process of understanding who their customers are and what motivates them,

[00:27:42] knowing what their industry is so that they can price their product or service to reach their customers.

[00:27:50] And then on a personal financial note, knowing how much I need to make in order to pay my bills,

[00:27:56] have a little bit of savings and feel like I'm building a business that is going to create long term wealth for me and my family.

[00:28:05] Because that's why a lot of people start businesses is they want to create wealth for themselves and their family.

[00:28:10] They want to not feel like they're always crunched for paying the bills.

[00:28:16] And so really being able to understand those foundational things and knowing,

[00:28:22] OK, I just have to take these four steps or I have to reach my customers in these four ways in order to help them do business with me.

[00:28:29] So really takes kind of this whole idea of a marketing plan or financial, you know, performance and it makes it takes it from theory to being able to actually understand it for your business.

[00:28:43] I suspect that your guide helps them create that sort of plan.

[00:28:48] And I know that that sometimes when I would work with people and I know Gary's had the same sort of thing is when you say,

[00:28:54] oh, you need a marketing plan or you need a business plan that that frightens them or their eyes roll back in their head and say, you know,

[00:29:01] that's I don't want to do all that.

[00:29:03] You know, I was I would I would tell people we need to do some business planning, you know,

[00:29:08] and not necessarily make it sound like this this scary, you know, 30 page document that must be created.

[00:29:15] And it sounds like really one of the benefits that you're providing is that you're you're you're discreetly making them create that business plan by going through the steps in your guide.

[00:29:28] Yeah, I think that's exactly right.

[00:29:30] I mean, if all those things you just said are exactly business plan, marketing plan scares the heck out of folks.

[00:29:35] If they've just got a really great idea and they got a skill they want to move forward with, they don't want to do that.

[00:29:40] No one told me I was going to have to make a plan here.

[00:29:43] That sounds like work.

[00:29:44] So you're doing it for them.

[00:29:46] And I think that's fantastic.

[00:29:47] I mean, given that it's the workbook or the guidebook.

[00:29:52] As we sort of wind down, Sheryl, what other advice do you as someone that's started their own business and worked with a lot of startups?

[00:30:02] What sort of advice would you leave our listeners with about starting a business?

[00:30:08] You don't have to do it alone.

[00:30:09] A lot of people talk about how lonely entrepreneurship is.

[00:30:14] And it doesn't have to feel lonely.

[00:30:17] You just have to find your people, which means taking the actions to get out and connect with people.

[00:30:24] And if you don't have cheerleaders already in your business, people who really want to see your business succeed, there are people all across the United States, no matter where your business is, who are there, whose sole job is to support you in growing your business, whether it's the small business center in North Carolina or other entrepreneurial support organizations.

[00:30:44] So I would say start building that team of people who you can call when you're feeling stuck or challenged and talking to other entrepreneurs and small business owners.

[00:30:56] You're not alone.

[00:30:57] Entrepreneurship doesn't have to feel lonely.

[00:30:59] You just have to build your team of support people.

[00:31:03] Well, that's very good advice.

[00:31:06] And now, Sherr, if people want to find you, they want to find your guide, where should they be looking?

[00:31:13] Yeah, so it's on my website at flourishandgrowth.com.

[00:31:17] And I do have a special discount code for folks listening.

[00:31:23] It's smallbusinesswins for 15% off.

[00:31:26] And again, it's flourishandgrowth.com or you can Google the guided small business planner and it will come up under that.

[00:31:35] And yeah, I'm excited about helping more people build their businesses.

[00:31:41] Well, we very much appreciate you joining us and hang around here because we want to do our quick lightning round if you're up for it.

[00:31:50] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:31:51] Okay.

[00:31:52] This month's lightning round is sponsored by Ned Ryerson Insurance.

[00:31:56] Whole life, auto, flood home.

[00:31:58] You can't have enough insurance.

[00:32:00] Am I right, Gary?

[00:32:01] Absolutely.

[00:32:02] All right.

[00:32:02] Stay safe with Ned Ryerson Insurance.

[00:32:04] You should check it out on the Internet.

[00:32:05] So we've got some quick questions.

[00:32:08] Just don't overthink it.

[00:32:10] And we'll start, Sheriff.

[00:32:13] What is your favorite vacation spot?

[00:32:17] Anywhere warm with sand in the ocean.

[00:32:21] Okay.

[00:32:22] What is your biggest pet peeve?

[00:32:29] Oh, my biggest pet peeve is probably reacting too quickly without stopping to think.

[00:32:40] That's not good for the lightning round, but okay.

[00:32:42] Well, we'll accept that.

[00:32:44] I know.

[00:32:47] What is your, we're now in October.

[00:32:50] So what is your favorite Halloween candy?

[00:32:53] Oh, my gosh.

[00:32:55] Okay.

[00:32:55] I know this is controversial, but I do love candy corn.

[00:33:00] All right.

[00:33:00] My choice is the right answer, but okay.

[00:33:02] You know, it's a little, it's your answer.

[00:33:05] So.

[00:33:06] It's controversial, like I said.

[00:33:09] Beatles, Rolling Stones, or Taylor Swift?

[00:33:13] Oh, man.

[00:33:14] I'm a Swifty.

[00:33:15] But there, but that's, I mean, that's a hard choice.

[00:33:18] But.

[00:33:19] Well, you can't go wrong.

[00:33:20] I would say right now.

[00:33:21] You can't go wrong with any of those.

[00:33:23] Yes.

[00:33:23] All right.

[00:33:24] Last question.

[00:33:25] Who is your role model?

[00:33:28] You can say Jeff.

[00:33:32] No, don't say that.

[00:33:36] I don't know if I have one specific role model, but people that I am really admiring or looking,

[00:33:44] one of the people that I'm following right now, who I'm learning a lot from, is somebody

[00:33:49] who just wrote a book recently called The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt.

[00:33:54] And he talks a lot about how smartphones and technology influences both our kids, but I think

[00:34:01] it also influences us as adults, too.

[00:34:04] And his work is really interesting and has inspired me to make some changes at home and

[00:34:11] for me and my family.

[00:34:12] Okay.

[00:34:13] And what was that again?

[00:34:14] I want to write that down.

[00:34:16] Yeah, it's The Anxious Generation.

[00:34:20] And the author is Jonathan Haidt.

[00:34:23] H-A-I-D-T.

[00:34:25] Last name.

[00:34:26] Okay.

[00:34:27] I'll look for that.

[00:34:28] Okay.

[00:34:29] Well, thank you so much for joining us and playing the lightning round.

[00:34:34] And as Sherith said, if you go to flourishinggrowth.com, you can learn more about Sherith, learn more

[00:34:43] about her business.

[00:34:45] You can see the guide that she's offering out there.

[00:34:49] And small business wins.

[00:34:51] We'll also get you some, a little bit of a discount on it.

[00:34:54] So feel free to take advantage of that.

[00:34:57] And we always like to end up our podcast by giving some shout outs to small business.

[00:35:04] And Sherith, anything you want to give a shout out to at this point?

[00:35:09] I'll just give a shout out to the small businesses in Western North Carolina.

[00:35:14] And especially, I'm just so impressed by the restaurants who are feeding people.

[00:35:20] Restaurants have such low margins.

[00:35:22] And they're out there feeding people and trying to really help their community.

[00:35:27] So I'm so amazed and inspired by their work.

[00:35:32] Heartwarming what they're doing.

[00:35:35] Gary, what small business do you want?

[00:35:37] Speaking of food.

[00:35:37] Which, you know, I always like that.

[00:35:39] You know, for a skinny guy, you like the food.

[00:35:42] I do.

[00:35:42] Well, we had some guests with us.

[00:35:45] Actually, Trident Technical College from South Carolina.

[00:35:49] It was visiting our furniture academy with Corning, another great partner of ours.

[00:35:56] And they pointed out a place they ate at while they were on their trip called Pinky's Westside Grill.

[00:36:03] Have you ever heard of it?

[00:36:05] I have not.

[00:36:05] Either of you?

[00:36:06] Sheriff?

[00:36:07] Where would we find Pinky's Westside Grill?

[00:36:09] If you find one in Charlotte as well as Huntersville.

[00:36:13] Okay.

[00:36:14] And it's one kind of huge hamburgers, huge junk food stuff.

[00:36:20] You know, all the things I like.

[00:36:22] Okay.

[00:36:23] Pickles.

[00:36:24] Fried pickles.

[00:36:27] You name it.

[00:36:28] I like it.

[00:36:29] And they've been spotlighted in Guy.

[00:36:32] I'm going to pronounce this wrong.

[00:36:34] The food guru.

[00:36:36] It has its own on the food network.

[00:36:39] Diners, drive-ins, and dives.

[00:36:42] And Pinky's was highlighted on it.

[00:36:44] And the chef has been highlighted on it twice for two different restaurants.

[00:36:49] So I'm going to make a trip down to Huntersville because that's not too far from my house.

[00:36:53] So it's, and the name again was Pinky's?

[00:36:56] Pinky's Westside Grill.

[00:36:58] Westside Grill.

[00:36:59] Okay.

[00:36:59] I will be on the lookout for that.

[00:37:00] It's been around for a long time with different restaurants before they settled on Pinky's.

[00:37:06] Okay.

[00:37:06] Well, sounds...

[00:37:07] I'm not sure where Pinky's came from.

[00:37:09] I needed to go do that research.

[00:37:10] That sounds good.

[00:37:11] All right.

[00:37:12] I'm sure you'll report back to us.

[00:37:13] Yes, I will.

[00:37:14] All right.

[00:37:14] I want to give a shout-out to a company that actually I'm doing a little bit of work with.

[00:37:21] And they're also in Asheville.

[00:37:23] So I'm thinking about them a lot right now.

[00:37:25] It's a company called Analog Digital Systems.

[00:37:29] And they actually work with folks to help them with workflow processes.

[00:37:37] They do put together training programs using virtual reality so that we can be,

[00:37:44] hopefully,

[00:37:45] hopefully training people in different locations from our centralized location.

[00:37:50] They do work in helping people do repair and maintenance work through augmented reality,

[00:37:58] virtual reality.

[00:37:59] So I want to give a shout-out to Analog Digital Systems.

[00:38:03] You can visit them at www.analogds.com.

[00:38:08] I know that some of the principles of the company were greatly impacted by the storms that came through and are sort of scattered to different locations and continuing to try to work.

[00:38:21] And as both of you have said, we're all looking for ways to support the businesses that have been impacted.

[00:38:30] So when you have an opportunity and a need, check out Analog Digital Systems.

[00:38:35] They're in Asheville.

[00:38:36] Still moving things forward but doing it through some very difficult times.

[00:38:40] So check them out.

[00:38:44] If you've got a suggestion for our Entrepreneur Exchange Small Business of the Month, you can email them to us at eexchangeatthemesh.tv.

[00:38:52] Sheriff, we want to really thank you for joining us today.

[00:38:55] It's a pleasure to see you.

[00:38:56] Pleasure to talk with you.

[00:38:57] And I look forward to our paths crossing again and wish you the best of luck with your new endeavor.

[00:39:07] It's going to be a great guide for small businesses getting ready or people thinking about starting their own small business.

[00:39:13] Thank you.

[00:39:15] Thank you all so much for having me.

[00:39:17] It was a pleasure.

[00:39:17] We also want to give our thanks to the Mesh Podcast Network, our partners here at the Mesh.

[00:39:24] You can check out the stable of podcasts they've got at themesh.tv and see everything from entertainment to sports to…

[00:39:34] What are we?

[00:39:36] We're somewhere in the middle.

[00:39:37] We're definitely not sports.

[00:39:38] But anyway, we appreciate all the work that they do.

[00:39:42] And we look forward to catching up with everyone again next month.

[00:39:46] Take care, everybody.

[00:39:48] Be safe.

[00:39:56] You've been listening to the Mesh, an online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts, sports to entertainment, music to community.

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[00:40:19] You've been listening to the Mesh, an online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts, sports to entertainment, music to community.

[00:40:38] All programs are available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube.

[00:40:44] Check us out online at themesh.tv.

[00:40:47] Discover other network shows and give us feedback on what you just heard.

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