Cam Marston Podcasts

A circuitous route delivered Hastings Read from England to Mobile, Alabama where he learned custom woodworking after a successful career in management consulting. Today he leads the team at Oakleigh Custom Woodworks as they build beautiful doors, windows, and shutters, employing a team a craftsmen who take great pride in their work. Deadlines matte…

Warriors need to be praised. ----- Young men have always been warriors. They’d go fight the battles while the elders sat around the campfire. The elders decided if fighting was the right thing and when and how to do it. The warriors executed the plan. When they returned, they were glorified for their success, or they were coddled in their loss. Eit…

If you buy commercial insurance you've certainly noticed the rate increases. Brian Tanner is Managing Principal at EPIC Insurance's Birmingham, Alabama office and is our monthly Business Alabama magazine deep dive interview. He explains why rates are up, how AI is making creative crooks more clever, and why the art of cold calling is not dead. Bria…

Foodservice is typically full of high turnover. Unless you work for PP Hospitality Group. Panini Pete and his sister, Cheryl Blohme, have created a rapidly growing organizaiton due, in part, by their ability to find and keep good people in jobs typified by high turnover. Pete and Cheryl and their leadership team have figured something out. It begin…

It's been a tough few weeks. This commentary offers no specifics, but I've learned some things. ----- Many years ago, my neighbor in Charlotte, North Carolina knocked on my door one weekday afternoon. His wife had just told him she’s leaving. She climbed her car and drove away. He was dumbstruck and he needed to talk. My wife and I had just moved i…

There is a big difference between a skills shortage and a labor shortage. Employers used to worry about lack of applicable skills. Today employers just need people with some of the skills demanded. Elizabeth Crofoot is an economist with Lightcast. Based in DC, Elizabeth knows how to mine the data our Federal Government provides and "read the tea le…

My wife and I were headed to a cocktail reception where we knew no one. "This is an opportunity," I said. ----- My wife and I were driving to a short cocktail reception full of people we’d never met. Most of them knew one another. Us? Not a soul. This is an opportunity, I said. Let’s run with it. I proposed that she and I create a story for ourselv…

There are basics to marketing your business. Before business owners get into the weeds of fancy marketing tactics, they need to make sure the basics are covered. Gayle Rogers of The Atomic Agency works with owners of new businesses as well as business veterans to make sure the fundamentals are well taken care of before anything sophiticated can beg…

The heat's cooked our brains. ------ The heat’s taken its toll. It’s been unrelenting. Brutal. The greenery looks weary. The grass dries and turns brown within hours of any moisture. My car thermometer regularly reads around 110 and I saw online that it feels much hotter. We need a break. We need relief. My dog looks at me and says “No way I’m walk…

Sports Tourism draws athletes and their families from hundreds of miles to destinations where they can compete. Joel Lamp is the Sports Manager for the Huntsville Convention and Visitors Bureau and is responsible for filling the statiums, stands, fields, rinks, pools, and courts around Huntsville with these athelets. The opportunities continue to g…

Last week I danced in front of a train to try to get it to move. ----- Trains have always held great symbolic meaning. They represent the future, a new destination, an opportunity. In movies, the characters board trains in the hopes of greater things down the tracks. Lovers tearfully depart at train stations. Though tragic it’s what’s best for each…

Started by a retired sheriff hired to protect construction on a nuclear power plant near Dothan, Alabama, DSI Security Services now has operations in thirty-three states and 5400 employees. Alan Clark is chairman of the board. His father was the retired sherrif and his two sons are now involved in the company. Alan cites solid customer relationship…

This week I take an imaginary walk through Jackson Square in New Orleans and ask a caricature artist to draw me something...different. ----- There are sections of our society that have become parodies of themselves. Once proud, they’re now laughable forms of their former self. Imagine this: You’re walking through the New Orleans French Quarter. You…

The proposals are worth millions of dollars each. The clients are major global companies trying to impress cllients, thank teams, generate sales. The proposal has to be right. It has to be good. It has to be as perfect as it can be. Jason Cohen is the Execitive Director of Global Sales at Accor Hotels. With 5500 properties across the globe, Accor c…

After thirty years of the same family tradition - I give some thought to the future. ----- For the thirtieth year in a row my SUV left my garage headed for the North Carolina Coast the second to last Saturday in July. If we weren’t in it, it would go by itself. It’s what we do. It’s what the car does. And it was packed tight with everything from fi…

This month's Business Alabama Magazine interview features Stephanie Bryan, the Chairwoman of the Poarch Band of the Creek Indians. In her tenure as chair she's diversified the tribe's holdings far beyond gaming into government services, hotels and resort hotels, even processing cattle and many more. She's active across the state of Alabama as she c…

Finding and keeping good employees today is very hard. The shortages driven by the Baby Boomer retirement have begun making their mark in the workplace. And even as populous as the Millennials are, there aren't enough of them to replace the Boomers. Employers are pulling their hair out. Employees have their pick. Dr. Josh Duplantis is the Dean of W…

Casey Biehl is the VP of Operations for Fat Boy's Pizza based in Metairie, Louisiana. This pizza chain is growing rapidly due to the quality of ingredients and the ambience of the restaurants. I got word they were looking to head further east and became curious of their recipe for selecting new locations for expansion - what do they look for in a c…

The intersection of I-10 and I-65, the Port of Mobile, several rail lines, and the reinvigoration of Brookley Field has the potential to futher transform Mobile into one of the nation's largest logistics hubs. Philip Burton knew this but one piece was missing - the logistics parks where the product is brought after unloading, sorted, and shipped ag…

She hopped to the edge of the platform, raised her arms, and jumped. ----- The video opened on my phone and my daughter was leaping off a bridge and falling out of the frame. It took my breath away. I watched it again and texted her. “Since you sent this to me,” I said, “I assume you survived the fall?” “Yea,” she texted back. “It was awesome.” She…

Matt Peat is a Gen X'er that has never job hopped. He's been with Transhield many years and has remained with the company through the many times its been bought and sold. He tells the story of the remarkable product they manufacture, and how he has managed to thrive in each transaction where others may have been dismissed or asked to leave. Matt wa…

A cup of coffee with a friend and a few strangers was a wonderful start to a great day not long ago. ----- I’d like to say Hello to Randy Fowler. On Friday mornings he’s in his car on his way to the Restaurant Five in downtown Tuscaloosa with his dog Milo. He’s a regular listener to these commentaries and he reached out to me a few years ago when h…

Roy Lewis Construction has a reputation for quality building and adding value for customers. It's this reputation that has kept them going when times got tough. For years the phone rang from customers eager to benefit from their quality and reputation. Then there was the Great Recession. Then Covid and supply chain challenges. Paul Lewis, company p…

I have an idea for a business. Make up words customers can't understand then upcharge 75%. ----- I think our dog is constipated. She rung her tinkle bell early early in the morning to go outside and she just roamed around the yard in a hurry with her nose down. I have no idea if this is what a constipated dog looks like. I’m assuming that’s her iss…

What are the details - the nitty-gritty - of finding a business to buy, valuing it, and finding a buyer? Trey Langus works for Transworld Business Advisors and that's what he does. His customer from a recent transaction was Trey Galloway - now owner of The Health Hut. Hear how Trey Langus found the business and Trey Galloway found an opportunity fo…

My wife and I were at Bama Bound this week for my son's college orientation. ----- I am oriented. It’s official. My wife, my son, and I spent a day and a half in Tuscaloosa this week at Bama Bound – the school’s orientation for students and parents. Roll Tide! Or as my wife says “Rowl Tihhhdee, yall”. We heard a lot of that these past few days. I a…

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 differen…

I had a tough day the other day. Thankfully, I know a recipe that gets me out of them. ----- My eighteen-year-old son is headed to Tuscaloosa next week for his Bama Bound orientation. My wife and I are going, too. I’m wondering why the parents need a college orientation so I’m tagging along. It’s about a day and a half worth of stuff. As a student,…

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 h…

Some social media posts have been gettin' to me a bit... ----- The caption read “blessed.” The social media posts were of a woman surrounded by her friends wearing designer clothes. Another of her on a private plane drinking champagne with friends. And another sitting in a suite with friends at a world-famous event. Perfect hair. Perfect teeth. Ble…

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 …

Recap and thoughts from a client call a few week's ago. We were discussing a problem they're having that all of us had a hand in creating. ----- “I didn’t realize it would be so hard.” That’s from a conference call with the leaders of a mid-Atlantic hospital system a few weeks back. We were talking about their young, newly minted doctors. I was put…

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 wit…

We need change. And someone special who can bring it. ----- Another mass shooting last weekend. By the time this airs, there will likely be another one or two. It’s awful that these events no longer horrify us the way they should. I hardly read the story anymore. The details are all too familiar. A young male. An assault weapon. A troubled backgrou…

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 nee…

Lots of sights and sounds at New Orleans Jazz Fest. ----- My wife, a college friend and I stood amidst the peace and quiet of Jazz Fest in New Orleans last weekend along with what must have been 100,000 of our closest friends. It was a sight. When my wife and I told our friends we were going, they reacted the same was as when I told them we were go…

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…

Today's Keepin' it Real - the language of insiders. ----- I made a short statement the other day and my son immediately replied, “That’s cap.” C A P. Cap. I’m unsure what it means. It’s either “that’s the gospel truth” or “that’s a boldface lie.” I thought about it for a moment and decided I didn’t want to know. For centuries generations have used …

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 …

This week I'm on the heels of a spring break trip with my youngest children - my twins. ------- I’ve wondered how often my teenaged children brush their teeth. After spending a week in a hotel room with two of them I learned that it is much less frequently than I had thought. Spring break was last week. It’s already been quite a year in the Marston…

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, su…

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...st…

Listener's responses from my request last week: ----- To the many of you who pulled your Subaru’s over last week and emailed me, thank you. For those who don’t know, I had a stroke about two weeks ago and am, thankfully, ok. I walked out of intensive care about twenty-four hours later. Other than a fistful of pills every day, I’m back to normal. An…

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 i…

It was big. I got lucky. And I'm not sure what to think about it. ----- My wife and I moved to Mobile in 2007. We had four children ages four and under and needed cheap arms and laps – better knowns as family - to help through this overwhelming time. We committed to staying awhile so my wife and I did our best to invest ourselves in our community. …

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…

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 grandk…

I've been offered an invitation to go camping... ----- Years ago, my wife and I got a deal on some camping equipment. We headed into the North Carolina mountains to a creek camp site and set up our fancy new tent and tried out our new gear. When night fell, we unpacked our fancy new sleeping bags that were rated to keep us warm well below that nigh…

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…

What my wife and I saw on my recent business trip to a Bahamas resort was more than enough. ----- My wife and I spent four nights at a Bahamas resort on a business trip and here are my observations. Here’s what I saw. First, I remember hearing that most traffic accidents happen within five miles of the driver’s home. Seems inverse of what you’d exp…