Selling team-branded gear (and getting smiles) just takes some personality
Posted On April 7, 2024
Shadrick Toodle came by his gift of charisma naturally. His mother raised six children and still found time to teach Sunday School and be the “candy lady” in the neighborhood. So when Toodle had kids of his own, he threw himself into their sports and other activities. And that, combined with his personal charm and judicious use of social media, has helped him build a business. Toodle, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” owns Toodle Boys Sports, which designs, creates and sells unique branded clothing and other merchandise for high schools, club programs and… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Creating the ‘World’s Best Salsa,’ and growing a brand
Posted On March 31, 2024
Cooking is in Tony Tejas ‘ blood. But his background is in restaurant management. Tejas has now combined his cooking skills and his business sense to create his own products and his own company. He shared how in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” A Mobile native, he spent part of his younger years in Houston and developed a love for Mexican cuisine. During his 20 years as a restaurant manager, he developed a concept for his own restaurant. While that concept never got off the ground, it became the catalyst for something else. Disgusted at what… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
When it comes to training quarterbacks, a top coach remains a student
Posted On March 10, 2024
David Morris has trained a lot of quarterbacks. His company, QB Country, has trained four first-round NFL draft picks since he started it in 2009. Two more, Drake Maye and Bo Nix, could be first-round picks in this year’s draft. But Morris, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” still believes that he has more to learn. “I’m more of a student now than I’ve ever been,” said Morris, a former collegiate quarterback at Ole Miss. “You can’t fake this stuff when you’re talking about guys that are going to be top 10 picks. Year-round,… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Designing great outdoor spaces and an engaging social media presence
Posted On March 3, 2024
We have talked before in this space with experts who tell us we need to harness the power of social media to build our personal brand, and build our business. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is someone who’s putting that advice to good use. Catherine Arensberg is a landscape architect in Mobile, Alabama, who has built quite a social media presence. She has 26,000 followers on Instagram, more than 5,000 on Facebook, and 8,000 on YouTube, where she hosts her own web series: Simple.Honest.Design. She’s done it by being authentic – followers have… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Sometimes, success means hitting the market at just the right time
Posted On December 22, 2023
Sometimes a business model just has to be started at the right time to find success. What wouldn’t have worked at one time may be the Next Big Thing in another. So it was for Josh and Jarred Higginbotham, our guests in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” The Higginbothams took about 100 kernels of heirloom corn from a freezer in a barn on the farm that’s been in their family for generations and have built a thriving business, Bayou Cora Farms. There once wasn’t much of a market for heirloom corn – a pre-1940 variety that… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Stepping back from your passion in order to grow your business
Posted On December 21, 2023
If you’re going to turn your small business into a multi-million dollar company, chances are you’re going to have to step outside your comfort zone and try some new things. You’re also going to have to trust others to do the things you enjoyed doing to get that business off the ground. Marty Grunder, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” says learning how to delegate and how to develop new skills and new roles for yourself is important to the growth of any business. Grunder started Grunder Landscaping in the Dayton, Ohio, area while… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
When a side gig becomes the main gig
Posted On December 14, 2023
Sometimes a side gig can become your true calling. So it was for our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” After Danny Lipford started a remodeling business in Mobile in 1978, he was looking for a way to set himself apart from competitors. He made himself accessible to local media, did local speaking engagements, and 10 years later, he got the opportunity to do a home improvement TV show on a local station. Thirty-five years after those beginnings, the “Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford” television show, which Lipford hosts along with his daughter Chelsea, is… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Turning a problem into a business (and transforming wealth transfer in the process)
Posted On November 21, 2023
Sometimes the problems life presents to us lead us to create new solutions. So it was with Martha Underwood, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” Underwood had a family emergency in 2017, when her father fell from a roof while helping a neighbor clear debris after a hurricane and fell unconscious. Living in Birmingham, hundreds of miles away from her parents’ home in Miami, she found that finding and accessing his medical and financial information to make decisions on his behalf was problematic. “With my background, I said there has to be a better… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Wealth, What's Working with Cam Marston, Women
A new mantra for today’s business world: If it ain’t broke, break it and make it better
Posted On October 23, 2023
Some of the best advice you can give or take in business is simply to begin. Joe Calloway, a Nashville-based business consultant and author, had the word printed on a coffee mug to remind himself of it every day. “I’ve tried a lot of things, but I’m also really good at overthinking,” he said. “But I’m very aware of that and so I work really hard at beginning and moving on with things.” Calloway, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” acknowledges that beginning is often easier said than done. Fear often gets in the… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
Growing better grass to raise better beef
Posted On October 10, 2023
Joey Mason made his living in erosion control, growing special grasses that naturally protect the soil in which they’re rooted. Growing grass is also an important facet of another industry, however – the beef industry – and Mason has found a way to use his expertise to enter and learn a new business. Mason, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” owns and operates Mason Hills Farm, a cattle ranch in Grand Bay, Alabama, that produces high-end, premium beef. He says he had no idea what he was doing when he bought the 200-acre farm,… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston