SIVAD Radio: Business Advisory Board Roundtable

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Not long ago, I was fortunate to moderate a business roundtable with the advisory board of SIVAD Business Solutions. The collection of talent and brain power included the following gentlemen:

Ron Davis, President of SIVAD
Charles Davis, CFO of SIVAD
Dr. Richard Morrison, Retired Eli Lilly executive, Adjunct Professor, UNC Wilmington
Don Akery, VP of The Power and Signal Group
Spencer Broadhurst, Executive VP, Newbridge Bank

If you are wondering about growth trends, both domestically and internationally, you need to listen to this conversation. If you are an entrepreneur, you need to listen to this conversation. Finally, if you believe to your core that technology is the critical element to future growth opportunities, you need to listen to this conversation.

Dr. Morrison talked about the overall business environment and future trends. Don Akery talked about the intersection of technology and sales and operations. And Spence Broadhurst discussed market trends in commercial banking and finance.

This thirty-eight minutes of business conversation is something you don’t want to miss. As an entrepreneur myself, I found this chat inspiring and educational…

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Rob Romero on SIVAD Radio!

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A thrill to welcome Rob Romero to SIVAD Radio. You can find Rob online here. [From Rob:]

“Early in my architectural career, I had the opportunity to work in a world-renowned architect’s office, Antoine Predock, on a wide range of projects from very high end residences to massive conventions centers in Morocco to museums in California and Wyoming to the Disney Mediterranean Hotel in Orlando. Since then, I have worked for several other design-oriented architectural firms until stepping out on my own.

In 2000, I started working for myself under the name Romero Architecture and now ROMERAMA which is a hybrid of my last name + the first letters of my interests – Architecture + Music + Art. I have pursued all scales of projects from retail/commercial to residential/renovation. From 2000 to 2009, I completed projects in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, North Carolina and West Virginia for total estimated construction costs of $7,580,000. As with each project, I always feel that site analysis is vital and I make an effort to experience each location as part of my duty as an architect and responsible designer in the world.

One of the most rewarding aspects of designing a project is getting to know the clients and, in some cases, I have had the opportunity to create art that is specifically commissioned for their building. The combination of art and architecture has been part of my ethos from the beginning.”

On today’s show, we discussed the following topics:

1. Rob’s firm, Romero Design; and what inspired him to launch his own firm.

2. How he, and his industry, are making it through the economy; and some discussion of ways to survive and thrive…

3. Business, industry and economic trends for the next five years.

4. The future and inspiration of the entrepreneurial spirit.

5. The opportunities in global markets.

Entrepreneur Jonathan Drury on SIVAD Radio!

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On this week’s show, we had the pleasure to visit with Jonathan Drury, Partner and Director of Operations for KBAR Parts, LLC. Here, he manages day to day manufacturing and parts sales, as well as accounting department and engineering liason. He graduated University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill – Kenan-Flagler Business School, MBA, 2009; and Clemson University, BA Political Science, 2000.

On the show today, we discussed the current status, as well as future trends, in U.S. manufacturing, of which Jonathan is bullish. We talked about doing business in international markets, where both co-host Charles Davis and Jonathan talked about the exciting future of South America. Jonathan also shared how a small organization can compete in international markets.

Finally, as we often do on this show, the three of us talked about entrepreneurs, and we enjoyed hearing Jonathan’s take on how to succeed as an entrepreneur in today’s economy.

You’ll enjoy today’s episode!

Entrepreneur Dave Spetrino on SIVAD Radio!

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We were honored to welcome Dave Spetrino to SIVAD Radio! Dave is the president and CEO of Plantation Building Corp.

On the show, we discussed what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and whether or not this is a good time to launch an entrepreneurial venture. We also discussed the status of the present day real estate market, as well as the trends on where the real estate market is going over the next several years. Finally, we discussed how the banking community and the regulatory environment are impacting small business.

Dave Spetrino lives in Wilmington NC. He has more than eighteen years of experience in the construction, real estate, and development industries. Plantation Building Corp, a multi-million dollar corporation, focuses on commercial and residential construction and development.

Dr. Adam Reed on SIVAD Radio!

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A real honor and pleasure to have Dr. Adam Reed join us on SIVAD Radio.

Dr. Reed is the Julian Price Scholar in Finance and Associate Professor of Finance at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Reed researches short selling, equity lending, capital markets and mutual funds. He teaches the core finance class in the MBA Program.

His research has been published in the Journal of Finance and the Journal of Financial Economics, and it has been cited in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

On the show, we discussed Dr. Reed’s specialty area of research, what it is like teaching tomorrow’s leaders, the power and the future of the MBA, the status of entrepreneurship, the impacts of today’s regulatory environment, and of course, coming market trends.

Dr. Reed promised to return to the show and keep us updated on future trends in the market place…

Entrepreneur Brett Furniss On SIVAD Radio!

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SIVAD was pleased to welcome entrepreneur Brett Furniss to SIVAD Radio!

Brett is the founder and CEO of BDF Realty and Rent To Sell Realty. Formerly working in the telecommunications industry, Brett has since founded these two companies, and is in the process of launching a new venture, which we will learn about on a future episode of SIVAD Radio!

On this episode, Brett shares some thoughts on how he transitioned from a corporate life to that of an entrepreneur, about how to conduct virtual business, how to launch a new entrepreneurial venture, and shares his thoughts on the trends of future entrepreneurial business growth.

In addition, Brett shares some thoughts on the real estate market, how to survive in that competitive market, and future trends in real estate. Brett currently resides in Charlotte, NC.

A CEO I Can Admire

Anyone who runs a business, large or small, understands the pressure of keeping your business moving forward. As they say, “it is lonely at the top”. For a CEO, everyone is a critic and every move you make is questioned. Where revenue and profits are king, it is natural for a CEO to squeeze every employee and resource for all the productivity they can get. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe CEO’s are bad, but their number one fiscal responsibility is to bring in the all- mighty dollar.

So to my surprise last week I had a CEO turn this mindset completely on its head. Yes, he discussed his company’s future and how they were going to attain revenue goals, but a session with his Human Resources manager got my attention. They were discussing a program in place for employees called “passion pay”. This program enables any employee, regardless of job title or length of service, to take a paid week off from work and spend it serving their favorite charity. What I truly admire, is that the expense of offering this to his employee’s, didn’t outweigh his passion to give back to the community. For me this is a CEO who gets it.

For anyone who will listen, I have stated that my goal in life is to see my company prosper and be rewarding financially for me, so that I can take the money I earn and use it to help those in need. I believe that if I am blessed with the skill to make money, then that’s for a reason. It’s not to buy exotic cars or a G6, it’s about helping others. I haven’t always felt this way, but I do now and I happen to like that feeling. I applaud and admire this CEO, and I hope many others, myself included, will follow his lead.

The Coming Age of Entrepreneurialism

As this great country continues to work its way out of difficult financial times, many people look to the future and wonder what will be the “next great thing” that will invigorate the business world. My contention is America is at the forefront of a great new wave of entrepreneurism. For far too long the smart people went into banking, financial services, large high tech companies and other large enterprises like General Electric. Times are changing. Smart people are leaving these industries in droves, both voluntarily and involuntarily. You talk to almost anyone in large corporations and they complain about the daily life, lack of decision-making, and general malaise of corporate life. Many stay because they have a job and lack risk tolerance to go on their own.

Again, times are changing. In the past, MBA schools weren’t open and eager to teach entrepreneurialism either because many of it’s students had their tuition paid by large corporations, or because these same corporations support the schools financially, or students saw it as the fastest way to a corporate job. However, many MBA schools have now embraced teaching entrepreneurialism and are seeing students gravitate in mass to these studies. With the pullback in corporate support, students are now driven to make their own decisions and what gives them the most risk/reward potential. As Gen X and Gen Y become more of the leaders in society, their motivations are driven beyond the classic normal factors. Fulfillment of life goes beyond salary, and building something that will have a more meaningful impact, either by employing people or giving back to their community through services, have become priorities.

My contention is that these corporate “nomads” will start to find each other. They are highly educated and understand the operating principles of business. What they need help with is the risk profile of an entrepreneur. Through education, and most of all through trial and error of running a small business, this group will lead the resurgence of the business community. America needs this to happen and the government should offer incentives to promote the growth of entrepreneurialism. Let’s look at the numbers that the Kauffman Foundation released this year after studying the US government’s data set called Business Dynamics Statistics. From 1997 to 2005, existing companies were net job destroyers, losing one million jobs annually, while new businesses in their first year added an average of three million jobs annually. Corporate America is NOT where the jobs are created. Entrepreneurs and Small Business leaders are the job creators in this country. We need to embrace and exploit this fact as the New Entrepreneurialism Age grows over the next decade. Federal and local governments need to embrace this growth and cater to small business, as these are the growth engines of the future. Over the next eight years, America and Corporate America will struggle in a tough environment due to the deleveraging that needs to continue happening, deflation then inflation, and the end of a nasty debt driven recession.

Entrepreneurs will also struggle, but they understand the ups and downs better because they live with these day to day in their business. They also have an optimistic attitude and a drive in their gut to succeed. Entrepreneurs are passionate about what they do and will work day and night to get their job done. They are problem solvers. Corporate America has lost this trait over the last several years as making money became somewhat easy. No more. The other key to the entrepreneurial rise is access to capital. With debt tight but opening in the future, entrepreneurs have sought out capital through equity offerings. Much of the smart money looking to be placed understands this fact. Investors continue funding entrepreneurs even through these tough times. Returns still look attractive in these investments, even on a risk-based standard. The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article talking about the growth of “Super Angel” investor groups. I believe the growth in angel investing groups will help drive the smaller entrepreneur at a faster pace than ever before. The next decade will be very tough, but I believe the following decade will be the new “Roaring Twenties”. Now is the time to either be an entrepreneur or invest in one. The new wave is coming and I for one am excited every day to have the opportunity to not only be an entrepreneur, but invest in other entrepreneurs as well. We will as a country, get through our issues and the entrepreneur will be a driving force to bring this country to a new level.

Photo from Guerrilla Futures / Jason Tester on Flickr