Yermi Kurkus, is the co-founder of the Yermi Kurkus Consulting Group. With a family background in Entrepreneurship, a heart for community and philanthropy, and his love for psychology, Yermi dedicated his life to helping businesses thrive, earning an MA in Organizational and Industrial Psychology and is in the process of attaining his Doctorate in that same field.
Today, Yermi creatively partners with businesses to help them increase their value, productivity, and profit by focusing on their operations and talent. The results of which help facilitate the buying or selling of businesses as well as assist in the overall well-being of the workplace and workforce.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yermikurkus/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@yermikurkus
Website: https://www.yermikurkus.com/
Email: yermi@yermikurkus.com
Robin Thomas worked for 25 years in Medical Research at UNC and studied inflammation in chronic and autoimmune diseases for the last 10 years of her UNC career. She left UNC to start her own nutritional wellness business with USANA Health Sciences in 2004 and in 2015 founded Living Well Connections, a community for people whose passion is healthy living. Robin loves her husband and hiking buddy of 45 years, digging in her garden while barefoot, and her cat Alfie.
Robin’s desire is to help people to discover that you don’t have to buy into the belief that we gain weight and lose energy, fitness, and vibrancy the older we get, but that it’s possible to be HEALTHY and FILLED WITH ENERGY that sustains you throughout each day.
Web: https://robinthomas.biz
Email: robin@robinthomas.biz
Social Media:
https://Youtube.com/RobinThomas
https://facebook.com/robinthomas.usana
https://instagram.com/livingwellconnections
To Join Living Well Connections:
http://livingwellconnections.info
Hank’s guest, Tyler Lewis, was born on October 22, 2003, in Newark, New Jersey. Tyler has always been adventurous and determined to do great things as a child. He has survived many trials in his life but today finds time to empower people to live a transformed life. As a young black entrepreneur and author, Tyler’s focus is to write about his training and life experiences around self-development and purpose. His recent book “Word To Self” highlights the importance of speaking positive affirmations while activating a healthier mindset. As a member of Asheville’s Black Wall Street cohort, Tyler has influenced his community to think. Tyler has hope for mankind and believes people can live wealthy lives by simply changing their mindsets.
Email: tylerlewis2k@gmail.com
Website: https://linktr.ee/wordtoself
Hank interviews John Hornsby, the Founder and Creative Director of Hornsby Creative. John is also a founding executive board member of AIGA Asheville and co-organizer of an annual creative retreat in Spain.
John helps clients discover, design, and deliver branded experiences with clarity and confidence. We apply strategic branding to attract the right clients to fulfill your purpose profitably. John has worked with businesses ranging from solopreneurs to Fortune 500 companies like Kimberly Clark.
John has grown from being an introvert, too afraid to pick up the phone to order a pizza, to a top-performing sales team leader, speaker, and consultant.
Throughout his over 25-year career, he has served in leadership for various creative companies. John prides himself on being a bit of an outsider not having taken the traditional pathway. He has always gravitated toward unique professional experiences. These have included running a DIY performance space, performing music, running the art and design departments for a major special events company, driving an RV around the country with his wife for a marketing campaign, and 20 years of managing signs and graphics companies in roles ranging from production grunt to art director, to general management and sales.
He has focused heavily on experiential and environmental design, especially as it relates to custom architectural signage and events. He has collaborated on projects with clients ranging from small local businesses to big brands like Kimberly Clark, Cooper Hewitt, and the AIGA National Design Conference.
In 2020 when everything went virtual, he and his wife Anila Launched Connection Kits, a “do it for you service” creating branded event toolkits to give event hosts an easy way to increase enrollment, fulfillment, and retention.
He loves getting lost on the trails around his home by the Great Smoky Mountains with his family and dog.
Social Media Profiles:
Individual
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhornsby/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnhornsbymusic/
Hornsby Creative
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-hornsby-creative
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hornsbycreative
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hornsbycreative/
Trained in Art, Divinity, Fire Service, various Trades, and much more Darryl has combined his interests into decades of business and impact on the world around him. He started his first business over 65 years ago and has followed that with decades as a Pastor, Firefighter, Magician, Artist, Performer, Community Leader, Author, Photographer, Filmmaker, and Youtube Creator.
From appearing on the Tonight Show to creating a 63-day world tour circling the globe, all things are possible for Darryl. The BOX was invented simply so Darryl would have a place to play outside – outside the BOX! Learn more about Darryl’s story and mindset for life.
Contact information:
Email: darrylpeebles@gmail.com
Website: www.darrylpeebles.com
Phone: 336-516-3793
Hank’s guest today is Lyn Mabry of Designing Spaces by Lyn. After 20+ years working for high-end boutique hotels, Lyn and a friend designed and built a one-of-a-kind, pet boarding facility in Nashville, Tennessee. Then she combined her top-tier hotel experience, first-class customer service standards, and natural gifts of interior design to create The Farm at Natchez Trace. At this time, several of Lyn’s own residential renovation projects were being showcased by local home tours. So, after several successful years, Lyn sold her interest in The Farm to her partner and moved back to Louisville to follow her dream in residential design.
By 2012, she had proven to herself what she already knew – that she was born to be an interior designer. Jumping in with both feet, Lyn invested in herself by birthing Living Spaces by Lyn, which finally gave her the platform to make a huge difference in the lives of her clients. She was selected to help update and furnish the famous CNet Smart House in Louisville, became accredited as an Expert Psychological Stager™ and was a Best of Houzz award winner. As her business grew, so did the diversity of her client base: Realtors, builders, and individuals living in the US and abroad, were contacting Lyn to help them transform spaces.
In 2022, Lyn sold her business and landed in Hendersonville, NC, to start again with Designing Spaces by Lyn, wiser and more experienced than ever. Her goal is to keep doing what she does best--seeing the design and potential of spaces while teaming up with local craftspeople who can make her vision come to life. Wise, intuitive, and joyful, Lyn wants to continue organically and beautifully leaving her mark on the world. No job too large or small, Lyn says!
Contact Lynn Mabry:
Email; Lyn@designingspacesbylyn.com
Phone: 502.333.2338
Website: https://designingspacesbylyn.com/
Hank interviews Rupert Packard (AKA SohokoState) about his services for aspiring songwriters.
SohokoState helps songwriters polish up their creations for a greater chance of commercial success. He helps with:
SohokoState credentials:
Contact SohokoState:
Website: https://www.sohokostate.com/
Email: info@sohokostate.com
Hank interviews Jesse Lopez, who designs custom clothing for men who really want to dress for success. Jesse has spent 30+ years as a wardrobe consultant in the men’s clothing industry, and has been designing custom clothing since 1993. He’s been operating his home business, Lopez Custom Apparel since 2014, fitting clients for high-end, custom suits by appointment in their homes or offices.
Find out how you can stand out from the crowd with a custom-designed suit!
Email Jesse at: ragspro@outlook.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlopezcustom
Hank’s guest is Empowerment Coach Lesley King. LesIey was drawn to filmmaking in college and began working as a freelancer in film production. She said she was amazed to be part of this business, and she moved to LA to the film mecca to work on a hot new tv show. But when she saw how people in TV and film were living, she knew she wanted something different and started her journey to figure out what was next in her career and life.
Here in North Carolina, she married and, at first, jumped on her husband’s dream to do a bed and breakfast and then a coffee shop. These revealed themselves to not be the careers she wanted, but they showed her more about what she did like and dislike in work situations.
When their marriage broke up, she went back to film production to get out of debt and stabilize her life, but once she met those goals, she was ready for something new, not quite knowing what that would be.
A friend recommended a coach to help figure it out. She hadn’t heard about coaching in the past. When they began exploring some of her ideas, Lesley started to look at what a coaching career would be like. She has always wanted to make the world better place and to help people be happy with their career and life. Happy people make the world happier. As an Empowerment Coach, Leslie says she loves watching her clients dream and figure out more about who they are, then get creative and design the life they want. She says helping them make it happen is very fulfilling.
Email: lesleykingempower@gmail.com
Website: https://lesleykingempower.com/
Phone: 828-206-1991
Hank’s guest, Michael Leary was born and raised in Brooklyn NY. Married to Susan, his biggest fan and support system, they relocated to NC 11 years ago, and currently reside in Fuquay-Varina.
Michael worked in Business services for the former Time Warner Cable NYC for ten years. Upon arriving in NC, he worked in the B2B space for 7 years. Frustration with hounding business owners with his products and services, led Michael to his current calling – an Independent Agent for David Allen Capital, where he helps business owners grow and expand when they can’t obtain working capital from their banks.
Discussion explores how home business entrepreneurs can obtain funding for business growth when banks will not fund them.
Hank’s guest today, Michael Palermo was born and raised in Chicago. After 47 years in the city and almost 25 years as a business lawyer, he felt he needed a change. Mike took a year off in 2014 to recharge, living in the remote mountains of Idaho. Now he’s an Asheville business lawyer serving Buncombe County and the surrounding WNC area including Hendersonville and Waynesville, Marion, Sylva, and even as far as Franklin.
Mike formed the Palermo Business Law Firm in 2006 so that he could be more flexible in the way he served his clients, without the formalities involved in a “traditional” business law firm practice. Mike’s commercial law transactional practice helps all sizes of businesses and high growth start-ups with their legal work.
Website: www.palermolaw.com
Email: palermo@palermolaw.com
Today’s guest, Meta Commerse, is a former professor of History and English, an award-winning author and healer. She is a word medicine woman in the Southern Appalachian story medicine tradition inherited from her grandmother. Her works include five books, essays, newspaper articles, one stage play, and more to come. A graduate of Goddard College in Vermont, Meta is founder and CEO of Story Medicine Worldwide. A performing artist and vocalist, she is the mother of three, grandmother to three grandsons, and has since 2009 made Asheville her home.
Website: https://StoryMedicineWorldwide.com
Email: wordmedicinewoman@yahoo.com
Hank’s guest, Katie Rotanz Gillikin, is a graphic designer and owner of Rotanz Design, specializing in logo and website design for small businesses in the Asheville area. In the past Katie worked as a graphic designer and art director at local agencies, but has loved the flexibility and challenge of self-employment since starting her own business in 2017.
Katie primarily works from her home office in Candler, NC, but also works at WestBase Coworking in West Asheville a couple days a week. She has a distinct design style that's clean and modern and takes a lot of pride in building lasting relationships with clients to help them expand their brand in print and on the web."
Conversation touches on the deeper meaning of branding, the advantages of coworking spaces for home business owners, and some of the perks of being a home business entrepreneur.
Website: rotanzdesign.com
Instagram: instagram.com/rotanzdesign
Facebook: facebook.com/rotanzdesign
Hank interviews Mark Prokop, Founder and CEO of Pro Financial Fitness. He started the business in September 2020 to help non-profit companies set up and operate more efficiently. From 2001 to 2020, Mark worked in the North Carolina non-profit field, from a Bookkeeper to an All In One Financial Show (where he did Bookkeeping, Accounting, Payroll, Internal and External Reporting, Grants Management, and Human Resources) to being an Executive Director – 3 times – (one of which he founded), to being on multiple Boards of Directors.
These experiences motivated Mark to start Pro Financial Fitness, as he appreciates the work that North Carolina nonprofits are carrying out and he wants to see them financially managed properly, stay in good shape, and stay out of trouble with the IRS and State of North Carolina.
https://www.profinancialfitness.com/
Phone: 919) 218-3964
Hank speaks to Brian Basilico, the award-winning author of the best-selling book “It’s Not About You, It’s About Bacon! Relationship Marketing In A Social Media World!” and his latest book, "Toilet Paper Math!” He was honored as one of the Top Marketers to Follow in 2018.
Brian is an Online Marketing Strategist with over 40 years of marketing experience and the owner of an award-winning internet marketing company, B2b Interactive Marketing, Inc. He is world-renowned for his Innovative Content Marketing Strategies and was one of the first 1000 people to join LinkedIn in 2004.
Brian is a speaker, syndicated blogger, podcaster, and a sought-after guest expert featured in Entrepreneur and Inc., magazines. With over 750 episodes, his show “The Bacon Podcast”, is ranked as one of the Top 100 Marketing Podcasts on iTunes, and was also recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of their top 35 business podcasts.
Hank interviews home-based Entrepreneur Alex Cardona. In 2020, Alex and his wife moved to Asheville, NC with the ambition of starting a wellness facility, but covid derailed that plan. Through a friend from high school Alex discovered a business opportunity as a Legal Shield independent representative, to empower others with access to the legal system and identity theft. Alex started his business in May 2020, and since then he has immersed himself in the Asheville area by becoming a part of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, Incredible Business networking, and the WNC Black Business Expo.
Alex is the host of The Golden Key on BizRadio.US.
Michelle Sera is business mindset coach, founder of ElevatedMind™, and the author of the upcoming book, The 7-Minute Shift: Get out of your own way, manifest your greatest self and grow a massively successful business in as little as 7 minutes a day!
Michelle started ElevatedMind™ after 5 years of coaching people through marketing programs that ranged from $2K to $100K. During those 5 years, she found that it didn't matter who you are, how much you spend, or how badly you need to "succeed." If your state of mind wasn't in the right place, none of it mattered.
Learn more at https://theelevatedmind.com
Email: michelle@michellesera.com
Joe Novara is a speaker, a business mindset / sales coach, and is the author of three Amazon bestselling books. A sales professional for more than three decades, Joe attributes most of his success to the relationships he developed along the way, many of which he still has after 30 years.
Joe has a great desire to educate people on how to elevate their mindset and crush their goals. As a Tony Robbins certified coach in Strategic Intervention, it’s Joe’s greatest desire to see his clients and audience members break through barriers, live life beyond their wildest dreams, and build businesses that have lasting impact.
Joe lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina with his wife, Julie.
More at https://www.joenovara.com
Email: joe@joenovara.com
"The Home Business Success Show", with Host Hank Eder, focuses on best practices and “dos and don’ts” for Home Business Entrepreneurs. Each week, Hank Eder speaks with home business owners about best practices. The show airs at 1 pm Thursdays on https://bizradio.us/. (Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss out!)