North GA Business RadioX

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What if the teens you're worried about — the ones glued to their screens — are actually begging for an excuse to put the...
05/09/2026

What if the teens you're worried about — the ones glued to their screens — are actually begging for an excuse to put their phones down?

That's exactly what teens tell "Big" Jon Estes every summer at Woodlands Camp.

Today on North Georgia Business Radio, Phil Bonelli sits down with the founder who's spent nearly three decades meeting kids at the gate and watching them confess the thing they're most excited about isn't the blob or the zip line — it's a week with their phones turned off.

The phone confession: Why teens who'd lose their minds if mom said "put it down" are walking into camp asking to do exactly that — and what it reveals about the comparison game quietly crushing them.

From banker to builder: How a 24-year-old commercial banker with no funding, no connections, and a 10-week runway built a camp that now sells out in 45 seconds.

The no-marketing miracle: Why Woodlands has never spent a dollar on marketing — and the three non-negotiables Jon committed to before a single camper ever showed up.

Simplicity enables excellence: Why trying to be all things to all people nearly cost him the camp, and what every business owner can borrow from his decision to do one thing better than anyone else.

𝗧𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗠𝟱𝟱𝟬 𝗪𝗗𝗨𝗡 @ 𝟯:𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗺 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Out of town listeners can stream live here:
https://bit.ly/ListenWDUN3pm

This segment of North Georgia Business Radio is brought to you thanks to the support of our incredible sponsors:
Cadence Bank | Hopewell Farms GA | Roundtable Advisors

Did a small-town Georgia doctor really discover anesthesia by watching people stumble around at parties?Today on North G...
05/02/2026

Did a small-town Georgia doctor really discover anesthesia by watching people stumble around at parties?

Today on North Georgia Business Radio X, Phil Bonelli sits down with Marena Bleech — director of the Crawford W. Long Museum in Jefferson and manager of the Jefferson Public Library.

From the wildly unexpected origin story of painless surgery to why your local library might be the most underrated resource in America, this hour is packed with "wait, what?" moments.

🩺 How a country doctor performed the first painless surgery in 1842 — and then waited nearly 100 years for the credit while Boston tried to claim it

🎉 The "frolic parties" that quietly inspired one of modern medicine's biggest breakthroughs (yes, really)

📚 What's actually at your local library now: seed libraries, Chromebooks, toddler prom, goat story time, and free tools that can replace Audible, Netflix, and ancestry subscriptions

💡 Marena's leadership rule: why "go for it" beats "what could go wrong" — even when there's a goat involved

𝗧𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗠𝟱𝟱𝟬 𝗪𝗗𝗨𝗡 @ 𝟯:𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗺 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Out of town listeners can stream live here:
https://bit.ly/ListenWDUN3pm

This segment of North Georgia Business Radio is brought to you thanks to the support of our incredible sponsors:
Cadence Bank | Hopewell Farms GA | Roundtable Advisors

Ever wonder why being forced into something can be the very thing that finally sets you free?Today on North Georgia Busi...
04/25/2026

Ever wonder why being forced into something can be the very thing that finally sets you free?

Today on North Georgia Business Radio, Phil Bonelli welcomes Scott Soper, Executive Director of Straight Street Ministry — a Hall County-based organization tackling three radically different crises under one roof.

Scott shares a counterintuitive truth about recovery, the "power of have to," and how a healthcare executive ended up leading one of Northeast Georgia's most impactful ministries — only six months into the role.

🍽️ Backpack Love by the numbers: How Straight Street quietly feeds 500–550 Hall County families every single weekend through a powerful partnership with school counselors

🔨 Street Impact: Why a former general contractor now builds code-compliant handicap ramps and bathroom renovations across Northeast Georgia — for veterans, single moms, and the elderly who'd otherwise go without

💜 Beautiful Feet: The 12-month Christ-centered home rescuing women from sexual exploitation — and the surprising reason court-mandated participants often achieve lasting freedom faster than those who arrive by choice

🐎 Derby Day, May 2: Save the date for the Kentucky Derby–themed fundraiser at Family Church in Gainesville (10 AM) — silent auction, stories from the Beautiful Feet home and more -- Get all the details here: https://www.straightstreetministry.org/derby-day-fundraiser

𝗧𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗠𝟱𝟱𝟬 𝗪𝗗𝗨𝗡 @ 𝟯:𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗺 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Out of town listeners can stream live here:
https://bit.ly/ListenWDUN3pm

This segment of North Georgia Business Radio is brought to you thanks to the support of our incredible sponsors:
Cadence Bank | Hopewell Farms GA | Roundtable Advisors

What if your next big business idea was already waiting for you… on a mall bench outside an H&M?In 2009 — arguably the w...
04/18/2026

What if your next big business idea was already waiting for you… on a mall bench outside an H&M?

In 2009 — arguably the worst economy in a generation — Derrick Case was doing his duty on the husband bench when his wife Danielle walked out frustrated.

Same overpriced clothes.
Same stale inventory.
Every. Single. Weekend.

Five weeks later, they opened the first Dress Up in Dahlonega.

Today? 17 stores across the Southeast and 250+ team members.

Host Phil Bonelli sits down with Derrick to unpack how bold action beat endless planning — and the tough calls that kept the company alive.

🔹 The 5-Week Sprint — From "I'm sick of this" on a Saturday to doors open in five weeks flat. The business plan? One spreadsheet and a whole lot of conviction.

🔹 The Contrarian Bet — Everyone warned them "people don't shop in Gainesville." Derrick's response may be the sharpest reframe of bad advice you'll hear all year.

🔹 The Hardest Conversation — How Derrick walked into his corporate office on day one of COVID and delivered news no founder ever wants to give.

🔹 The Culture Code — Why "love people, love clothes" and a strict no-drama policy have outperformed every ping-pong-table perk in the book.

𝗧𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗠𝟱𝟱𝟬 𝗪𝗗𝗨𝗡 @ 𝟯:𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗺 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Out of town listeners can stream live here:
https://bit.ly/ListenWDUN3pm

This segment of North Georgia Business Radio is brought to you thanks to the support of our incredible sponsors:
Cadence Bank | Hopewell Farms GA | Roundtable Advisors

What if working alone is the single biggest thing holding your business back? What if the most productive version of you...
04/11/2026

What if working alone is the single biggest thing holding your business back? What if the most productive version of you doesn't need a bigger home office — it just needs to be around other people who are also out there making it happen?

Today on North Georgia Business Radio, Phil Bonelli sits down with Marianna Soper, Community Manager at Thrive Gainesville — the co-working space right on the downtown Gainesville square.

Phil calls his first month as a Thrive member the most productive of his entire life, and today he and Marianna pull back the curtain on why this place works for so many solopreneurs, remote workers, and growing businesses.

Here's what's on tap:

📍 What Thrive actually offers — 40 month-to-month private offices, phone booths, a podcast studio, 24/7 app access, and yes, Pac-Man

📍 The co-working boom post-COVID — why traditional office buildings are emptying while Thrive is expanding across Georgia, the Carolinas, and beyond

📍 The community magic you can't manufacture — including two members who shared a building for a year and a half before discovering they went to high school together

📍 Marianna's own pivot story — from stay-at-home mom of 8 to special ed teacher to finding the job she didn't even know she was born to do

𝗧𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗠𝟱𝟱𝟬 𝗪𝗗𝗨𝗡 @ 𝟯:𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗺 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Out of town listeners can stream live here:
https://bit.ly/ListenWDUN3pm

This segment of North Georgia Business Radio is brought to you thanks to the support of our incredible sponsors:
Cadence Bank | Hopewell Farms GA | Roundtable Advisors

What if the secret to growing your business... is saying NO more often? After 15 years of building Full Media into a pow...
04/04/2026

What if the secret to growing your business... is saying NO more often?

After 15 years of building Full Media into a powerhouse healthcare digital marketing firm, CEO Kris Nordholz has the receipts — and it turns out, turning down clients was one of the smartest moves he ever made.

Today on North Georgia Business Radio, Phil sits down with Kris to unpack how a company that once chased every opportunity found its greatest success by narrowing its focus.

Today's conversation covers:

🎯 Niching down to win — How Full Media went from serving everyone to dominating healthcare digital marketing, and why "firing bullets before cannonballs" is the key to finding YOUR niche

🤝 Mixing business with friendship — The hard lessons learned when clients and employees are people you know, and why defining relationships early is everything

🏀 Culture is how you behave every day — What Kris learned growing up as a coach's son that still drives how he builds and leads his team at Full Media

💡 Principle-centered decisions — Why the best business decisions aren't always about the money, and how knowing WHO you want to be makes the tough calls much easier

𝗧𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗠𝟱𝟱𝟬 𝗪𝗗𝗨𝗡 @ 𝟯:𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗺 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Out of town listeners can stream live here:
https://bit.ly/ListenWDUN3pm

This segment of North Georgia Business Radio is brought to you thanks to the support of our incredible sponsors:
Cadence Bank | Hopewell Farms GA | Roundtable Advisors

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