Asheville Business Summit with Beth Lemmel

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs, brought to you by Action Coach Growth Partners. I'm your host, Bill Gilliland, and in this podcast, you'll find three things.

0:46You're going to hear real stories from real entrepreneurs that will help you along your entrepreneurial journey. You're also going to get business tips to help you scale up faster, and you're going to get actual coaching to help you get better real world results to be the best entrepreneur you can be. Hey, and if you like the podcast, remember to subscribe. And now, enjoy the show. Hey, I'm Beth Lemel. I work with Action Coach Business Growth Partners as a community relations manager. I have the distinct honor of planning and carrying out an event that is brand new to the Asheville area that is just steeped in all of the wonderful things about the business community here in Western North Carolina.

1:43I'm calling it the Asheville Business Summit, and I'm here to talk about it. Cool. So what is the Asheville Summit and maybe like how did it come about? Okay. Yeah. So the Asheville Business Summit actually is a spinoff of something that we did a couple of years ago. So Bill, you and I and our team at the time, it's not, it might've just been you and I actually at that time, but we beefed up the team for this event. But we just kind of threw out the idea of what would it be like to get, you know, a large group of business owners together and do an educational morning and kind of threw out the number 100 people.

2:33Wow, wouldn't it be great if we could get 100 of Asheville's amazing business owners into a room together and we can share ideas. We can have, you know, a speaker. We can feed people. There can be time for networking. And I think we gave ourselves like maybe a month and a half or so to plan it through some spaghetti at the wall and made it happen. Somehow this thing came together and it was it was really awesome. And for about a year and a half after that, we heard from a number of people just over and over again. People would bring it up like, hey, when are you going to do that again? When are you going to do that again?

3:19That was really cool. Here's I met this person at that at the summit or this is that was the day that this happened for me at the summit. Um, so we, so we were getting the message that it was a good thing. I think we had even talked about then having it be a yearly thing. Um, when it came to be a year from then, we were very aware that we're in transition. We were bringing on new people. Our team was growing. Um, we just kind of weren't in, we didn't have the bandwidth and weren't in the headspace, I think to, to make it happen, but came up again a couple months ago. And I think we just said, let's just do it.

3:58Let's just make let's just make it happen. So this is the Asheville Business Summit is, you know, it feels like the inaugural one this year because we are giving ourselves plenty of time for planning. We have a world class keynote speaker. We have a beautiful location where we're able to welcome as many people as we want to come. Um, um, it is, and our, and our team is bigger and better. Um, so this is, um, an event that is happening on August 20th. Um, we will start with a VIP dinner is what we're calling it the night before. it's going to be a more intimate smaller room full of folks business owners to network high level networking as you call it bill networking for grown-ups and get to know each other and then also get a little bit of value a little bit of education through that too so what happens in that room is going to be pretty special.

5:12Then the next day, August 20th is the main event. So the main event is going to start with an expo and some networking and breakfast right at 8am. All of this is taking place at the Embassy Suites downtown, by the way, downtown Asheville is brand new, it's gorgeous. And so definitely want to be there for the expo part. That's where you're going to get to meet all the folks that you came to meet. And then right around nine o 'clock and until about noon, we're going to be in the ballroom doing some pretty stellar education. We have a couple of speakers, but the day will end with a man named Brad Sugars.

6:01Brad is coming to us from Las Vegas by way of Australia. He is the founder and CEO of Action Coach. He is well known as the world's best business coach and has just a sounding amount of knowledge and wisdom to share with people who are in business. his history, the businesses that he owns currently, the way that he thinks that stuff is all out there. You can absolutely look him up, ask us about him. But you're going to want to be in the room when Brad Sugars comes to Asheville. So and then, you know, there'll be a couple of other ways to network and connect with other folks and with some of the businesses that are our sponsors.

6:58We have close to 20 sponsors and every single one of them is amazing. We are so grateful for the folks who are sponsoring this event, making it possible and making it better. So you're going to want to come and talk to them as well. And yeah, so that is the Asheville Business Summit. This is 2024, August 19th and 20th. WNCSummit.com is the website for more information and to purchase tickets. Right now we're in the early bird phase. Hopefully this podcast airs when we're still in the early bird phase, but you get about a 40 % discount on tickets to both the main event and the VIP dinner. If you buy before June 14th.

7:51So definitely don't wait. if you're thinking you want to join us and go ahead and get your ticket, secure your ticket, especially the VIP dinner. If you want to come to that is that one's going to sell out pretty quick. So, so yeah, that's, that's what it is. We are very excited. There's, there's lots to do, but it is, it is happening and couldn't be more thrilled to bring this to Asheville. So who should attend? How'd you like to learn from the best? How'd you like to network with the best? How'd you like to be the best? Well, the key to being the best is to hang around with the best and to learn from the best.

8:38And we're going to make that possible for you this August in Asheville at the Asheville Business Summit. I want you to stay tuned. We're bringing in speakers from outside. We've got a lot of good events planned. It's going to be amazing. We got more information coming, but if you'd like more info on how you can be involved, how you can attend, or how you can be a sponsor for this event, it's going to be over 350 entrepreneurs in one place right here in Western North Carolina in Asheville. For more info or to be a sponsor, I want you to reach out directly to Beth Limmel. That's L-E-M-M-E-L at actioncoach.com.

9:19That's Beth Limmel at actioncoach.com. We look forward to seeing you there. It's going to be amazing. It's a good question. I keep saying business owners because this is a business growth event. And if you are a high-level manager, leader in the business that you work within, it could be a good event for you too. So we want people to come who are interested in growth, interested in getting better at what they do, interested in collaboration and folks who understand that making connections in your community only makes everyone better. Um, so we want people that have, uh, we want people that have like a spark for their business and for wanting to grow.

10:20Um, but it will work. It will, it will absolutely be a, uh, a good fit for you if that is the case. And also you are the decision maker in your business. Yeah. If you're a manager or a leader, I mean, one of the topics is management versus leadership. So that's going to be good for any leaders, any managers, anybody like that. So in addition to the, you know, our core business of business owners. So that's good. So I got an interesting question the other day and I'll see how you answered. So I was talking to somebody about the summit and they said, well, you know, give me three reasons why I should attend.

10:57Yeah. Okay. Three reasons to attend the business summit. Number one, you are going to meet however many people you want to meet. If you're looking for someone to be a vendor in your business, if you're looking for new connections, if you're looking for a new printer to use or a marketing manager or just some really great ideas, folks to have coffee with, go grab a drink with after this thing is over that are going to make you and your business better, you're going to meet them there. I promise you. Number two, the speakers are really high level folks. You're going to walk away with, we call them BFOs, right?

11:41Blinding flashes of the obvious things that you probably know and forget to remind yourself of. And then also you're going to learn some things that have not occurred to you before about how to either systematize your business or to kind of think about growth and think about what your goals are and where you're headed. So the speakers are definitely number two. um number three i'd say the vip dinner is going to be be not everybody's going to be able to come to that because it's gonna it's gonna sell out um before before the thing but we um are expecting that that is going to um be a very high energy high level um networking opportunity with more education and also some entertainment.

12:41So it's just going to be a fun night and kick off the week in the right way. Yeah, I was going to add the fourth thing, which was going to be fun, but you've added it. So I'll add it on. I'll give you I'll give you a plus there for saying the VIP dinner is going to be fun, but the whole thing is going to be fun. They're all going to be fun. It's just going to be fun. I mean, it's going to be, you know, it's going to be a lot of a lot of people, a lot of connections. And it's, you know, it's going to to be situation that's going to be um you know a great environment that's not going to be super high pressure or anything like that it's just gonna be fun yeah it's one of the things about this community that's so wonderful it's like you're going to meet amazing people that just give you a you know give your day a positive spin and yeah it's a really good point bill to say that it's like a low pressure environment it's a high level environment but it's a low pressure environment yeah yeah yeah i mean you come and get what you need and get what you want out of it it's going to be yeah i mean you you need to be there i mean if you have if you're in business and you have anything to do with management leadership ownership and you just need to be there i mean you can go to check out the website and see the sponsors and see the level of people that are involved in putting this thing on and and you're gonna you're gonna know you want to be So what else would you like for people to know about the summit?

14:07Well, that's pretty much I mean, that's pretty much the overview. Again, check out the website. Get your tickets now. Websites WNC Summit dot com. Tell your friends, bring people with you. It's a good it's a good group environment for sure. but then also look for it next year. We're just getting started. This is something that we want to do for and with the Asheville community. We're going to be really open to feedback and hearing how this was for everyone, what we could do better, what you loved about it, and then to, yes, to be on the lookout for something like this to come to this amazing business community for years to come.

15:00Yeah, and we'll put all the links and everything in the show notes. Yeah, just know that it's going to be a high-level event from the get-go and then we're going to look to make it better. That's just how we operate. So, yeah, it'll be fun. We'll have a good time. We'll look forward to seeing everybody there. Yep. We'll see you in August. And until next time, all the best. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs.

15:34Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you.

16:15Hey, and until then, all the best.

16:45Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best.