Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeart Media presents CEOs you Should Know. Welcome to CEOs
you Should Know. Kevin T. Sheeley, CCE is the President
CEO of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. Kevin's a
career chamber economic development professional with thirty years of experience
and has spoken across the country on issues relating to
economic and community development. He's the recipient of numerous awards,
(00:23):
including the National Excellence and Economic Development Award from the
US Department of Commerce, and was named Executive of the
Year in twenty twenty one by the Florida Association of Chambers.
Prior to coming to Charleston, Kevin worked in Chamber economic
development in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida. Kevin's originally from Louisville, Kentucky,
and is a graduate of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.
(00:46):
He and his wife, Lisa are the parents of three
children and have one grandson. Welcome Kevin Sheeley.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you good to be with you today.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Well, I certainly appreciate you taking the time out to
talk to us today. So let's jump in with Let's
inform our our listeners on what exactly the mission of
the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Is absolutely you know, our mission is to initiate, advocate
and empower from a prosperous business community here in our region,
and that's something we're really focused on right now, is
ensuring that we're aligning around that mission. You know, it's
interesting as we think about how we do that. This
is the oldest chamber in the United States, goes all
(01:26):
the way back to seventeen seventy three, so older than
our country, and so looking at how do we initiate,
advocate and empower here in this region to ensure that
this is a place where businesses can be successful, because
we believe where business is successful, people will be successful.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yes, And it's just amazing how old this chamber is.
I mean, when you think about the history of it
and everything that's happened since its inception.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It's incredible. I had the opportunity recently to visit the
South Carolina Historical Society, which maintains our archives, and they
pulled out some documents for me to review, including the
oldest that they have is a minutes book from seventeen
eighty four. Wow, so how interesting. And two things I
think are really cool. The Chamber was formed in seventeen
(02:11):
seventy three as a result of the Charleston Tea Party.
Many people don't know that the Charleston Tea Party predated
the Bosston one. We just didn't dump ours into to
the ocean there. But you know, it was about tax right.
The Chamber was foreign business leaders came together to talk
about a tax issue, and the minutes in seventeen eighty
four we're talking about tariffs. Foreign tariffs are being put
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on South Carolina rice and what they were going to
do about that, how that was going to impact trade
in the area. And it's the same issues we're concerned
about today, are taxes and tariffs and ways to ensure
that our environment is a place where businesses can succeed.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Well. As they say, eventually everything old is new again,
absolutely nothing new under the sun, exactly. Well, the Chamber,
i know, has been focusing on two main initiativestainable housing
and entrepreneurship. Let's start with attainable housing. Housing costs in
the Low Country have become very prohibitive.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Absolutely, and you know it's interesting people will ask me, Okay,
why why is the chamber, Why is the business community
engaged on attainable housing. Shouldn't that be the purview of
government or nonprofits? And yes, but also it's absolutely key
to the business community. If we think, if I were
to ask any business leader what's your most valuable asset,
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they're going to tell me their workforce. They're people. But
if their people don't have a place to live, if
they can't get to work, or the commune is too long,
they're not going to work there. So it's absolutely imperative
to our business community that we're not only engaged but
really we need to be a leading voice about attainable
housing and ensuring that people have I mean, that's the
most basic need right and if we get housing right
(03:51):
in our community. Quite frankly, we believe that begins to
address a lot of other challenges like transportation. So it's
really key. And so that's an area focused and really
bringing business solutions to the table thinking of it. Because
it is an economics issue.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
It is.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Much of our housing cost constraints are driven by supply
and demand. We just simply have not for the last
two decades built enough houses for the people that live here.
In fact, only once in the last twenty years have
we built enough in that one year for the number
of people in our community. So it's a long term challenge.
(04:27):
It's a mess that's been created over two decades. Now
we've got to begin to dig out of that, and
we need to bring the right business solutions to be
able to do so well.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Absolutely, And you know, I happen to also be a realtor,
so I'm quite familiar you know with the with the
issue of the cost of housing. And I mean it's
a multi pronged issue on what's causing you know, prices
to be so high. But one of them is certainly zoning,
you know, you know, the density that's allowed. But so,
(04:57):
what are some of the things that you focus on
that you advocate when it comes to making housing more affordable.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, I think, you know, first off, interesting if you
look at the housing economist Jay Parsons, he has identified
that forty percent of the cost of a new house
is government fee and regulations. You know, there's not much
we can do about labor costs, there's not much we
can do about material cost. But government cost, man, that's
something that we need and should do something about. And
(05:24):
so looking at that and how do we work with
our cities and counties to look at their regulatory process.
And I think you know, generally, when I'm talking to
almost all of our municipalities in the time I've been here,
they already recognize, hey, there's a challenge here, there's a problem.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
We have a system that's been built up over sixty
seventy years and it really needs to be looked at.
Are we are we doing things the best way? Are
we doing things that they need to be done in
twenty twenty five following processes that reflect this time period.
So really looking at working with local governments about the
whole regulatory scheme. How do we help them valuate those
pieces so that they can be more productive we can
(06:04):
address these housing So that's our biggest place. I think
also educating our elected officials and our appoint officials, those
policymakers about those key issues which can affect There are
a lot of things that can sound good from a
government standpoint, Oh we need to do that. A great
example that might be impact fees. Well, sure we're going
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to make new construction, new people pay for this infrastructure
that we need. But what we know, and you can
look at impact fees across the country, it generally doesn't
deliver what is promise. But what it does do is
create additional cost without adding value, so that the home,
instead of it being a let's pick a number, a
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three hundred thousand dollars home, is now a three hundred
and fifteen thousand dollars home, and we add carrying costs
and so that number just keeps going up. It's going
back to the consumer who's paying for that. But also
because that increases the cost across the board. Now all
of our homes when they're evaluated are sowed, are also
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costing more. So we're just making the attainability piece more expensive,
more prohibitive. But along the way, government collects more tax dollars.
So really stopping the same Wait a minute, what is
it we want to accomplish? What is most important? Now?
What's going to move that forward? And thinking differently, understanding
sometimes the unintended consequences.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, it seems to be a vicious cycle everything you
just described, right.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Absolutely, So I think part of it is someone and
I think that's our job. It's got to stand up
and go hold on, who wo wo. Let's look at this.
Let's think there are other ways. We all agree we
need infrastructure. No one is saying we don't need infrastructure,
but is this the best way to fund it? And
are we creating more problems instead of solutions?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yes? And and you mentioned educating you know, the lawmakers
and the leaders. Is there any kind of you know,
movement to educate the public, because it's also there's the
nimbi have things going on, you know, not in my backyard.
We don't want to see the development, but they don't
realize that people are here anyway and the development's coming anyway,
and it just exacerbates the problem when you try to
(08:11):
push back against that.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Absolutely, And that's we're working through some plans actually right
now about how do we do that, how do we
educate people to understand what this really means. You know,
it's funny. It's having worked in Florida for the last
twelve years and now here, I have spent some time
in fast growing communities and as people tend to think,
once they're here, okay, let's pull up the gates. I'm here.
(08:34):
Anyone else is new as a problem. Well, you know,
that's just part of it. We want to be a
community that's growing, because if we're not a community that's growing,
we're a community that's dying. Those are the only options
that exist, and so how do we help people understand
really what that means? How do we do that? You know?
One of the things that I think really concerns us
is we think about housing and how it impacts our
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community and some of the things that make Charleston so
uniquely Charleston is if we don't in the near future
begin to figure out housing, especially on the peninsula, we
really risk a hollowing out of the city of Charleston
because there won't be anyone who can work downtown, who
can work in their bars and restaurants, work at our hospital,
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work in our businesses. There are gonna be other opportunities
for them elsewhere, closer to where they live. So that
we have a downtown that begins to lose its luster.
People don't want to come there, people don't want to
live there, and so it can quickly become a downward spiral.
We've got to be able to address that, and that
is about looking at things like density, looking about things
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talking about the missing middle. The Charleston Trident Council of
Realtors has a great report out now about the missing
middle housing and how do we integrate that that's really
what our communities has long been about. It got lost
starting in the fifties with some of our zoning. We
need to bring that back and being able to help
people understand what that is and why it's important. We're
again you go back to your question, We're really looking
(10:01):
at how do we tell that message. How do we
get that message out in ways that people understand. Oh,
that's not just the business community. They're just trying to
make a profit. Of course they're trying to make a profit,
but that's how we do things. That's how we move
our community forward, that's how people move forward. How do
we educate them in a way so they understand the impact
and value. Hopefully we'll have some things in the next
few months we'll begin to roll out on that front.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, and the inner connectivity between you know, the residents
in businesses is so important for a thriving city, and
I think that's what they missed the point on oftentimes.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Absolutely, you know, a little bit right, it becomes a
little bit selfishent. You know, we've got phenomenal people, what
an amazing community we have, but people often only think
about well, you know, I've got my house, I have
my grocery store. I have my access to goods and services.
Why don't you have yours? Well, it's because we've created
a system whereby people can't. And so we've really got
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to work help people understand the value in addressing those
pieces and that that really creates a better, stronger community
for everyone.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Absolutely, and that's good work that you're doing there, by
the way, thank you. So let's move on to another
focus of the chamber, entrepreneurship.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, you know, and and I'll tell you what's interesting
is I'm a strong believer. We recently hosted our Opportunity
some where we focused on attainable housing and entrepreneurship, which
might seem like an odd pairing, but we believe as
we think about the challenges of housing that it's going
to be entrepreneurs who help solve the problems because that's
(11:32):
what entrepreneurs do. They find solutions, they find new ways,
new ideas, new approaches, and build businesses around that. And
I think entrepreneurship is going to be partly how we
resolve our housing issues. And so putting those two together,
you know, this is a phenomenally entrepreneurial community. I don't
know that we recognize sometimes, especially if you're inside the community,
(11:54):
how very entrepreneurial it is, and so we really want
to support and grow that. I have to share some
data with you that I think is so exciting. One
of the data points, and we love data at the Chamber.
We're really getting into using that and tracking that both
of ourselves and as we're making decisions. But looking at
the number of Ink five thousand companies in our area,
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and if you're not fromilar, Ink five thousand every year
names the five thousand fastest growing businesses in the country,
and as we look at that, probably owned businesses. And
as we look at that, the Charleston metro is the
seventy first largest metro, but we rank number thirty one,
and the total number of businesses on the Ink five
thousand list, now that's really impressive. But then if you
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break it down on a per capita basis, we rank
number four. Only Provo Salt Lake, Austin Nashville barely are
above us. There's really an opportunity for us to be
a major startup setting. In fact, we ought to be
in that conversation today, as you look at this community,
all the assets and opportunities we have so we think
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part of our our role with the Chamber and focusing
and encouraging entrepreneurship is also to help tell the story internally,
to help local folks understand, Man, this is an incredible asset.
We've got a lot of good things going here. How
do we really grow and let that be a big
part of our economy?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yes, And if there's any entrepreneurs listening right now, what
kind of resources can you offer them?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, and so there are a number of things that
we have at the Chamber, but I think the biggest
thing we can offer today is to help connect them
with them organizations who this is what they do. You know,
We've got a phenomenal organizationer in town called the Client Fund,
and the Client Fund makes loans targeted to entrepreneurs, small businesses,
startups in places where businesses entrepreneurs struggle to get access
(13:44):
to capital. They can come to the table with that
capital and providing technical as systems that's needed with it.
And there are a number of those organizations. In fact,
one of the first things that we're going to be
doing here coming up hopefully in the fall, is really
bringing all of those different parties to the table and
then laying out an entrepreneurship roadmap from ideation. So, Hey,
(14:05):
I just want to start a business, but I don't
know what it is all the way to initial public
offering IPO that talks about here are the resources, and
here depending on where you are in your entrepreneurship journey,
here's who can help you. And so we want to
get that laid out. And then also where are their
gaps so we can help fill those.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I mean, that sounds great. And another long term initiative
that I wanted to talk about is your people First initiative. Yes,
explain to us what that is.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Absolutely, So let me give a background first. There are
three things that we focus on at the Chamber, three
ways that we seek to make impact, and we've discussed
One of those is entrepreneurship. The second one is business advocacy, right,
and we've kind of referenced through that with housing and
some other things, and we have a phenomenal advocacy team.
And the third one is workforce, really making sure that
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the business communities at the table to build the workforce
we need both for the day in the future. But
people First, who's really an initiative working through those three
pillars where we're focused on, as we've already talked about
attainable housing, workforce, making sure we have a future ready
workforce that we need. Transportation right, that's a huge issue
for all of us, and we've talked about how that's
(15:10):
related and important. And the last one is a high quality,
affordable childcare. If a family does not have access for
their children, especially those early age children newborns through preschool,
to get high quality childcare, that means that there's probably
going to be a parent who can't be or won't
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be in the workforce, and we need everyone in the workforce,
especially talented people that we can get. It also means
is that child's not getting high quality childcare, there are
odds of being ready for kindergarten go down significantly, and
if you're not ready for kindergarten, the chance that you're
going to be reading on level at third grade, which
is absolutely the key metric, also goes down. So really
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making sure that we're preparing long term is we need
to address some of these upfront items, and childcare is
a huge piece of that.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, I can't tell you how often I hear from
friends and clients of mine how prohibitive they find the
childcare situation to be.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, and you know, all of these issues, I will
tell you are not uniquely Charleston. We have our own
take on them, right, but I would tell you if
you go to any of the fifty fastest growing cities
in our country, so that's a big number, they're going
to be talking about the same issues. And childcare is
even in areas that aren't growing, is a big issue.
(16:28):
It goes to right workforce costs. That's the biggest driver
in childcare is making sure you have you can bring
the right people, you can pay them appropriately. That is
eighty percent of the cost of a childcare center. So
how do we help? How do we grow that? What
are ways? And again, as we think about advocacy and workforce
that we contribute and lean into that space. So really
(16:49):
looking at ways that we can do that that are
sustainable and effective.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Absolutely. Now let's change gears a little bit. It's called CEOs,
you should know. So we get into some personal questions too,
because we like to get to know our CEOs on
a more personal basis. So you grew up in Louisville, Kentucky.
Tell us about your upbringing. Yeah, so I grew up
in meet. Let me help you here. If you ever
meet someone from there, if you say Louisville, they're gonna
know immediately you're not from there. We say we say Louisville, Louisville.
(17:18):
That's how you know that you're from from Louisville or
someone who knows the area. You've got to pretend like
you got a little bourbon in your mouth and you
don't want it to slip out. So Louisville. But I'll
practice on my pronunciation.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
There you go, But I want you to sound like
a native. Uh yeah. So I grew up in Louisville.
I am the very fortunate, the third of four kids.
I'm actually a twin. I have a twin sister. So
we were a little bit late life surprises, and you know,
I think for me the interesting My dad was a CEO,
really phenomenal personal story that he has. High school dropout
(17:53):
was what has been called a wondering generality instead of
a meaningful specific. But he went through Dell Carnegie, changed
his life and had an amazing career after that. But
people talk about you know, what did you talk about
around the dinner table at home? You know, some family,
it's the news of the day, or politics or sports.
In our family, we learned about leadership and inventory turns.
(18:15):
Our company, we ran a lot of inventory, a lot
of warehouses, and so that was important. But I think
that's key, you know, as I look at my siblings
and I it's really about leadership. And those were lessons
and things that we talked about from an early age
around the dining room table. Now, did you ever work
for your dad at any point? I did, which is
why I didn't do it for long. You know, there
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are two ways to do that. You were either if
you were the son of the owner or the CEO,
you either get to do half the work that everyone
else does or you have to do double the work.
And our family that meant we had to set the example.
So we were supposed to do double the work. And
so I did a number of summers and weekends and
(18:57):
as soon as I could do something else, I did.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
That's very similar to I worked for my dad too,
and he was the same way. It's like, you're you're
not skating here because you're the boss's kid, that you're
going to work harder exactly, and you're not going to
embarrass me here at my company. But you learn some
valuable lessons being able to work that close to and
I'm sure your situation was the same. It's not like
you're in your dad's office hanging out, you know, bs
(19:23):
and with your dad. You know, there's a lot of
times where you never even see him when you're at work,
but you pick up so many valuable lessons by being
that close to it.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Absolutely. You know, I have a great friend and mentor
who talks about with kids, it's more caught than taught.
It's those things that the kids see. You're there and
you're observing, and that's what really makes a difference. And
as many of the very specific things that my parents taught,
it's those things that we just caught watching them, right,
and so being able to think back of how I
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watch my dad treat people, both his employees, his customers.
He was a huge personality and so he loved people,
and I think people were He could walk into a
room and immediately people were drawn to him because he
treated everyone fairly. He cared about the individual and not
what they could do for him, or what customer or
(20:16):
what they had, but simply who they were. And I
think that's one of the most impactful things I can
think about from my growing.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Up absolutely well, how about your mom?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Ah, my mom, amazing woman, the picture of a of
a southern lady. My wife and I have been married
thirty years. My mom passed away two years ago, and
but we talked about my wife can never remember and
I can never remember my mom saying a negative thing
about anyone. She was a big fan of you don't
have anything nice to say, shut up, and so well,
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really really key for her, you know, she was a
great supporter to my dad and of all four of
us kids, who were all very active, but all so
a real paragone of doing the right thing. And it
was never a question if there was a choice, well,
you know, maybe I could skate by.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
No.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
The expectation was that you're going to do the right thing,
and you do it because it is the right thing,
and you do it quietly.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Well, that's excellent, and it sounds like, you know, you
have some very good parents that that sent you on
the on the right path.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I think, so you're right, and that's one of the
older the odor we get, the more we appreciate and
see those things, and probably once we also have our
own kids, and then we recognize Oh my goodness, this
is so hard. Yeah, this is I can't believe what
mom and dad did well.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Absolutely, and you always have to, especially when you have
your own kids, you know, keeping the back of your mind,
like you just said, the learned behavior that they for
lack of a better description there, that you're conditioning them
for exactly right, and you always have to keep that
in mind. Is you know what kind of example am
I setting here?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Of course, and that's because they are always watching.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Absolutely. So what do you do when you're not working? Kevin?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You know what I work?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I I love what I do. I do.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
I am an early riser, I'm at the office early
in the morning, I'm often there till late afternoon. But
I just I love what I do. I love the
work of chamber in economic development organizations, the impact we
have on communities. I consider myself so blessed and fortunate
that I stumbled into this career as a twenty two
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year old. I had no idea what it was and
got into it and went, oh, this is what I've
always wanted to do. I just didn't know what it
was called. So yeah, I love my work.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Well, it's funny that you say that, because I talk
about that often when we talk about different techniques and
approaches to business, And how many times have you seen
somebody that they're taking a certain approach and they'll and
there's even a name for it, and they might even
teach it in Dale, Carnegie or elsewhere, But the person
doesn't even realize that that's what they're doing. They couldn't
(22:58):
tell you and use that name, but they practice it
out of maybe instinct.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Absolutely yeah, I mean they have done it so much
that it has become part of who they are, right,
I mean, that's that's what If you repeat an activity,
what is it ten thousand times, you become a master.
You know, if you if you're not just talking, but
doing it righty becomes integrated into who you are as
a person.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Well, I think we've already kind of stumbled upon some
insight onto what your answer is going to be for this,
But what's the philosophy that drives you each day?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
You know, let's make a difference. I am a there's
a a This is gonna seem a little funny, but
there is a quote. It's on the board in my office.
I discovered it a few years ago. It's from a
thirteenth century German theologian, which does not set up to
sound like a very exciting quote, but to me, it's
(23:49):
just really profound that the price of inaction is far
greater than the cost of a mistake. Let's do something.
We could in five minutes come up with dozens of
things that need to be addressed in our businesses and
our homes, in our communities, in our nation. Let's not
(24:10):
talk about them. Let's go do something. And you know
that means I'm all about STRATEGYM big big on being
strategic and being aligned. But I want there to be action.
And I think that's what I come back to you.
It may not at the end of the day, it
may not be the best thing, but something's better than nothing.
And so what are we going to do. Let's move
forward and try to have impact. Well, I love that approach.
(24:33):
And you know, whether you know some people, the inaction
is born out of either frustration right it's overwhelming, or
I call it analyzation paralyzation absolutely where you overanalyze and
you end up just being your own roadblock. So I
love the fact that you that you advocate for that
is just do something, and that's what I've always taught
(24:54):
my kids when they're at those crossroads, you know, because
when you're at a young age, you don't know always.
Some people have the benefit and the luxury of knowing
what they're going to do, but there's a whole lot
of people, the majority of us probably don't start out
that way when we're young. And I always told my kids,
you know, like you said, do something, pick a direction,
(25:17):
go in it. You can always change direction, and how
are you going to know unless you go down the
road right, you know? And I think part of it too,
We often want to make every decision the pentacle decision,
and it's probably not right. I mean, you know, I
think sometimes we put way too much emphasis on an
individual decision and quite frankly, on the role that we play.
(25:39):
And so I think it becomes really key just to
know I've got to do something. The price of fin
action is far greater than the cost of mistake. When
I think back, I'm fifty three and I think back
over my life, I far more regret the things I
didn't do than any of the decisions that I made
and did do.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
You pick up so many things along the way, so
you tend to look back and really not have any
negative connotation to any of that you say. You usually
end up saying, I'm glad I did that because I
wouldn't have known otherwise this other thing that I learned
during that process. Absolutely, and that doesn't mean that we
don't make mistakes. We also learned they're probably not as
(26:17):
big or as significant as we feared. Right well, I mean,
I certainly enjoy talking to you, and believe it or not,
time has been flying and we're almost out of time.
But I wanted to ask what advice would you give
to an inspiring business owner.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I think what we've just been talking about, do it,
try it, move forward again. I want people to be strategic.
I want them to be aligned. I want them to
have a plan, but then implement that plan, move forward
on it, and keep moving forward. Don't be afraid, you know.
I think we talked about the hardest step to take
is the first step. The next hardest step is the second.
(26:52):
But once you take the one and then two and
then you get moving forward, then you build that momentum
and then you'll see what really can happen.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Absolutely ven if people are interested in joining the chamber
or finding out more about the Chamber. How can they
reach here? You know, probably right. The best way to
do that today is to go to our website Charleston
Chamber dot org. You can get all of our contact
information there and you can see programs and events you
can join online. We love you know, we want to
represent every business in the Charleston metro. Such a great
(27:22):
place to do that. But again, Charleston Chamber dot org.
Kevin Gee Sheeley, CCEE is the President CEO of the
Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation
today and thank you for your time so as well.
Thank you you've been listening to iHeartRadio CEOs you should know,
heard every Tuesday and Saturday morning right here on this
iHeartRadio station.