What's Working With Cam Marston

If you've ever chased a prospect for months only to get ghosted, delivered a perfect proposal and heard nothing back, or found yourself unable to walk away from a deal that was going nowhere — this episode is for you. Arthur Gonzales, Managing Director of Cypress Consulting Group and area franchisee for Sandler Training, joins Cam to talk about why most salespeople struggle and what to do about it. Arthur's journey from near-broke billboard salesman working bar doors at night to sales leader and trainer is both entertaining and instructive — and the lessons he learned along the way apply to anyone who has to persuade someone to say yes. Three things Arthur says that will stick with you: "You're not struggling with your close rate. You're qualifying poorly." Most salespeople skip the hard diagnostic work and rush to the proposal — then wonder why nothing closes. "Without pain, there is no sale." If your prospect doesn't have a problem they're emotionally compelled to fix, no amount of charm or information

Kyle Sweetser is back on What's Working for a second conversation with Cam Marston. A former lifelong Republican who described himself as betrayed by a party that abandoned its own values, Kyle is now running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Tommy Tuberville. In this wide-ranging conversation, Kyle and Cam dig into healthcare, energy policy, executive overreach, the challenge of winning crossover voters, and what it actually takes to run a statewide campaign in Alabama on a shoestring budget. Kyle is candid about where he breaks with his own party, what keeps him grounded, and why he believes 2026 could be a turning point — even in one of the reddest states in the country. The Crossover Voter Strategy — Kyle lays out a frank electoral math: he needs a motivated Democratic base, disengaged Republicans who simply stay home, and a few hundred thousand crossover voters. His pitch to lifelong Republicans isn't ideology — it's issues, and he believes more common ground exists between modera

Matt LeMond and Luke Peavy have done something most restaurateurs only dream about — they've built six thriving concepts in Mobile, Alabama, and kept them running. From the original O'Daly's to Post Downtown, Post on the Hill, Stamped Sandwich Company, Cedar Street Social, and the Insider/Outsider complex, Matt and Luke (along with partner and former MLB pitcher Jake Peavy) have quietly assembled one of the city's most recognized hospitality brands. In this episode, they pull back the curtain on how the partnership formed, how they divide responsibilities, and why their biggest coaching challenge with young managers has nothing to do with P&Ls — it's empathy. They also share what Mobile is missing, why they almost said no to Post on the Hill, and what a trip to Scottsdale taught them about the value of being in the same room. THREE TAKEAWAYS Culture starts with being a good human. Long-tenured staff in a high-turnover industry isn't an accident. Matt and Luke credit treating employees as teammates — b

Retired FBI Special Agent Dan Sigmond returns to What's Working to discuss his 21 years investigating financial crimes, a remarkable story of how a previous episode of this very podcast helped crack a case, and his new private-sector firm, Special Agent Advisory Group. Dan shares how fraud always comes down to the manipulation of trust, offers vivid case stories ranging from a Jamaican lottery scheme to the "Pepper Spray Bandit" bank robber, and closes with a preview of his next topic: cybercrime as financial crime in a hoodie. Fraud is relational, not transactional. Today's scammers build long-term trust with victims — often elderly — before extracting money. The shift from one-time hits to slow, sustained manipulation makes detection far harder and the psychological damage far deeper. Most financial crime goes unreported. When Dan left the Bureau, only 40–50% of crimes were being reported, meaning billions in losses — particularly in business email compromise and cryptocurrency fraud — never make it into

Mobile, Alabama's development scene is quietly building something significant — and it's being done one catalytic project at a time. Cam sits down with John Ruzic, who helps run day-to-day operations at Porchlight Communities, a small and nimble real estate development firm focused on long-term impact over short-term gains. From affordable housing in Oakdale to the historic Ace Theater on MLK Avenue, John walks through the projects Porchlight is shepherding — and the creative financing, unexpected partnerships, and patient vision required to make them work. The conversation also ventures into Mobile's larger housing challenge: not just a shortage of roofs, but a shortage of the quality and volume needed to compete for the companies and workers the city is trying to attract. Key Takeaways: Housing as an economic tool, not just shelter. Porchlight's philosophy treats new and restored housing as a catalyst for neighborhood vitality — driving school quality, retail, tax base, and the city's ability to recruit b

Something genuinely exciting is happening in Mobile — one of the city's most treasured cultural institutions, the 143-year-old Excelsior Band, is on the verge of a remarkable renaissance. Led by Hosea London, this legendary walking jazz band — founded in 1883 by Creole firemen who played instruments between calls — is preparing to establish a permanent home at the historic Ace Theater on Davis Avenue, a beautifully symbolic resurrection of both a band and a neighborhood. Developer John Ruzic and his firm Porch Light are restoring the 1943 segregation-era theater into a jazz performance venue and education studio that will train the next generation of Mobile musicians, feeding young talent directly into the Excelsior Band's living, unwritten, tradition-to-tradition legacy. The vision is breathtaking: a place where Mobile's extraordinary musical heritage — a city that has quietly produced world-class talent for over a century — is finally given the spotlight it deserves. Top Four Points: 143 years of living

Dale Jackson is a die-hard Auburn fan. Fall Saturdays at Jordan-Hare weren't just entertainment—they were tradition. Identity. Joy. Then life changed. Dale and his wife welcomed a son with severe autism, and suddenly something as simple as attending a football game became overwhelming. Loud crowds. Long lines. Nowhere appropriate to care for a child with complex needs. For families like his, public events weren't fun—they were impossible. So Dale did what builders do when the world doesn't fit: he redesigned it. Out of that challenge came SNASY—a service created to help families with children and adults who need extra care experience events most of us take for granted. SNASY uses custom-designed shipping containers outfitted with adult changing tables and critical care features, turning chaos into access and stress into possibility. Julian and Olivia Stephens immediately recognized the opportunity SNASY represented as soon as they saw it at an Auburn football game with their special needs son Preston. They wa

Jo Bonner is president of the University of South Alabama and in that role is building the school in both students and infrastructure. A couple jobs before that he represented Alabama's Distict 1 in Washington, taking over from Sonny Callahan for whom he was chief of staff beginning in 1989. Joe spent a lot of time in Washignton and has insights on what has changed and what has driven the change in Washington. He, like so many of my recent interviews, is disturbed by what he sees. Joe and I discuss what's changed and what may it may take to return to country to decency to one another and loyalty to the constitution. 

Christina Woerner McInnis is running for Alabama Agriculture Commissioner, and the job turns out to be far bigger — and far stranger — than most of us realize. Once she and I started talking, the scope unfurled like a county fair map: everything from how many gallons come through the gasoline pump to whether the grocery-store salad bar scale is honest, all the way to steering timber policy across the entire state. Historically, candidates have fit a familiar mold: men in cowboy hats, thick accents, and a kind of mythic farm-boss swagger. Christina is a sharp break from that pattern. She's a woman who grew up on the office side of her family farm — the side where you learn not just how a farm works, but why it works. She'll tell you she can drive a tractor and pull a calf, and she can, but her real power is in understanding how all the pieces of a complex system knit together to create a viable, resilient operation. That's the same lens she brings to the commissioner's office she's aiming for: a deep grasp of

Bradley Byrne served in Washington for Alabama's First Distrct from 2014 to 2021. Today, he says, he couldn't get elected as a Republican. He's not Republican enough. The party has moved further right and any act of working with Democrats to find solutions to national issues or creating local opportunities would put a target on his back, almost literally. He, like the other poiticians I've interviewed recently, has received credible death threats and he tells me the story. What's the opportunity in Washtington today? What's the temperatue? Why are the sane people retiring and what happened to their desire to serve? Bradley and I discuss these things in a far ranging conversation.    Feedback? Cam@CamMarston.com

Governor Frank Keating was elected as a Republican in a state full of Democrats. He figured out how to work across the aisle to achieve some major accomplisments. He was reelected due to his success. Today Washington is in a standstill with a government shutdown. Gov Keating discusses what worked for him and what may work today. He insists that it is the responsibility of the citizens to give back to their cities, states, or country in the form of political service of some sort - it's a rare opinion today. But, he says, it's a way to find quality candidates.  Contact What's Working at Cam@CamMarston.com. 

James Ballentine has lived and worked in DC for thirty plus years, lobbying and working for both sides of the aisle and serving in leadership positions for various members of congress. He's widely admired for his integrity and knowledge of how things work inside the beltline and, suffice it to say, Mr Ballentine has never seen anything like DC in its current state. He knows I think that a third party is sorely needed today to provide a voice for people like me. He and I discuss what it would take for a third party to make a difference. Two things are absolutely necessary, he says - tons of money and an immaculate candidate. Both are very very hard to find. 

Kyle Sweetser is as sick of politics and politicians as the rest of us. His big beef, though, is that the people elected to represent Alabama in Washington, DC have forsaken their state and, instead, are puppets of the White House. They back the tarrifs that are harming Alabama citizens and businesses. Furhermore, they won't do their jobs as a branch of the federal government and instead are doing whatever the Trump admin tells them to do.  Kyle had bought a piece of property in western Mobile County where he was going to hole up with his wife and children and ignore the issue and maybe it would go away. But Kyle is a do-er. He gets things done. He's worked his whole life and has done his best to treat people right throughout his life and in his family business. Kyle couldn't stay idle and couldn't stantd what he was seeing. He couldn't ignore how the people he had voted for had abandoned his state and abandoned the Constitution. So Kyle declared his candidacy for US Senate to replace Tuberville when Tubervil

Tony McCarron is Mobile's Public Safety Recruiting Coordinator. He and I first met three years ago and he came on What's Working, when the microphones were off he told me that the Mobile Police Department was 120 officers short of what they were budgeted for. That's a lot of law enforecement vacancies and the criminally minded, had they known that, may have taken advantage of it. Today they're fully staffed and it's because Tony found a recruiting recipe that works. He learned what today's youth, primarily males between the ages of 20 and 26, wanted in a job and, more importantly, a mentor. Tony delivers that message and stands behind it his commitment to the recruits. He also worked to up their pay. The City of Mobile is lucky for it. Furthermore, Mobile Fire and Rescue is now riding four to a truck and that's a big deal. The city's fire and crime numbers reflect fully staffed departments - success measurements for fire and policing have risen and stay high. Tony tells me how he did it, what his message was,

What's Working has been quiet for a while. It's time to get back with a conversation with mayoral candidate Spiro Chieriogotis. His vision for the City of Mobile is what compelled me to reach out to him for this podcast. Too many mayoral candidates are running on their pasts or, in my opinion, grievances with something or someone. That makes for good fiction or TV movies but not good governance or leadership. Spiro is the only one that I've heard with a compelling vision on where Mobile can go and a plan for getting us there.  We discuss crime which seems to be the siren song of all campaigns everywhere. Crime in Mobile is down. Way down. But you'd not know it to listen to the others. The antidote to crime is not more police (where you going to find them?) or harsher sentencing. It's opportunity. And the majority of violent criminals are between the ages of 18 and 24. How to get their attention? How to present opportunity in a way they find it appealing? Never an easy task.  We also meet Spiro the person. He

Well, holy crap. I was pointed to an AI that will take content and turn it into a dialogue between two AI voices. This is the introduction to my book called What Works. I've turned it into an interview between two AI voices and... it's pretty doggone good. Take a listen - do you like this? Is it worth doing all ten chapters?  It's amazing. How to best use this?  Let me know what you think: Cam@CamMarston.com    

I've never met a soul who dislikes Frankie Little. I've never met anyone who doesn't like the food at Roosters. I've never met a successful entrepreneur who doesn't advocate creating multiple streams of income. Frankie's got it going on. His story is of a guy who says "why not try?" He's got initiative and drive and a dream of something bigger than himself. There's seldom a time I'm with him that I don't leave inspired and ready to tackle big things. Hear his story. Become inspired. Meet Frankie Little.  Roosters Downtown NY Life - Frankie Little  Airbnb What's Working is Sponsored by the Poarch Creek Indians.  Reach out! Cam@CamMarston.com    

The cathedral in San Antonio, Texas displays a remarkable light show every night. People gather to watch it and they have for years. Tourists and locals alike are drawn to the spectacle of the history of San Antonio done in rich, overlapping moving images and the music that accompanies it. Xavier De Richemont created it and wants to bring one of this light shows to Mobile to display it on the Mobile History Museum as a fixed installment. He's done his light shows across the world and was in Mobile over Mardi Gras, always with his camera, capturing the city.  Xavier and I sat down while he was in town to discuss how he creates the images, what he's lerned about the proud cities that want to showcase his art, and what he saw when he was in Mobile.  What's Working is Sponsored by the Poarch Creek Indian Nation. 

We rushed this episode to the front due to its timiliness. Connor Lokar was on with me this fall and he and I agreed to check back in after the election. Oddly, we felt if SHE were elected President it would lead to uncertainty. Instead, HE was elected and we've gotten degrees of uncertainty that no one had predicted. Connor and his collegues at ITR say growth is coming this year, UNLESS....too many factors to list. Connor and his team are no fans of tariffs in any way, shape, or form. They're inflationary. Period. And they will hit all of us. Will they prevent economic growth? No way to know. On and off tariffs and threats of tariffs prevent business leaders from being able to plan. It's leading to uncertainty. Lots of it.  ITR Economics 2030s Great Depression ITR Free Resources We'd love to hear from you: Cam@CamMarston.com  

Devon Harris is a female tech leader for OberaConnect based in Fairhope, Alabama. It's a company she started with her father and now includes her sister. Their growth has been intense, fueled by the rise in demand for tech services by small businesses and regional and local governement clients and Devon and her team's remarkable commitment to client relationships. All companies claim relationships are key to business - I've heard it a thousand times - but OberaConnect takes it to a new level. While sitting across from me in the studio, I got the sense that what Devon and her team do regarding relationships is indeed different. Meet Devon, hear her story, hear me argue that the solutions technology claims to offer are now null and void - there is no longer any convenience in tech - and her reply.  OberaConnect - 251.308.4592