Archives: Episodes

In this episode of the Kanawha Valley Hustlers podcast, I talk with Robert Huffman, one of the owners of UKV HVAC, about how he turns a skill he found in high school into a business that serves homeowners across the Upper Kanawha Valley. He got into the trade through Carver, worked his way up, and started his own company because he wants control of his time and wants to be present for his family. We talk about the early struggle of simply paying the bills, how the business grows by fixing air conditioners and furnaces, and what he learns the hard way about hiring the wrong people. Robert makes it clear that attention to detail matters and that negligence costs real money. He also pushes back on the idea that every older HVAC system needs replaced, explaining that many can still be repaired and that homeowners should be given honest options. We also get into the shortage of skilled workers, why wait times can stretch out, the waste of bad advertising, and the need for business owners to learn how to present themselves in public as they grow.

I talk with Tony Paranzino of Tony the Tailor about what it takes to stay in business for more than 50 years. He walks me through how he grew up in the trade, starting in his dad’s shop as a kid, learning the work piece by piece until he took over the family business and made it his own. We also get into mistakes, and Tony shares a story about making a pair of pants six inches too short. His lesson is simple: mistakes happen, you fix them, and you keep moving. He pushes back on the idea that nobody wears suits anymore and makes the case that people still want to look put together because it changes how they are treated. He also talks about more people dressing up again as they head back to the office. Near the end, he boils entrepreneurship down to one truth: learn to count your money and protect it.

I break down why influencer marketing is not some celebrity fad that passed, but a shift every Appalachian business owner needs to understand. I walk through how we moved from movie stars and reality TV names like the Kardashians, Paris Hilton, and Jessica Simpson into digital creators like Logan Paul and Mr. Beast, and how that world changed once creators stopped renting out their audiences and started building products they own. That pushed big brands toward micro influencers with smaller, tighter audiences, and I point out that we in Appalachia are behind on this more than we should be. My point is that local business owners should stop thinking influencer marketing is for someone else and realize they need to become the micro influencer for their own company. I make the case that people do not buy because they saw one ad. They buy because they check your reviews, your website, your social media, and your videos, and decide whether they trust you. In this market, attention leads to trust, and trust leads to the sale.

In this episode of the Kanawha Valley Hustlers podcast, I talk with Austin Long to talk about property management, real

I talk with Mark Wray about Travelese, a platform built to match travelers and businesses with more precision. He lays out the problem with spray-and-pray marketing and explains how his team uses hundreds of data points to connect the right customer with the right destination or business. We get into the trust problems in travel, from fake reviews to bad recommendations and even listings for places that do not exist. Mark also shares a mistake from late in development, when they realized they had not built pricing into the platform and had to go back and fix it before beta. He talks about the need for stronger alignment between what businesses offer and who they are trying to reach. We also touch on entrepreneurship, where he points to finance, legal basics, and compliance as core skills. What I take from the conversation is that he is not trying to add more noise to the market. He is trying to solve mismatch, reduce waste, and build something that helps both travelers and businesses make better decisions.

I talk with Shea Paul to talk about her role in Dancing with the Stars for United Way of Central West Virginia. She shares that she has wanted to do this for a long time because she cares about the cause and the work United Way does in the community. We talk about the mix of fun, fundraising, and pressure that comes with being part of team five in season five. Shea opens up about how easy it is for her to overthink the details, from the theme to the song choices, and how she is learning to trust the people around her and enjoy the process. She also clears up that this is not like the TV show people may picture. The choreographer trains them, but regular people are the ones who step out and perform. To get ready, she is stretching, building her stamina, and working back into shape after the winter. She closes by sharing how people can support team five through voting and upcoming events that help raise money for United Way.