Author: jmuir

This feature is a question-and-answer session with a Blount County Chamber member. So, here we go with our 234th installment visiting with Wil Davenport, owner/lead facilitator/keynote speaker/emcee for It Begins Within – Developing Leaders which offers leadership development training experiences.

Describe more about your company. Training experiences can come in the form of team workshops, small group mentoring, and one-on-one coaching. I also deliver keynote speeches and work as an emcee at different events. Some of our most effective workshops include: 1) Navigating Difficult Conversations, 2) Cultivating Emotional Intelligence, and 3) Creating Effective “60-Second-Mini-Speeches” to share about your business.

We approach our work in two ways. First, we help businesses and organizations save money and build stronger teams by helping their employees develop effective communication and relational skills. As a result, they retain more employees, reduce unproductive worplace conflict, and building teams that communicate effectively internally and with vendors/customers. Second, we know that it’s what’s going on inside of each person, their mindset and inner dialogue, that often determines how much of their potential they can reach. We help leaders remove the psychological barriers that get in their way.

How did you get started? Since my college days I’ve been passionate about growing as a leader. I honed my leadership skill as a manager of a thriving Starbucks and as a ministry leader in a large Methodist Church. I’ve been leading workshops professionally and as a volunteer for years and my wife, Celeste, has often commented about the passion and energy I share with her after mentoring and/or training experiences. A few years ago she encouraged me to take the leap and start a business focused on leadership development. I leveraged the relations I’ve cultivated over the years to start It Begins Within- Developing Leaders.

What is your background? I gained the skills I use at It Begins Within-Developing Leaders through my experience Managing a Starbucks, leading a ministry team of over 100 monthly volunteers and many more for special events, and as an entrepreneur for the last decade. I am also certified as a Future of Strengths trainer, have a degree in Christian Education (including courses in instructional design and leadership), and have experience leading workshops with thousands of participants. Finally, I am a lifelong learner, continually finding ways to learn and grow as a leader and facilitator.

Who is your mentor? I’ve been blessed with several key mentors over the years. One, Mark Hoogerhyde, offered the accountability I needed to make important changes in my life and held me to a standard of excellence while I grew as a leader. A recent mentor, Kim Ballard, COO of the YMCA of East Tennessee, offers me ecouragement, as important questions, and offers a steady flow of ideas. Another mentor, Erin Daldry, a Kiwi from New Zealand, guided me into deep reflection on a variety of topics, challenging me to more beyond simplistic ideas, trite phrases, and self-centered ways of navigating the world.

Describe your customers: I often work with businesses and organizations that employee young leaders. My goal is to remove barriers for these young leaders so that the arc of their professional journey grows, while making them more effective leaders where they work. The folks I work with care about investing in their teams. They want their employees to know they are valued.

What are three things you wish you knew when you started? 1) Building a business is like boiling water. Like room temperature H20, a lot of energy is invested with no noticeable change in the business/water. But at some point, a magical temperature/moment is reached and then everything changes. That when the powerful steam of business creates momentum and growth.
2) How long it can take to begin building a stable income.
3) How enjoyable it can build to build your networking and cultivate significant personal and professional relationships.

What do you enjoy most about your profession? I enjoy getting to be creative developing workshops and other content. Watching leaders actively engaging the material and making changes in their lives and how they go about their work. Building genuine relationships with so many people.

Click to view the online version of the Blount Partnership weekly newsletter for October 20, 2025.

This feature is a question-and-answer session with a Blount County Chamber member. So, here we go with our 233rd installment visiting with Adam Rosenbalm, co-founder of Good Batch Mama, which makes homemade, oven-ready prep meals.

Tell me more about Good Batch Mama. At Good Batch Mama, we believe family dinner over delicious food is one of those essential, beautiful things in life. But we get it – your life is busy, and cooking is hard! So, we invite you to enjoy meals designed to be the best of both worlds – homemade and human but ready to heat and serve. Why? Because time around the table is always well spent, and the meals that get you there truly are more than just food on the table. It’s the same food we’re feeding our families, too (that’s why we call them “Mama Crafted” meals), so you can serve it with confidence! Our menu features signature entrees, delicious side pairings, and easy snacks, all designed to put the power of homemade dinner back into your hands

How did you get started? Drawing from our family heritage, we find our modern roots in the same place as so many today – so much to do and so little time for dinner. So, roughly 20 years ago, Elizabeth decided to do something about it! She began prepping meals once a month with some friends, freezing them, and using them for dinner on life’s busiest nights. Fast forward about 10 years, and she and two of those little mouths she was feeding decided that this might be something others would want, and Good Batch Mama was officially born! We’ve been serving families delicious, homemade, oven-ready meals ever since.

What is your background? Our “founding family” is made up of three key members – Elizabeth, Anna, and Adam. Elizabeth and Anna are the master chefs, and they draw on literally decades of experience prepping food for their families and those of friends who paid for their services. They have a deep, natural expertise that comes from 35+ combined years of practice! Adam isn’t much of a chef himself, but his college studies in business, marketing, and finance equip him with the tools needed to grow Good Batch Mama to reach new families.

Describe your customers. Any who loves great, homemade food is a ready-made customer, but we’ve found that two groups especially gravitate to us – life’s providers and the connectors. Many people are both, of course, as these are the people to whom the hungry mouths run when it is time to eat and trust that they’ll have something delicious ready to go. We know that it is not always an easy task, so we are here to help make prep and cleanup easy so those providers and connectors can settle in and enjoy those around their table.

What do you enjoy most about your business? We absolutely love working with family, and it’s such a gift to show up every day arm-in-arm with people you know will show up with the same passion you do. We’re a mother/son/daughter combo at our core, and all of those who have joined our team after have joined a family focused on showing up for other families in our community and helping them gather around the table with those they hold most dear. What’s better than that?

Click to view the online version of the Blount Partnership weekly newsletter for October 13, 2025.

This feature is a question-and-answer session with a Blount County Chamber member. So, here we go with our 232nd installment visiting with Renée Riker, founder and wellness consultant of Empower Freedom, a LifeWave Brand Partner, which provides natural, drug-free wellness technology that helps the body heal and restore itself.

Describe more about what you do. I believe people deserve to age vibrantly and to know natural solutions exist. My mission is to empower others with drug-free options for better health and flexible business opportunities that create freedom. I also mentor people who want to build a business that helps others.

What is your background? After nearly 30 years with Toyota in project management and over 20 years as a real estate entrepreneur, I was introduced to this technology. Seeing its impact on people inspired me to launch Empower Freedom. My career at Toyota built leadership and operations expertise; real estate gave me entrepreneurial experience, and ongoing training equips me to serve clients and mentor my team.

Describe your customers. I work with people who want natural solutions to feel better, live energetically, and age with confidence, as well as those ready to design a life on their terms and build a business that helps others.

Name three things you wish you knew when you started? The power of networking. Consistency matters more than speed. People need time and education before embracing new solutions.

What do you enjoy about this business? I love seeing lives transform, people getting out of pain, regaining energy, and finding hope again, and mentoring others who want to create income and impact.

Click to view the online version of the Blount Partnership weekly newsletter for September 29, 2025.

This feature is a question-and-answer session with a Blount County Chamber member. So, here we go with our 231st installment visiting with Brook Nash of Nash Wealth Advisory, whose purpose is rooted in service—helping individuals, families, and businesses use money as a tool to achieve what matters most to them through thoughtful planning and accountability.

Describe more about what you do. I provide financial planning and investment advice to clients. Some of the common goals that I help clients with are retirement, education, estate planning, tax management and employer retirement plans.

How did you get started? I started as an advisor after a 20-year career as an engineer. I started with a large, national broker dealer. After 5-years with them, I decided that the independent advisor model better suited my preferences.

What is your background? I am a business owner. In addition to obtaining the necessary licenses to practice as a Wealth Advisor, I am a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, a Certified Kingdom Advisor® & a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®).

Describe your customers. I have a variety of clients. I help young families, retirees, business owners, those who work in the trades, engineers, healthcare professionals, preachers, etc. A common trait is that they are good people who love their families and want to be good stewards

What are three things you wish you knew when you started?

1. There is a sales component to this business, as with most businesses. I wasn’t aware of this, but it’s probably good that I wasn’t.
2. A perfectionist mentality can be a roadblock. Strive for excellence, not perfection.
3. No one can predict the future. Plan wisely. Invest wisely. Trust God.

What do you enjoy about this profession? I enjoy the fulfillment of helping clients with their life goals. I am honored & humbled when I am invited into someone’s life to walk alongside them as they plan to send their children to college, as they dream about what they will spend their time doing when they do not have to go to work, as they implement strategies to help future generations and causes that are dear to them. The relationships that are forged by working towards a common goal are very special.

Securities and investment advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC. Osaic Wealth is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of Osaic Wealth. Nash Wealth Advisory is not affiliated with Osaic Wealth or registered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor.