The Best of LKN

Welcome to The Best of LKN podcast! Here you’ll find a collection of interviews with the owners of Lake Norman’s favorite businesses. Small business is the heart and soul of a community, and The Best of LKN is here to shine a spotlight on the small businesses that are making the biggest impact here in the Lake Norman region of North Carolina.In addition to featuring exceptional small business owners, we’ll also be interviewing the most influential professionals that serve the LKN community. From bankers and realtors, to teachers and coaches, we look forward to introducing you to the best Lake Norman has to offer!We hope you enjoy these episodes. Thank you for following The Best of LKN!

The Best of LKN is a society podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 414 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts The Best of LKN, a society show with 414 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  The Best of LKN

  417: Paras Gore - Atelier Doux Bakery

  Aug 17, 202632 min

  Paras Gore's three nephews used to sit through family birthdays and holidays with two or three Oreos each – the only thing on the table that wouldn't send them to the emergency room. So she put her organic chemistry background to work and started rebuilding dessert from the ground up. Today, Atelier Doux is an allergy-friendly bakery serving the Lake Norman and Charlotte area, and those brownies have a cult following. Paras joins Jeff to talk about what it takes to run a dedicated gluten-free kitchen, why cross-contamination is a genuine emergency-room risk and not a food fad, how she went from taking extras to the office to hiring her first employee in under six months, and where you can find her – from Kunu Coffee and the Davidson Farmers Market to the fall lineup dropping August 25. https://www.atelierdoux.com/ Get the Lake Norman Visitors Guide ! Hosted by: Jeff Hamm www.lknreal.com Support the show

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  The Best of LKN

  416: Dustin Johnson - Club Pups Lake Norman

  Aug 10, 202637 min

  Dustin Johnson walked away from a career at Hendrick Automotive Group, bought a piece of land in Mooresville, permitted it himself, and spent 22 months building a dog boarding and daycare. Eight years later, Club Pups Lake Norman is a multi-time Normies winner - and Dustin is opening three more locations and franchising the whole thing. Dustin walks Jeff through what makes the Club Pups model different (every dog gets its own suite, temperament evaluations for every new client, ten dogs max per staff member, play-rest-play), the new locations coming to North Mooresville, Huntersville, and South End, and the first franchise opening near Hilton Head this fall. He also gets candid about the years it took to figure the business out, why commercial real estate humbled him, and a shout-out to the Town of Mooresville you don't hear often enough. https://clubpups.com/ Subscribe to Lake Norman's Best Email Newsletter: https://thebestoflkn.com/ Hosted by: Jeff Hamm Top Lake Norman Real Estate Broker https://lknreal.com/ Support the show

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  The Best of LKN

  415: How AI Search Is Changing Local Business, with TJ Todd

  Aug 5, 202642 min

  For twenty-five years, getting found online meant chasing blue links on Google. That era is ending fast - and TJ Todd of Studio 490 is back on the show to explain what's replacing it. Jeff opens with a telling stat from his own experience: at a broker luncheon, five or six hands went up when he asked who'd gotten a lead from AI search in 2025. Zero went up for 2024. TJ breaks down what actually earns you a citation in an AI answer, from answer engine optimization and directory consistency to why Reddit threads and Google reviews now carry real weight. He also makes the case for where to start if you're behind - your own website first, then local SEO and social - and offers a line worth sitting with: hesitation is costing you more than you think. Studio490 Support the show

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  The Best of LKN

  414: Elevate Strategy and Consulting - Lynn Bowser & Drew Webster

  Jul 27, 202634 min

  Most small business owners don't realize they've built a job instead of a business – and they find out the hard way when it's time to sell. Lynn Bowser and Drew Webster of Elevate Strategy and Consulting join Jeff to explain why a company doing $10 million in revenue can be worth $1.5 million, while a $1.5 million company can be worth far more. Lynn and Drew get into what they call the "accidental CEO" problem – the attorney, dentist, or med spa owner who suddenly has 20 employees and never went to business school – plus where profit quietly bleeds out, why handing the business to your kid or your employees is riskier than it sounds, and Drew's rule for the whole thing: build a business you could sell tomorrow, but don't want to. Learn more: https://www.elevatescgroup.com/ Hosted by: Jeff Hamm Best Lake Norman NC Realtor https://lknreal.com/ Support the show

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  The Best of LKN

  413: Drew Chalfant - Hiking Adventures With Kids (Lake Norman)

  Jul 23, 202640 min

  Drew Chalfant and his wife brought HAWKs – Hiking Adventures With Kids – to Lake Norman, planting the national brand's first East Coast flag right here in our backyard. A recovering franchise attorney (and former emo-band touring musician) turned hands-on owner-operator, Drew makes a compelling case that the "kick out the front door, come home when the streetlights come on" childhood isn't gone for good – it just needs a van, a trail, and a few naturalist educators to bring it back. Jeff and Drew get into why "60 minutes a day" outside is the bare-minimum floor, not the goal; how HAWKs uses after-school programs, summer day camps, and school-closure coverage as a genuine childcare resource for working parents across Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, and Mooresville; and the surprising magic of letting kids get bored on the trail – like the day a group spontaneously invented their own little society and begged to come back to finish the story. It's a warm, funny conversation about screens, stewardship, and why our kids come alive outdoors. Hawks Kids Lake Norman Support the show

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