5 Minutes With Carmella Rogers and Charlyn Ho

On this episode of "5 Minutes With," our hosts, Thad Barnes and Greg Kirkham, take the time to speak with two incredible business owners who are making a big impact both locally and world-wide! In this segment, Thad and Greg speak with Carmella Rogers of HOTWORX Edge District and Charlyn Ho of Rikka Law PLLC. You don't want to miss this dynamic episode!

Video Transcript

Greg: Welcome to Five Minutes With, I'm Greg Kirkham alongside my fantastic co-host Thad Barnes, and today we've got two incredible entrepreneurs who are really making a difference in their industries. First we've got Charlyn Ho, CEO, managing member and founder of Rikka Law PLLC, based in Washington DC, and finally we have Carmela Rogers, sweating it up over there in Memphis Tennessee as franchise owner of HOTWORX Edge District. Thanks for joining us today you two.

Charlyn & Carmela: Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Greg: So let's dive right in. Carmela, let's start with you. How did you get started with HOTWORX?

Carmela: Actually, HOTWORX was, I call it my COVID baby, because it was nothing planned. I had just moved downtown in Memphis and I actually joined a HOTWORX during COVID because a friend of a friend told me about it. She had just come from riding a bike in a sauna, so I was very intrigued by the fact that number one, where are you riding a bike in a sauna, and what fitness places were open during COVID. So I looked into it, found out all the benefits, it's an infrared fitness studio, all the benefits of infrared, it's 24 hours, it was open during COVID and I was just like wow. The thing about it is, because I had moved downtown, the closest HOTWORX to me was six miles away, and so once I got kind of settled in I was like, man, that commute is going to be something else. And so the idea came to me, what if I put a HOTWORX near the downtown area of Memphis? And that's how HOTWORX came about.

Greg: Fantastic, yeah, wonderful story too. Thank you for sharing that. And then Charlyn, tell us about Rikka Law, where did you get your start?

Charlyn: Yeah, absolutely. So I was in the US Navy and I was supposed to go over to Japan, but instead the Navy sent me to DC to negotiate aircraft carrier and submarine construction, refueling, and overhaul contracts. So I've always been on the contract side plus technology and integrating the two. After I graduated from law school I spent 12 years in private practice and became a partner at a big law firm, but I really wanted to provide my legal services in a more holistic way, because technologies like AI, blockchain, and health tech are more than just the legal element. I love working with engineers, technical people, and startup founders to get their ideas to market. So that's why I went out on my own to create Rikka, and we provide strategic holistic advice on how to get your products to market in an ethical, compliant, and risk mitigating way. Because the AI, blockchain, health tech, and Internet of Things areas are uncharted waters and everyone's trying to be involved, but there's not a lot of experts out there that can guide you on the governance side, the compliance side, and help you reduce your risk of lawsuits or liability.

Greg: Fantastic, yeah, thank you for sharing. Thad, right over to you my friend, you've got some questions.

Thad: I do, yeah. I love both of your stories, and one of the things I find most interesting is that there's usually that one thing you've learned from your business that you wish everybody would just know. Charlyn, let's start with you. What's that one thing that if you could just distill it down is so important for people to know?

Charlyn: I think the one thing that I really want people to know is that you want to make sure that you create marketing documentation that actually reflects what you're doing, and you don't want to go beyond the consumer's trust. What I mean by that is a lot of tech companies get in trouble when they breach the consumer's trust, you know, Apple spying allegations or Facebook selling data. So many people have all these ideas about products and nobody goes out there saying I want to breach the consumer's trust. However, what they don't realize is they don't understand how their product actually works from a technical perspective, they don't understand what data they're collecting, and then when someone finds out, that's when the trust is broken. So bottom line, understand your product, understand what data you're collecting, and understand if what you're collecting and what you're doing with the data matches with what you're telling people and how you're marketing your product. That is critical in business.

Thad: I totally agree with you. And Carmela, how about you? What's that one thing you wish people would learn that you've already learned about HOTWORX or about business strategy?

Carmela: Well, when it comes to my business, HOTWORX, the thing that I would love people to know are the benefits of infrared. I want them to study it and know what the regular exposure to infrared is doing for your body, the healing aspects, the recovery, the anti-aging, skin rejuvenation, just everything infrared does. I would love for them to know that.

Greg: Awesome, well thank you so much for coming on the show, you two. It's such a pleasure having you. To learn more about our guests, visit dailynewsnetwork.com.