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Grow For It!

Grow For It!

Written by: Jim Ray Consulting Services Management Business Development and Marketing
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Grow For It! is a business podcast designed to help you stay focused on your vision. This is meant for small business owners, managers and professionals trying to achieve more in a competitive environment. Jim Ray will provide insights, examples and raises questions to help you develop your mindset around issues that really matter, instead of distractions. Episodes will feature interviews and information about business development, business growth, marketing and other issues related to effectively owning and managing a business. Ready to move forward? Then let's Grow For It!Jim Ray Consulting Services 2018 Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Website Accessibility and ADA Compliance: Avoid Fines and Stay Ahead

    Website Accessibility and ADA Compliance: Avoid Fines and Stay Ahead
    Apr 21 2026
    Episode 29: In this episode, Jim Ray sits down with digital marketing expert Bill Reynolds to break down the growing importance of ADA website compliance and the WCAG 2.1 guidelines. They discuss how new regulations impact businesses, especially those receiving government funding, and outline key deadlines for 2026 and 2027. Bill explains how accessibility goes beyond basic features, requiring structural and technical adjustments to ensure all users can navigate a website. The conversation highlights common compliance gaps, including PDFs, images, and user interface elements. They also explore the risks of non-compliance, including potential fines and legal exposure. Bill shares practical solutions, including ongoing monitoring and third-party validation tools to maintain compliance. Jim emphasizes the importance of proactive action rather than waiting until deadlines approach. The episode ultimately encourages business owners to treat accessibility as both a legal requirement and an opportunity to better serve their audiences. Jim Ray: Welcome to Grow for It. It's a podcast for small business owners, managers, and professionals. The goal is to give me a chance to work with the space between your ears on your mindset to help you focus on the things that really matter to your success. I want to enable you to concentrate on pursuing your vision, setting meaningful goals, and engaging in the day-to-day activities that will have the biggest impact. Thanks for tuning in. I want to go ahead and introduce a friend of mine. This is Bill Reynolds. He is the founder and president of Element502. They're a digital marketing agency here in Louisville, although they work with clients all across the country, including several of mine and my website as well. Bill, thanks for coming in. Bill Reynolds: Hey, thanks for having me. Jim Ray: Well, I tell you what, a while back I got a flyer or saw some kind of information about a new ADA compliance issue that popped up that I knew was going to affect my clients, and you're kind of my go-to guy on this kind of stuff. So I asked you to come in and we wanted to talk about this. Back in 2024, the DOJ really kind of finalized though the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.0, and this is Level AA, so it was like double secret probation stuff we're dealing with. Anyway, the biggest issue is right now a lot of people are exposed due to ADA non-compliance issues that potentially can lead to some serious fines coming up. But there are two different timeframes that we're going to be worrying about right now, the 2026 version, and then we'll talk a little bit more about the 2027, which is going to bring in people like me as a consultant, more service-based type professions in particular, a lot of law firms are eligible for this issue. So Bill, why don't we back up a little bit and kind of just talk about what is this Web Content Accessibility Guideline issue? Why is it here? Bill Reynolds: Sure. And the acronym is WCAG, so if you hear me say it, that's the very short term. Basically what the government came out with their guidelines was that your website needs to be ADA compliant and accessible just like your brick and mortar. So when you go to a new building, it's got ramps, it's got handicap accessible bathrooms, it's got counter height. There's all kinds of things about width of different doorways of aisleways, all these things. That's the accessibility so that everyone can access your building. Now, in older buildings, there's always a grandfather and there's some rules around it because again, it's not saying it's okay to make it inaccessible, but there's also a burden of cost, a burden of things. And so the government did the same thing for websites, and so they said, Hey, your website needs to be compliant. And you mentioned it, the 2026, it's April of 2026 is the deadline for anybody who basically, the simplest way is if you get money from the government, you need to be compliant. So that's going to be a lot of your healthcare, especially whenever you get Medicare, Medicaid, any of these government assistance programs that are in there. If you're housing and you get government assistance for housing and authority, if you are a school, municipality, public parks, any of these things, those all are supposed to be because they want to make sure that your website is accessible and easy to use just like your brick and mortar would be for any of your customers. Jim Ray: When you and I go to a website, I mean obviously we can see what's on the screen. We can dink around, we can click different things. We can fill out forms, but somebody that has some disabilities has some other challenges, may not be able to read it, may not be able to hear different things that are on there. So again, the ADA compliance issue is a great thing. I mean, it's really going to open up the web to a lot of people who up to now have struggled to some point. The good news is this is ...
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    17 mins
  • The Power of Human Analytics with Michael Hall

    The Power of Human Analytics with Michael Hall
    Mar 13 2023

    Episode 28: It's my pleasure to welcome Michael Hall, Executive Advisor with Hall & Associates to discuss the topic of Human Analytics. As Mike describes it, think of this as Moneyball for companies. He uses analytics to help business leaders to gain valuable insights when it comes to managing, leading and inspiring employees and managers.

    Human Analytics

    Mike begins with a definition, from Google, that captures the essence of Human Analytics. "The systematic identification and quantification of the human drivers of business outcomes."

    Similar to the move Moneyball, this approach focuses heavily on analytic data, rather than the more subjective evaluations of a person's innate wiring and likely performance in a particular role. Mike quotes Jim Collins from his book Good to Great, the objective is to "Get the right people on the bus, get the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right seats."

    Could You and Your Organization Benefit from a Conversation with Mike?

    Contact Mike Hall for a confidential discussion.

    Website: http://www.mikeghall.com

    Phone: (502) 303-2164

    Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. From more information on business-related issues, visit my website at www.JimRayConsultingServices.com.

    Got Podcast?

    Finally, if you're interested in developing and launching a podcast for your business or organization, I'd be happy to help. I provide this service on a regional basis. Visit my podcast production services page for more information.

    Until next time, remember, if you need help with your small business, Let's Grow For It!
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    41 mins
  • Show Up Positive Book by Rita Ernst

    Show Up Positive Book by Rita Ernst
    Jul 7 2022

    Episode 27: I'm happy to welcome Rita Ernst to the studio to discuss the launch of her new Show Up Positive book. You may remember Rita from Episode 22. She is an industrial/organizational psychologist, who became a business consultant and now, a published author. She's appeared in the local news, on radio and to a book signing with 70 people. Let's learn about how her approach to helping individuals to have a positive impact.

    To order a copy of the Show Up Positive book, click one of the links on this page: https://jimrayconsultingservices.com/podcast/the-show-up-positive-book-by-rita-ernst/

    I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. From more information on business-related issues, visit my website at www.JimRayConsultingServices.com.

    Got Podcast?

    Finally, if you're interested in developing and launching a podcast for your business or organization, I'd be happy to help. I provide this service on a regional basis. Visit my podcast production services page for more information.

    Until next time, remember, if you need help with your small business, Let's Grow For It!
    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
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