Episode 326: 07-23-15
On this week’s show, Larry Zinn introduces us to new car models and discusses auto sales and leasing, Dr. Carl Orringer tells us about new methods of cardiovascular disease prevention, and lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Michael Kranitz dishes on EventSquid, new online event management software.
Best Car Deals
We talk to Larry Zinn, general manager of Warren Henry Land Rover, Range Rover Infiniti and Jaguar, about the new Land Rover Discovery Sport and the new Infiniti Q50. We also talk about the impact of the Internet on auto sales and leasing.
Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
Our special UHealth guest is Dr. Carl Orringer, a national leader on lipids at UHealth. He’s the director of programs and current president of the National Lipid Association.
We will discuss:
– New cholesterol guidelines.
– Promising new cholesterol drugs that reduce severely elevated levels and reduce heart attack risks.
– Statins update.
– How diet helps manage cholesterol levels.
To make an appointment, call 305-585-5523.
Event Management Software
Michael Kranitz is a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur who created the first auto leasing website back in 1996. His business creations have been acquired by the likes of Microsoft, Ford, Hearst Corporation, MediaNews Group, and Wells Fargo.
Kranitz is a University of Florida alumni and knows personal details about your host, Jim Fried, that I’m hoping he will not share publicly.
We discuss his latest creation, Eventsquid, which provides online event management for corporate, sport and hobby verticals like golf, archery, bodybuilding and CrossFit. Eventsquid’s partners include Comcast Business, USA Archery, Golfsmith and the world’s largest radio control hobby distributors.
Episode 326: 07-23-15 (To download, right-click and select “Save Link As”.
Transcription:
Jim Fried: We’ve got a great show for you. We’re going to go right to it. We’re going to talk about how to find the best car deals in the showroom and on the internet with Larry Zinn. Then we’re going to talk to UHealth experts about preventing cardiovascular disease. They’ve got some great new things to talk about and we’re going to end up with some software solutions to Event Management so we’re get right to it, we’ll go right to the commercial, we’ll be right back with Larry Zinn, we’re going to talk about how to find the best deals in the showroom on the web with Larry. Back after this. D!
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: It’s been one of those days here at Fried on Business, what we’re going to do right now is we’re going to go right to our Warren Henry Commercial because Larry is coming up next. When you’re looking to buy or lease a car, you want to get every advantage that you can. That’s why you have to check out Warren Henry Land rover, Range Rover, Infiniti and Jaguar. They’re all exceptional cars, they all come with the Warren Henry advantage. That means, come up at Henry damp repair, key replacement, first service, even get a personal assistant that you can call for anything, anytime for 4 years. So join me as a member of the Warren Henry family, always the best price, always the best service, always Warren Henry.
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: We are back and we’ve got Larry. Hey Larry, how are you doing?
Larry Zinn: Hey, Jim, what’s going on?
Jim Fried: Alright, we’re here with Larry Zinn, general manager of Warren Henry Automotive Land Rover, Range Rover, Infiniti and Jaguar. If you need one, this is the guy to call. This is where I get all my cars from. It’s where my friends go. In fact, Larry, when I put out the email announcement today, one of my friends emailed me back and they were just cruising the internet and on your website last night and we own a bunch of hotels. A lot of business comes from the internet. How is it with the car business?
Larry Zinn: Over 90% of all our customers visit our website before they arrive. The majority of customers now are doing most of their research on the internet or even contacting us through email before they even come to the dealership. So it’s interesting the way the businesses change especially in my time that I’ve been in the dealership. Every day it changes a little bit more and new challenges are created but the most important part is that you stay current with all these things.
Jim Fried: So how does it work? I watch on TV, autotrader.com and truecar.com and gohereandgetacheapdeal.com and it seems to me like really the best thing to do is do some research and then go bring your research to your autodealer directly and get your best deal.
Larry Zinn: Absolutely. Those guys are really all lead providers. That’s what they do. So they get you to select and give them your information and then pass it along to the group of dealers who usually contract them to receive those leads. In a case of TrueCar, for example, many times they actually make the process a little bit more difficult. So what happens is, they say to a customer ”Pick whatever car you want” as this is the car that automatically exists so a customers that want a black or this interior or this equipment and there may not be any of those in the country. But they get a set price from TrueCar, then they’re going to come to the dealership and receive but the car doesnt’ exist. These are types of things we have to overcome every day with these types of lead provider services.
Jim Fried: That’s ridiculous.
Larry Zinn: Not to mention that set price that to customer is coming in with. Basically, the TrueCar is charging the dealership per se. So potentially, the customer could’ve gotten event better deal if they didn’t go through that middle men.
Jim Fried: So really it seems to me like the middle men may be providing some information but it may be erroneous, it may actually slow you down and make your search less productive so what do you recommend doing, Larry?
Larry Zinn: I think there’s a lot of great sites out there. I encourage people to go and do their homework so they’re as comfortable as possible when they come in to a dealership. Most people don’t enjoy the process, don’t like coming again. So go to admins, go to all the websites that you can to make sure that you’re as prepared as possible and you know what you’d like but it’s also okay to go in to the dealership, make a friend, listen to the person who is trying to tell you the advantages, the features, the benefits of those particular vehicles and you may have a better experience that way.
Jim Fried: You mentioned go make a friend. Most people find that they perceive it as adversarial, I don’t think anybody could believe the level of positive energy that we get when we go to your dealership. It’s like being friends, you, Frank, May, Ismet, everybody just treats us like family.
Larry Zinn: Ultimately, that’s how I met you, right? I remember I did a delivery for you as the finance manager and you came in and you made a friend and with how long lasting friendship since?
Jim Fried: Yeah, that was the whole thing.
Larry Zinn: We like that as part of the family atmosphere, people come in, they stick with us if we have an issue. Nobody’s hiding in the ivory tower or anything like that. You have the access to talk to anybody you need to. And we’re going to do whatever we can to make you happy.
Jim Fried: And that’s really an important point to make and I’m going to use my experience that I just had with you as an example. We just leased a new car, we got the – what is it, QX60? The numbers confuse me but the quality is, I love that car. So we just got one of those, we bought it, the day before we bought it, they took the autopayment out of my account for the last car we traded and I called Ismet within a week. I got the refund on the overpayment. He went the extra mile to make sure that I didn’t get double dipped. And I got to believe that’s standard procedure.
Larry Zinn: We’re not in business to dissatisfy people. Our best customers are repeat customers and they are the happiest customers. And we want to keep it that way. Ultimately, we’re coming on a 40-year anniversary for this organization and we haven’t been able to stay around that long by doing the wrong thing by people.
Jim Fried: Thank you by the way for giving me the heads up so I can modify my ad copy so that I can now save for almost 40 years.
Larry Zinn: You got it, Jim.
Jim Fried: One of the things that people may not realize, and we talk about the 40 years and we laugh, is that you’re third generation business person, and I’m saying business person there up at Warren Henry. There was your granddad, there was your pop, Warren Henry himself and how you, it’s third generation that’s highly unusual. What is it that makes you and your family different the way that they’ve been able to pass this prosperity down to you?
Larry Zinn: Ultimately, the third generation thing scares me because when you read all those fact and everything it’s my job to screw it up.
Jim Fried: Yeah, you’re well equipped, Larry. Fully equipped.
Larry Zinn: However, I’m blessed to have some great mentors and my father and my grandfather and my uncle. Fortunately, they’ve taught me some really good values as well and the importance of how to treat people, customers, employees, I think it all goes by the right rules to live by. If you feel good about the things that your’e doing it’s a lot easier. If you have to go and hide somewhere, you’re not doing the right thing.
Jim Fried: Wow. I just actually wanted to let you finish that, Larry. That was just absolutely awesome. We talk about a lot on the show, but many of your employees have been there for over a decade, even longer, they make careers there. You’ve got second and third generations working with you.
Larry Zinn: Yeah. Actually I know you met him when he was here. I got the third generation working in this summer and turn now who hopefully will come on full time when he’s ready.
Jim Fried: And he’s going to college in the summer time, I mean the regular time, he’s a college student.
Larry Zinn: Absolutely.
Jim Fried: So people don’t realize that you can make a fabulous career selling durable goods called cars, great insurance, great benefits, people can make six figures plus with you, can’t they?
Larry Zinn: Certainly. It’s all in what you put into it. It’s like most sales position that you come in and you work hard and you can make something out of it.
Jim Fried: I think that it also means we have to have something good to sell your products there at all your stores. They’re terrific, your follow-up is great, the back end of it, if you will, the service team is phenomenal. I had the best experience this week with May. She was amazing. So make sure she knows when I get the email I’ll be sure to give her 5 stars in every regard. And I’m going to ask when your other satisfied clients..D, how much time do we have left? We’ve got time here for, another couple minutes for Larry? Two more minutes? Larry, what do you think we got the Dolphin season coming up? Give me a little bit on the Dolphins because I know you’re the man, you’ve got the 50-yard line sweep with your pop. What do you think the Dolphins are going to do this year?
Larry Zinn: I’m really excited, I read this article yesterday that they said that the Dolphins have the possibility of winning the Division which for me is kind of ”maybe”. But I think we have an awesome team. I’m a little bit nervous about the offensive line but other than that, we’ve got a lot of potential. I’m the most excited I’ve been in a long time. I really think we’ve got a shot at the playoff this year so it’s very exciting. I’m not sure if you’re thinking the same thing I am.
Jim Fried: Well, I think that every single year, Larry. I don’t care how bad they look in the paper, I always think the Dolphins are going all the way and I just read that some kind of computer model at Harvard picked some gear to the Super Bowl so high five to somebody and annoying the Patriots’ backyard. Now, we’re going to go to a break, Larry. You got time to stick around and talk to us a little bit about the new products that you’ve got coming in from Range Rover and Infiniti over the next few months.
Larry Zinn: Yeah, absolutely.
Jim Fried: Alright, we’ll be back after this with more Larry Zinn sports, lifestyle, cars. We got it all for you here today on Fried on Business. We’ll be back after this with more Larry Zinn.
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: We’re back. We’ve got Larry Zinn. We’re talking hot cars, we’re talking about best ways to buy the car, looking for your info online and then going to the dealer. Larry, I want to make sure you get Peter an extra doughnut because he just retweeted us for the first time when you were actually on. Listen, we talked a little Dolphins, we talked a little auto, but let’s talk a little bit about the products you’ve got on the floor because I know some young people that are looking to buy SUVs, I know that they’re actually placed orders and are waiting for them to be delivered. What is going on there?
Larry Zinn: We’ve just gotten the Discovery Sport recently. I don’t know if you remember. I took you to go see that car when you were here. Pretty cool.
Jim Fried: It’s awesome.
Larry Zinn: We got a pretty limited supply right now, we’re hoping it’s going to break shortly but it’s been really popular out of the gate which were certainly very grateful for but it’s an awesome package.
Jim Fried: It’s a great vehicle. We went for the test drive, I had really controlled myself because I’ve still got a little bit of time on my vehicle, I was wanting it a little bit myself and you didn’t have it but we are looking for one of those coming down the road. So we’re going to take a look at that and also we’ve been looking at the Infiniti. I got a loaner which was the 50 car I guess got the Empathy. Is that what I drive is the loaner?
Larry Zinn: They’re Q50.
Jim Fried: Q50, okay. It was great, my back’s been hurting, I sat in the chair and it was just very comfortable. I was really thrilled and it’s a little smaller than my usual car but I can see down the road heading into one of those.
Larry Zinn: That’s a really great car. Fortunately, it’s been very well received. A lot of customers who were in G37s previously, even some who ran in your car, Jim, have moved over to it. Seats are comfortable, that need great use to the space in the interior and the car has got awesome power.
Jim Fried: Oh yeah. I won’t tell you how fast I got to Boca Raton last week and yesterday in one of those. But I did get back safely with absolutely no damage, Larry.
Larry Zinn: That’s always important. Certainly appreciate that. You know what the fastest car in the world is, don’t you?
Jim Fried: I got it coming to me, you’ve given to me, Larry.
Larry Zinn: It’s a rental car.
Jim Fried: Indeed, you’re right, Larry. Indeed, you’re right. But I did give them my driver’s license, I did give them my insurance, I did give them back in beautiful one piece and they gave me back my car. Believe me, I love my car, I swear to you. It’s just absolutely the greatest. I get in that thing and I just hug it and kiss it sometimes. It’s just the greatest. Now, Larry, what other stuff do you got coming down the line? Because we’re almost to the new model year. Do they really go by that anymore?
Larry Zinn: Yeah. Model year is still important. Some model years have actually already changed, others change a little bit later on so it’s not like it used to be where they all change in a consistent time. It does make for it to be a little bit confusing but we certainly deal with it. But yeah, as we’re coming towards the end of the model year there’s always great deals in the current model year vehicles, especially when the new ones start to come in. And we’re seeing some really cool stuff. We should get some product refreshes coming on the Infiniti signs and new engines as well.
Jim Fried: You know how to get me going with the new engine talk.
Larry Zinn: Yeah. Unfortunately, I can’t disclose some of the stuff at the moment but there’re some really exciting powerful higher-end stuff coming on the Infiniti sign.
Jim Fried: I can’t wait. And higher-end, that’s the greatest because the Infiniti is the one thing that to me is the biggest secret in the world. I know you and I know about it. But it’s such a great value for such an amazing machine. D is sitting there and nodding, he knows, he knows. Larry, we’ve only got a couple more minutes left. Why don’t you tell us – we talked about your website – why don’t you tell people your website, how to get to your website and some of the things that are around there. Do you have specials, like web specials?
Larry Zinn: Absolutely. We always have web specials available. You can see them on warrenhenryauto.com that will lead you to any of our websites as far as which manufacturer you want to see as well as our pre-owned vehicles that we have available. Always specials available, you’re able to contact us there through a live chat or email if you’d like or even go old school and get on the phone and call us. Anyway, you want to do that, you want to call us at 305 690 6006. Reach us at social media at Warren Henry Auto or just come in and say hello. We’ll be here to smile back at you.
Jim Fried: You know Larry, you went real fast through that phone number and we do have some Jets fans that listen to the show so could you give the number just a little bit slower?
Larry Zinn: 305 690 6006.
Jim Fried: Thank you. I just want to make sure that everybody had the chance to do that. I know you’ve been up on 441, your stories have been up on 441 for quite some time, I guess all 40 years, right?
Larry Zinn: Yeah, actually we moved here in the ’80s, not all 40 years but..
Jim Fried: Quite some time. But you know where I’m heading to, don’t you? You guys are heading over to Biscayne Boulevard up into the Aventura Area, aren’t you?
Larry Zinn: Yeah, we’ll be at the Sole Mia project in North Miami on a 151st in Biscayne and we can’t wait to get over there. We’ll have brand new state at the Art Facilities. This is really exciting for us.
Jim Fried: What’s one of the things that’ll be different that the new store that is going to be an improvement of what you’ve got there beyond the fact that you’ll have the state at the art, computers and stuff for everybody to work on my cars with?
Larry Zinn: The location is great and what’s going to be surrounding us is even greater. The stores, what is going to be available for our customers to do all there in this store. If they don’t want to get a loaner vehicle or want to hand out in the area, there’s going to be so much going on in that Sole Mia Project. It’s really going to make for a nice experience.
Jim Fried: That sounds great. So we’ve got the new cars, we’ve got the new place, we’ve talked a little bit about the Dolphins but people who have tuned in, we started talking about 20 minutes ago so why don’t we go back just a little bit and talk about why it’s important to look at the internet or what people feel is important on the internet and how that’s changing the face of auto marketing.
Larry Zinn: Everything is there, whatever you want to find in regards to car buying process. It is transparent now or possibly more transparent than any other industry in costs throughout there, what the dealer pays for the car, everything is on the internet. That’s all available to you. So people should go, make sure that they’re as comfortable as possible before they get into dealership and so they’re confident that they’re getting the best deal possible.
Jim Fried: I guess that just makes me totally old school because I just trust you. Is that alright to do? They’re laughing on the other side of the wall but know the guy, he’s terrific. I trust him.
Larry Zinn: I think we’ve established the relationship well enough to where you can come in with the confidence and know that we’re going to take care of you as best as we can.
Jim Fried: No, you really did. When I’m cruising down the highway and I’m late for a meeting and I can’t stop to drop off my car, I could not believe they said ”Go ahead, go to your office, we’ll come down with the papers” and then they come down and they deliver the car to me from service. They delivered it when I bought it, they delivered it again from service. It’s just great, the things that you and Warren are putting together.
Larry Zinn: Yeah, we’ve got a great pick up and drop off service now so customers, if they want us to come to their office, leave them a loaner car, pick it back up later on, that’s advantageous for us and it’s really convenient for the customer and ultimately that’s what we’re looking for.
Jim Fried: I talk about it all the time, the Warren Henry Advantage. That’s something you and your dad put together a number of years ago. How’s the market been accepting that? Because it seems it’s been very well accepted and the people use it.
Larry Zinn: Absolutely. What’s really nice is if you have a customer who’s looking at two different dealerships of the same make and we have the same car. Which one would you like? Would like the car just how it is or would you like the one that’s backed as well as ours is with the year of free dent repair, a year of complementary key replacement, a personal concierge service, the pick up and drop off service, the first service for free? And most customers apple to apples, they’re going to go with the extra value.
Jim Fried: Yep, but beyond that, the value, it not only is that for the person that really loves their car. These are important things. These help keep my car perfect.
Larry Zinn: Who hasn’t been at a parking lot or shopping cart to hit their door and put a little dent in it? We can take care of that. You end up losing a key, you’re dropping it down an elevator shaft.
Jim Fried: People laugh. I’ve actually dropped all my keys down an elevator shaft. It really happens. I really did that.
Larry Zinn: This is everyday occurrence. Even if the other keys on your keyring get lost, it’s part of that policy. We’re going to replace those too. I think that’s something that our customers are really grown to appreciate especially if they’ve had the unfortunate need to use it.
Jim Fried: You see, the only problem is that I’m so crazy about my car that I don’t even want to say it. Because tomorrow the shopping cart will go right into the side of my car, right?
Larry Zinn: Don’t jinx it.
Jim Fried: I’m not. All I’m going to say is always the best price, always the best service, always Warren Henry. Thanks for making us a part of the Warren Henry family of auto dealers. Larry, we really appreciate it. And when my wife goes in, the ladies are sometimes so afraid of the whole experience. You guys made it absolutely like going and get a – I got to just say it this way – getting her hair done. It was just so easy for her, she loved it. Now Larry, we got the Jets fans listening, we’re almost out of time so go slow, give us how people get a hold to you, Ismet, Frank, everybody over there. How do they get you?
Larry Zinn: You can always reach us at 305 690 6006 or on the internet at www.warrenhenryauto.com.
Jim Fried: You guys got to go out there, meet Larry, they guarantee you’re going to get the best price. I’ll tell you, you get the best experience from a personal stand point. And you got to meet him. He’s one of the young up and coming leaders. Hey, Larry, high five on that. What was it, 30 under 30 or 40 under 40? What was it that you won?
Larry Zinn: 40 under 40.
Jim Fried: High five to you! I bet that everybody’s proud over there at the dealership for that. That’s a dealership award, not just to you. Everybody’s behind you when you win something like that.
Larry Zinn: I certainly agree with you.
Jim Fried: Larry Zinn, what a great guy. Larry, can’t wait to see you. I’m coming up there and see you in the next couple of weeks.
Larry Zinn: Alright. High five, Jim, I’ll catch you later on.
Jim Fried: High five, Larry. We’ll be back after this. We’re going to talk about cholesterol, lower it, make it better, get it right and what the new stuff on statins is. Right after this with our UHealth special guest. Back after this. D, take it away.
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: Alright, we start the second half and it’s when we go to UHealth. UHealth, that’s the University of Miami Health System. They bring us the brightest minds and best care right here in South Florida and UHealth is big. It includes more than 300 specialty doctors, dozens of locations from Miami to Palm Beach Gardens, even in Plantation. What sets UHealth apart is the comprehensive approach they bring to health care. You might have several doctors for couple of different health issues, but do they ever talk to each other or cross-reference your symptoms and medications to make sure your care is second to none. Well, at UHealth they do. I’m sitting here right now rubbing the bottom of my back and I’ve got at least two or three of the doctors that are helping me make sure that my back feels better so stick with us. We’re going to talk about new trends in cardiovascular care right now. You can learn more about UHealth throughout the UHealth Discovery series now online at uhealthdiscovery.com. To discover how breakthrough medicine from UHealth can work for you call 305 2434 1000 or visit uhealthdiscovery.com to learn more today.
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: I want to welcome Dr. Carl Orringer MD. He’s got a bunch of programs that help patients with difficult to manage cholesterol and triglyceride levels and also helps prevent heart disease. It was awkward for me to say but it’s easy for him to implement. Welcome to the show, doctor.
Carl Orringer: Thanks very much, Jim. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Jim Fried: I didn’t think much about this because I’ve got good cholesterol counts. I get tested a couple times a year. And I was sitting down with one of my clients, he’s a 27-year old young man, just came over from overseas. And I told him you were going to be on the show, and he goes ”Oh my god, I’ve got to listen to that”. I go ”You’re a young kid”, and he goes ”I’m genetically predisposed to having high cholesterol” and that’s when it hit me. This can strike anybody.
Carl Orringer: You’re right. As a matter of fact, as you talked about your friend, it is very clear that there are some people that carry genes that cause very high cholesterol level and when they have those genes the problem is that they deposit cholesterol on the walls of their arteries resulting in an increased risk of heart attack and stroke and other complications. So when we identify those individuals, we, first of all, try to take a careful look at them to see if they have any signs of heart disease, any other vascular disease or issues. And importantly, we also make sure that we screen their relatives because in many cases you can find similar problems in other family members. Most importantly, though, these individuals need to be on treatment on early age so they can be in a position to be prevented, they can be in a position to have a lower likelihood of developing heart disease as times goes on.
Jim Fried: What are some of the things that you’re doing over at UHealth? You’ve come there, you’re leading, got this Neuval program over there. What do you got going on there?
Carl Orringer: There are lots of things that we do to help to identify patients who might potentially be in trouble with regards to their cardiovascular health. One of the first things we do is to take a careful history; we want to find out if a person has risk factors that predispose them to blood vessel disease. Do they have high blood pressure? Do they have a history of high cholesterol? Are they cigarette smokers? Do they have diabetes? Are they overweight or obese? Do they consistently not do physical activities? Do they run healthy diets? These are the things that we try to find out from the very beginning. And then, after that we ask them about symptoms that might suggest cardiovascular problems. Are they experiencing chest discomfort on physical activity? Do they become short of breath? Do they have feelings of rapid or erratic heartbeats? Are their cat vessels hurting them when they walk? Are they having symptoms that suggest that they’re unusually fatigued during physical activities? All of these could be signs that they may actually have cardiovascular disease that they did not know was present previously. And all of those are important issues in a history. On a physical exam, we try to find out if there’re any obvious signs that vascular diseases are present with the blood pressure; is a pulse regular or irregular, is it fast or slow? Do they have abnormal heart enzymes? Is their circulation good? And then we do tests as our appropriate to determine what else should be considered in helping this patient to avoid problems with their heart.
Jim Fried: I would ask a question. I don’t have any sheet or note or anything. I just watch TV. And it seems to me that about a week or so ago I saw this whole big thing about a reexamination of how Statins should be used which is just a type of medicine that people use for this type of stuff. What’s going on with that?
Carl Orringer: There are a couple of the very important things. First of all, Statins are cholesterol-lowering medicines but more importantly, Statins are heart attack or stroke-preventing medicines to help you to lower cholesterol. So a lot of people think of Statins as primarily being cholesterol-lowering treatment but I ask my patients to think about Statins as heart attack and stroke-preventing treatment to help you to lower cholesterol. And that’s the reason we use them, but we don’t use them on everybody.
Jim Fried: I would ask a question. I don’t have any sheet or note or anything. I just watch TV. And it seems to me that about a week or so ago I saw this whole big thing about a reexamination of how Statins should be used which is just a type of medicine that people use for this type of stuff. What’s going on with that?
Carl Orringer: There are a couple of the very important things. First of all, Statins are cholesterol-lowering medicines but more importantly, Statins are heart attack or stroke-preventing medicines to help you to lower cholesterol. So a lot of people think of Statins as primarily being cholesterol-lowering treatment but I ask my patients to think about Statins as heart attack and stroke-preventing treatment to help you to lower cholesterol. And that’s the reason we use them, but we don’t use them on everybody. We used them in selected individuals who are at higher risk for vascular disease. And there’re occasionally individuals who you might not think by looking at them like your friend who is very thin, who had that predisposition genetically to high cholesterol. Those individuals definitely need statins. People who have a history of heart attacks or stance or bypass – they need Statins; people who have a history of blocked arteries in their legs – they benefit from Statins. The question of course then becomes ”What if you don’t have any of those conditions but you’re kind of concerned about your risk?”. And then that’s when your doctor has to take a careful look at you, really make a careful analysis of what your potential risk is and then discuss with you very carefully the pros and cons of primarily diet and exercise approaches versus the consideration of medication.
Jim Fried: What other medicines are there out there on the shelf today or coming that are important for us to discuss?
Carl Orringer: First of all, the most important medical forms of treatment for high cholesterol are the Statins unquestionably. And Statins are generally extremely well tolerated and the most common side effects related to Statins are muscle aches or occasionally some muscle weakness but usually this can be handled very readily by either adjusting the dosage or switching to a different Statin. If it turns out that a person is unable to tolerate one or two Statins then that’s a situation where I frequently am called. The doctor wants to know what to do at this time and what I usually do as a first step there is to determine whether a patient really needs a Statin. If it is clear they need a Statin, then the next approach would be for me to work with that patient to use different Statins. Sometimes I had patients who did not tolerate five different Statins and were perfect on the sixth. It’s really a question how patient and given individual is and how much they’re willing to work with you to get on a treatment how to protect them. Now what’s exciting in the cardiovascular field is that there is a new category of medications that are likely going to be approved very shortly and these are called TCSK9 inhibitors and what those numbers and letter stand for isn’t important but what the concept is is that these forms of treatment are extremely effective in lowering cholesterol levels and there’re some early signals that they also will likely be very powerful in preventing heart disease. So these medications are being evaluated by the FCA and we will have a decision about the safety and the category of individuals who’ll be allowed to use these medicines very shortly. One of the disadvantages is that this medicine has to be given subcutaneously so it’s given by injection but the nice part is it’s given only once every two weeks or in some cases once every four weeks and cause dramatic reductions in bad cholesterol in the range of 60%. So this is a great advance in science and it’s been studied very carefully because it’s one thing to lower cholesterol but it’s another to lower heart attack risk. And we need to know distinctively that not only we’re lowering the cholesterol, we’re also reducing a person’s heart attack risk.
Jim Fried: I want to thank you so much for coming on the show and telling us about this very serious subject, doctor. I hope we can get you on some time soon to go over it again because there’s always new people listening and everybody needs to hear about this. If people want to come to your clinic and see you, how do they get a hold to you?
Carl Orringer: Probably the best thing to do is to call my administrative assistant which is – she can be reached at 305 585 5523. And Julie will be happy to be at help to you if you feel that you want evaluation for your risk and to find out what we can do be of better service for you.
Jim Fried: Okay, I want everybody get a pencil again. We’re going to get them another five seconds. Go get you pencil because this is important. There’s a lot of you out there that really need to evaluate whether or not you need to be on Statins or get this new medication. Whatever there’s you need to do, you got to go get your physical so that you know whether or not you – it all starts with getting the physical, right doctor?
Carl Orringer: You’re right, it sure does.
Jim Fried: Now, where we can get you, what’s your phone number again? Everybody’s got their pencil. Here we go.
Carl Orringer: The phone number is 305 585 5523.
Jim Fried: Alright. I want to thank you so much for coming back to Miami, doctor. Dr. Carl Orringer, and for the record, he’s a Triplicane. He did his residency down here even. The man is green and orange all the way. Thank you so much, doctor.
Carl Orringer: Thanks, Jim, very much.
Jim Fried: It’s my pleasure. We’ll be right back after this with somebody who I know bleeds orange and blue, Mike Kranitz. We’ll be right back after this. We’ll talk about software to help you improve your events management. Back after this!
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: We are back with Michael Kranitz. Michael is a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur. He created his first auto leasing website – that’s our theme today – back in 1996. His business creations have been acquired by the likes of Microsoft, Ford, Hearst Corporation, MediaNews Group, and Wells Fargo. He’s an old University of Florida friend of mine, but I haven’t physically seen him in over 30 years. Michael, welcome to the show. Where is he?
Michael Kranitz: I’m right here.
Jim Fried: It’s good to know. Hey, D, you get up at 2 in the morning, you should be getting this right by now. It wasn’t you, it’s Mike. Okay. Michael, how are you, bud?
Michael Kranitz: I’m good, thanks Jim.
Jim Fried: Okay. Now listen, Michael, you promised me you’re not going to tell any of the personal details you know from being in fraternity with me. So let’s just talk about Eventsquid. What is Eventsquid and how the heck did you come up with that name?
Michael Kranitz: Well, Eventsquid is a software platform that’s online that lets organizations manage all of their events. There are other sites that do similar things but what makes you Eventsquid unique is that we cater to specific industries and we launch independent Squid sites, little squiddies which are arms of the bigger squid to solely represent that industry. So for example, you have archeryevents.com, that’s one of the early squid sites; golfsquid.com, flightsquid.com, Fit Squid for crossfit and alike and Body Squid for bodybuilder, that’s the newest one. Each of these sites caters to the needs of that particular industry and when I looked at the market three years ago I found that these niches were very active, they were having a lot of events but they were underserved. And everybody was using their own homegrown online registration systems to take registrations for their events and these systems were hacked together and they were difficult and every time it’s like going to the doctor’s office. You have to fill up the paperwork every time while in our network, when you sign up for one event on one of the squid sites, you never have to register again, it knows who you are when you go to register for another event. And so that’s the origin of the Squid. We broke out into the corporate market this year in January and bought on Comcast Business events through the Eventsquid corporate on and that’s how the name came about. We had all of these different industry sites and I thought to myself that not only does the software help you do the work of eight people or nine people or ten people but we also have all these sites that do operate in these industries. So that’s how the Squid was born and here we are.
Jim Fried: That’s absolutely totally cool. It sounds like you’ve got all these specialized industries. The first person I approached with the concept was merely somebody that was running at an organizational luncheon. I’m a member of the CCIMs and we had this luncheon and I said ”You know, I got a friend that does this” and she goes ”Oh my God, how can I get that?”. I didn’t realize how pervasive the need was.
Michael Kranitz: It’s tremendous. What I found when I got into the general market space like your friend who just needs ”Yeah, they’re hosting a luncheon, a banquet, an event, a conference or whatever” is that the existing software out there is very difficult to use, it’s very expensive. So the way our business model works were able to pretty much provide the service and an online web app and you get your own website and all of these management tools to do everything from sell booths to tickets to complex registration golf tournaments or whatever and at a very low price because we’re distributed horizontally in these industries and in the specialized industries like archery, for example. We get advertisers who really want to talk to our audience because they know that everybody in that audience is interested in archery. So we’re able to support the business model through desirable targeted advertising. And that helps us subsidize some of the more general events like your colleague had.
Jim Fried: Well that’s just absolutely awesome, Mike. We’ve only got a minute left so can you tell people how they can find your website? I guess it’s the best way.
Michael Kranitz: Yeah. Real simple, it’s eventsquid.com. And from the main squid site you can find the other ones is you have a specialized need but Eventsquid, Golfsquid – those are two popular ones, archeryevents.com and so you can find us online. It’s very easy and if you want to get in touch with me directly and get a demo for larger events, you can find me at michael@eventsquid.com.
Jim Fried: Michael, I want to thank you. Michael Kranitz, an old friend. He’s a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, former radio head back in the day on WGGG and Mike, I just wanted to thank you. It’s great to connect and I really do appreciate you reaching out and bringing this to our audience today.
Michael Kranitz: I love your show, Jim and it’s great to see you doing what you’re doing through all these years. And this is the first time that you’ve ever looked older than me.
Jim Fried: You’re too funny, Michael. Thank you so much. It’s great to know that the guy that’s voted most well preserved gets a comment, how do you like that? Michael Kranitz, entrepreneur, go to his Eventsquid site, michael@eventsquid.com, he’s terrific. Go check out his sites, they really are things that improved productivity. I want to wrap up the show today by welcoming EarlyShares. We’ve got a brand new sponsor, EarlyShares. EarlyShares helps you put your real estate transactions together. If you want to crowdfund on the web, go to earlyshares.com and they will help you do that. We’ll have content provided by them coming up in a few weeks. And they will be on the show. You can go to our website. It gives you a direct link to their information. I want to thank UHealth. UHealth brings us all the time these fabulously interesting doctors today. We talked about Statins and lowering your cholesterol and risk factors and such. You need to make sure your health and your cholesterol is in check. I want to thank KIND Snacks. They always to good by us, they always provide us with healthy foods whenever we do events. I want to thank the CCIMs. CCIMs have always your Sandra Goldstein and Frank on our air. The CCIMs, if you’re looking to invest in real estate in Miami, check out the CCIMs. You hear Larry Zinn today, Warren Henry Automotive, one of the young up and comers, the 40 under 40 in Miami. Of course I want to thank the Miami Marlins, the Miami Dolphins, South Florida Business and Wealth Magazine. We’ve already mentioned EarlyShares. We want to thank Xpresso Marketing and Sandi Abbott and I want to thank Social Media 305, John Mahoney, The NFL Alumni Association, Lauren’s Kids, Magnum Energy Solutions, Bergstorm Center for Real Estate Studies. My gosh, I’m going to need a bigger legal page if people keep sponsoring. And why do they sponsor our show? Because they, like you, like what we’re doing. Go to our Facebook page, like our show, tell your friends. Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to thank the most important people – the listeners. Now join our community, give us feedback and comments, tell us who you want to hear from and we’ll like at Jim Fried @FriedonBusiness on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. We’ll start to populate Youtube again with some new stuff. Website gets lots of hits every week. It’ll get it up there real soon. Get the information up real soon. If you’ve missed today’s show, it’ll be up on the website probably by Saturday morning and then we’ll publicize it on Sunday morning around 10:00, 10:30, 11:00 on Twitter and all of our platforms. This is Jim Fried for Fried on Business. Look for us next week on 880 AM. We’ll going to have the national incoming president from CCIM on. Why? Because I love doing this stuff. We’ll be on at 6. Remember, this is not a rehearsal, this is your life. A person who wants to do something finds a way, the other finds an excuse. Now go out there and make it happen! Thank you! I love my fans! Thank you so much! I love you all!
