📈John Barnes

Pendleton Street Advisors is a financial advisory firm to business owners. Founded in 2013, the firm’s areas of expertise are valuation consulting, succession planning, personal financial planning, mergers and acquisitions advice, and investment management. We specialize in helping our clients work through make-or-break financial issues in their company that have spillover effects into their personal finances.

President & CEO

John Barnes

It’s a long way, but I wouldn’t miss seeing these friends for anything. 

Leaving today for South Sudan 🇸🇸 with Empower One. 

We go to teach, learn, and have fun bringing the good news of the Gospel to a place that is starving for peace, and hopeful for transformation that starts on the inside and works its way outward.

Also thankful for the blessing of a GREAT team at home that allows me to pursue these missions.

Helping business owners get more from their largest investment | CEO at Pendleton Street Business Advisors

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This is why no one will want to watch robots play sports

This was more than a win.

Best use of AI so far for my firm?

Not in writing.

Not in search.

Not in research.

It's in illustration. A complete and total gamechanger. 

Imagine taking a complex Estate planning document provided by a client, and after anonymizing it--uploading it to ask AI to "illustrate" the provisions, and flow of assets in some type of diagram. Mind-blowing, and super helpful to the client.

Imagine taking anonymized financial statements and asking it to illustrate money flow in a blowout diagram that shows the magnitude of certain revenues and expenses.

We're loving the illustrative uses of AI to make more impactful *visuals* that help out clients have a deeper understanding of their own "stuff".

I can't wait to see what else we can come up with.

Made a cold call today. Fr

Disaster rating: 11/10—but I learned two things:

1. Have fun. (I had fun 😉)

2. If you’re a business using an offshored VA for call reception, don’t cheap out and use a service where they sound like they’re talking inside the Holland Tunnel. 😊 
 (maybe they were 🤷🏼‍♂️)

Owners of asset-intensive and capital-intensive businesses need to fall madly in love with reading and understanding and tracking the Balance Sheet of their company.

The Balance Sheet tells the true story of the financial health in your business. Those big revenue numbers on your Income Statement? They are fun to read, but dangerously deceptive.

“I just reinvest everything back into the company.”

I think this is one of the most irresponsible things I hear business owners say:

Cool.
For how long?
And to what end?

Reinvestment without a personal financial framework isn’t discipline.
It’s avoidance dressed up as modesty.

Here’s what actually happens:
The business grows.
The owner’s lifestyle stays frozen in 2014.
Every future reward becomes “next year”.

At some point, reinvestment may not be accretive, and it's probably causing some other stuff to break:
You’re creating wealth… but probably not much of a life.

I think this is just as true for single person as it is for business owners with a spouse and children. 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 

A real financial strategy draws a line:

This is what the business needs to grow. 📈 
This is what the owner needs to stay motivated, solvent, and sane. 🤩 

If your only win condition is "I'll get around to it,”
you may feel like you're building a company — you’re deferring your life.

The best operators I know don’t starve themselves for optional upside.

They fight for parallel progress.
They work parallel plans for the progress on both sides of the line.

Business wins. 😘 
Owner wins. 🤑 

Both stay in the game. 🤠

Softdocs

- Spearheaded customer-focused initiatives by conducting in-depth customer interviews, meticulously designing interview processes, and facilitating design sprints. These efforts were instrumental in aligning our product offerings with customer needs and preferences.

- Implemented and managed a new customer feedback portal, creating a structured system for capturing valuable insights. This involved actively engaging with customers to gather feedback, ensuring their voices were heard and incorporated into the product development lifecycle.

- Collaborated seamlessly with cross-functional teams, particularly Product Management (PM) and User Experience (UX), to align product features with business goals. Worked closely on designing business models that addressed market demands and enhanced product value. This collaboration played a pivotal role in shaping the strategic direction of our product offerings.

- Proactively contributed to the business by making well-founded business case recommendations. Leveraged insights from customer feedback, market intelligence, and collaboration with internal teams to provide data-driven recommendations that supported decision-making processes.

- Performed all responsibilities remotely, highlighting effective communication and collaboration skills. Demonstrated a high level of autonomy and accountability, ensuring that project objectives were met seamlessly in a virtual work environment.

Product Analyst

Product Owner

South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation

- Decreased time to resolve complaints by 29% by establishing and leading an ongoing cross-functional task force that seeks to continually improve employee morale, quality, and speed of work within our investigations team.
- Made program, process, and policy decisions with the Agency Deputy Director and Agency Director after conducting research, data analysis, and conversations with internal and external stakeholders.
- Led or participated in many aspects of the Agency's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, I led the Agency's transition to all virtual board meetings. In FY20-21, the Agency conducted 227 public board meetings using WebEx.
- Led the implementation of the Agency's agreement with CE Broker to track licensee continuing education requirements for all 28 eligible boards. Licensee participation increased 47% from FY20 to FY21. Led the procurement and negotiation process for the agreement renewal through 2026.

Assistant Deputy Director

University of South Carolina

- Collaborated with the US Chamber of Commerce, SC Chamber of Commerce, and SC Department of Administration to plan 2 annual conferences designed to bring together the cybersecurity business community with CISOs and other IT professionals from state, county, and municipal government agencies.
- Statewide programmatic responsibility for five focus areas including training and workforce development, education, advanced technology development and commercialization, knowledge management, and critical infrastructure protection.
- Responsible for strategic planning, oversight of expenditures, and relationship management with ~25 corporate partners.
- Directed the creation of an asset map that identifies cybersecurity and information technology degree and certificate programs throughout the state. This resource was provided to SC high school guidance counselors through a partnership with the SC Department of Education.
- Delivered presentations to North Augusta and Aiken middle school students on online safety and careers in cybersecurity and information technology.

Senior Program Manager

USC Columbia Technology Incubator

- Developed, marketed, directed, and instructed 3 cohorts through our startup accelerator program. This program, a partnership between the Incubator, SC Jobs and Economic Development Authority, and the University of South Carolina provided direct business planning, consultation, funding, and technical assistance to ~30 startup companies.
- Directed strategic planning and management for all startup support programs. Created, implemented, and supervised a structured program to assist startups from inception through successful completion of the program.
- Responsible for one-on-one consultation and advisement sessions with startup companies, and responsible for connecting them with a network of ~20 volunteer mentors.
- Oversight of internal and external communications and outreach efforts. Increased brand awareness through public speaking at entrepreneurship related events, invited guest lectures, and interviews with print and online media.
- Established and led the working group to coordinate Columbia's Global Entrepreneurship Week in 2015 and 2016, which led to over 2,000 entrepreneurs, designers, and developers attending related seminars, networking events, and workshops; culminating in Columbia's Startup Weekend in partnership with Techstars.
- Established key relationships with Amazon Web Services and HubSpot to provide startups with low cost access to cloud computing infrastructure and targeted marketing tools.

Managing Director

- Oversaw implementation of the university's research strategic plan and related communications strategy. These responsibilities required frequent interaction with senior administration and faculty, and their counterparts from other institutions.
- Conducted research, data analysis, and made program recommendations to the Vice President for Research.
- Focused efforts on the development and retention of talented young faculty, including the creation and management of the ASPIRE seed grant program and Breakthrough Awards program. For these programs, established and led standing faculty awards committees and developed transparent awards guidelines.

Operations Manager

Mill Music, Inc.

- Operated boutique rehearsal studio, provided entertainment management and consultation services.
- Produced and co-hosted 50+ episodes of The Weekly Monitor, a weekly podcast covering the music and arts scene in Columbia with a listenership of ~1,000 each week.
- Provided internship experiences and supervised 4 student interns.

Founder

Audacity Recording Studios

- Developed a comprehensive marketing strategy that prioritized product offerings to maximize revenue with existing clients and generate new business. This strategy was a major factor in the company’s ability to thrive during and after the recession of 2008.
- Negotiated contracts and budgets, and directed creative and technical processes for recording projects.

Project Manager and Producer

ME Productions - Corporate destination management and event planning firm

- Designed entertainment including musical, visual, and performance art for high end private and corporate events.
- Reported to executive management team and collaborated with sales and creative departments to incorporate entertainment options into client proposals. 
- Controlled cost and maximized profit margins through effective relationship management. I regularly exceeded targets of 50% margin.
- Managed entertainment planning and on site logistics.

Director, Music and Entertainment

I have over four years of experience in leading and supporting customer-focused initiatives that align product features with business goals. I have a strong background in product strategy, customer development, stakeholder relations, design thinking, and agile methodologies.

In my most recent role at Softdocs, I spearheaded customer-focused initiatives by conducting in-depth customer interviews, meticulously designing interview processes, and facilitating design sprints. These efforts were instrumental in aligning our product offerings with customer needs and preferences. I also implemented and managed a new customer feedback portal, creating a structured system for capturing valuable insights. I collaborated seamlessly with cross-functional teams, particularly Product Management and User Experience, to align product features with business goals.

I am passionate about delivering value to delight my customers and stakeholders. I am naturally curious, and I am fascinated by others’ ideas and the connections between them. I enjoy producing work products that quickly deliver value to delight my customers. I enjoy collaborating with my team and seek to understand the underlying motivations, root causes, and pain points for the people I work with, my stakeholders, and my customers. I strive to be authentic, transparent, inclusive, and accountable.

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