Person featured: Jeremy Petit, PA-C

Business: Advent Internal Medicine

Phone number: 828-859-7659

Operating hours: Monday – Thursday 8:15 a.m. – noon, 1-5 p.m.; Friday 8:15 a.m. – noon

Nature of business: An office with the specialty of internal medicine, where we address disease conditions in those 15 years old and upward. If you are in high school, college age, in the mid-life rat race or retired, we can help you.

Principal owner/manager and title: Dr. George Kim

How’s business? In an environment of steady growth we are looking forward to further product and services expansion. The fall season brings an influx of those with the cold or flu, as well as those who are endeavoring to avoid becoming sick and come to us for ways to enhance their immune system and dodge the illness. We’ve hired additional staff to handle our seasonal and long-term growth and extended our week to include Fridays.

One thing you wish everyone knew about your business: We are accepting new patients and disease prevention and reversal is our priority.

Something you offer that a customer won’t find elsewhere: An office that provides more than 20 years of wellness experience. We have backgrounds in corporate wellness program development and leadership, law enforcement officer enhanced duty performance and injury prevention programs, Intrinsic Coaching, health and wellness presentations and education. We are also published authors and certified through the American College of Sports Medicine. We believe that if we are going to talk the talk of wellness then we need to walk the walk.

Advice to young entrepreneurs: Customer service – how companies treat their customers – is a key area that separates Fortune 500 companies from one another. With that in mind, read “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” by Dale Carnegie. You can find it for free in pdf form online. It shows you from the very beginning of your vast adventure ahead how to create a winning attitude, vision and communication style.

My first job: At a maintenance shop in high school. Ah, yes, I remember well the cold Colorado mornings in an old, very arid barn, scraping paint off a bus I think was older than the barn itself.

Your role model (in business or in life generally): Without question, Jesus Christ, because He was filled with purpose, driven by passion for others. He touched the young, cared for the old, healed beggars, guided the educated and provided hope to everyone with whom He worked. Wow! Imagine what it would be like to work with Him in person for a week.

The key to a successful business: Under-promise and over-deliver.